Some thoughts on integrating RLN36 into a smarthome system via Raspberry Pi, Arduino, ESP, etc.

[Pierre Gielen_288801745879289]

Hi, As a home automation enthusiast, I want to link my new RLN36 NVR to my smarthome system (which is Domoticz, but I think this discussion applies to Home Assistant and others as well). Currently, I think this needs to be done hardware-wise, by connecting the alarm inputs and outputs on the NVR (via a pull-up resistor?) to the GPIO jacks of a Raspberry Pi, Arduino or ESP8266/ESP32 that translates the signal and forwards it to the smarthome system.

For example, you could use 1 to 8 alarm inputs from the NVR to enable recording on selected cameras as soon as an incident is detected from Domoticz/HAS, such as a motion detector or a door sensor being triggered. However, it is not clear from the manual what the signal level of the NVR's alarm input should be, +12V? +5V? Does the signal control a relay or an optocoupler inside the NVR? What is the required current in mA? 

Next, you can send the NVR's four alarm outputs to Domoticz/HAS to register that one or more cameras see movement. The alarm outputs are low on alarm, that is the only information you will get. It is not clear on which cameras motion has been detected and whether this is a detected person, car, pet or otherwise. 

It is however possible to let the NVR send an e-mail message with a picture in the event of an alarm, which contains more information in the subject line. By setting up an e-mail server on the machine running the smarthome system, interpreting the e-mail subject and translating it into an HTTP request or MQTT message, it is possible to still use this information in your smarthome. Not a very elegant solution. 

So my suggestion for the next software version of the RLN36 and other NVRs is: make it possible to send (and receive) information via HTTP Requests or MQTT messages over the (local) network. That would be a fantastic leap forward in linking the NVR and both hobbyist and professional smarthome systems  

Pierre
(robothuis.nl)

[joseph_1979]

@pierre-gielen_288801745879289 MQTT is an efficient, reliable and instantaneous exchange of small packets of data and messages and so far its application is between IoT devices and connected sensors and applications. Its implimentation on ip camera is still not yet exploited but one day it will be added. It is an exciting enabling technology in this challenging small data world. I didn't see any roadmap of when, if any, Reolink shall add it to their cameras. Maybe this is assigned low priority and for sure it will add extra cost to their units.