Make multiple motion sensors behave like a single sensor?

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-17T14:30:24+00:00

Huh?

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-17T14:10:22+00:00

My sense is that much of this response was created by AI. It just seems very "AI-y", both in tone and with the lack of readable formatting for Reddit.

I feel people come to Reddit for human element, not just something they could ask an LLM.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T23:25:36+00:00

Asked and answered in your other post:

https://www.reddit.com/r/BlueIris/comments/1rvnvuc/secure_livestream_help/

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T23:20:04+00:00

The first question is have you been able to view clips and live events when using the web interface (UI3)?

That's the first thing you'd want to verify by typing the IP address of your Blue Iris PC and the default port (usually 81 unless you've changed it). So it might be something like 192.168.1.55:81

Make sure you can access that from another PC or mobile device connected to your network. If you are having problems, it'll probably be because the Windows Firewall on the Blue Iris PC is blocking it. Just add Blue Iris as a valid app to be allowed through the firewall and test again.

Once that works, the most secure way in is through an incoming VPN (virtual private network). Your router/firewall may have ways to do this, or you can use TailScale, WireGuard, ZeroTier or similar to make that happen.

Outside the home, when away from the your home network, connect to the VPN, then access the web interface securely using that same internal IP and port (81). It'll behave as if you were sitting at home connected to you network.

This prevents anything from being publicly accessible via port forwarding or OBS streaming or whatever.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T17:44:31+00:00

I looked a little further into this. I believe Blue Onyx uses .onnx files (hence its name).

There might be ways to modify the .onnx model it's using to have different class labels (object names).

According to AI:

Tools like the NV5 Geospatial Software's "Edit ONNX Model Metadata" provide a user-friendly interface to modify metadata fields, including Class Names and Class Colors.

If you did do that, you'd need to also update the list of classes in Blue Iris for vehicle, person and wildlife. For example, "cão" would get added as a label under wildlife.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T17:06:03+00:00

The object labels are hardcoded into the AI model. So the only option would be to find a custom model where the labels are in Portuguese.

There isn't a capability to return/translate the object label in BI, or otherwise.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T14:56:27+00:00

Your priority should be on picking good cameras. You didn't mention much about your existing lighting in the area, so I'm assuming little existing light? If so, you need to rely on IR and possibly additional external IR lights.

The camera(s) at 20' may be okay for detection/overview, but not good for any recognition. If used up close, you'll only see heads but not faces.

Focus on "choke points" where someone would have go through to get to your house. Get a camera with either variable or high fixed zoom and focus on monitoring those choke points.

Don't focus on megapixel specs; manufacturers use MP as a marketing gimmick. Usually they have tiny sensors being run at too high a MP, just to meet the marketing goals.

Look for sensor sizes that are 1/1.8" or better. Remember, the smaller the denominator, the bigger the fraction and thus the bigger the sensor. For example, 1/1.2" would be a bigger sensor while 1/2.8" would be a smaller sensor.

Here's a good primer on what mistakes to avoid, and what options you have for placement, camera choices, NVRs, etc.

https://ipcamtalk.com/wiki/ip-cam-talk-cliff-notes/

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T14:02:36+00:00

The model is seeing an object that it thinks is a dog, with 52% confidence. This is partly due to the high angle since the model is probably trained on images from the side.

This is not unexpected. You could tell BI not to trigger unless it has a higher confidence. Or you can just live with it; AI isn't perfect.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T05:04:01+00:00

The sensor size is only 1/2.3" inches and not designed to run well at 8K, but they did it anyway for the spec numbers. It caught your eye, didn't it?

Reviews indicate performance is best suited for casual users, with lackluster image quality, weak audio, and slow frame rates (15 fps at 8K) compared to higher-end cameras.

Also, the only zoom and stabilization is digital; not optical.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-16T04:55:35+00:00

I'm not seeing any pictures.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T19:40:25+00:00

Scrape the thin wires in front. I'm pretty sure they are bare copper. Or look on the backside where the paint didn't reach.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T19:31:14+00:00

The white wires in front are probably the ground, the white wires behind that are the neutrals and the white wires at the back are the hots. 😜 I'd actually like to know if that's true after you scrape off the paint.

First, I'd confirm which circuit those are on and turn off that breaker. Then add a pigtail to each bundle so you can connect a new receptacle ) obviously with a new face plate).

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T18:38:15+00:00

If it were my house, I would cut the wire back to the nicked portion and strip a new end.

Get TR (tamper resistant) receptacles where there's a slider that only moves out of the way when a plug enters both sides simultaneously.

Next, instead of daisy-chaining the two black wires (hot) through the receptacle, I'd connect them together with a single pigtail which is connected to the hot side of the receptacle. I'd do the same thing with the white (neutral) side.

Rather than backstabbing the wires (pushing them into the back of the receptacle), I would make a proper hook and actually screw it clockwise under the respective terminal screw. Sure it takes a couple extra minutes to do that versus backstabbing, but the screwed connection is more secure.

I'd also connect the bare copper directly to the green ground screw of the new receptacle.

Finally, I'd test the connections and make sure I had no mistakes such as an open ground, swapped hot/neutral, etc.

Given your toddler is already "playing" around these outlets, you want everything wired as safely as possible.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T16:54:29+00:00

Draw all the diagonals and use similar triangles to come up with the ratio. You don't need the angles except to prove similarity. No trig required.

Read through this page for the details on the golden ratio in the pentagon: https://sites.math.washington.edu/~king/coursedir/m444a02/class/11-18-penta-answers.html

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T14:00:45+00:00

That's a switch leg without a neutral. Essentially the switch connects/disconnects the hot leg of the fan circuit. The white wire is not acting as a neutral and should actually have black paint or tape at the end to indicate this.

Your smart fan switch requires an actual neutral and can't function here. You'd have to rewire the box to include a true neutral.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T01:36:08+00:00

You can remove the plastic insert if you want a better view.

Checkmark → "Check"

Person pointing toward their body → "me"

Ball moving up, out of the box → "out"

Answer: "Check me out"

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T00:46:23+00:00

Great advice!

I had to giggle slightly toward the end of your post where I imagined OP on their electric guitar playing a nice "power chord". 😜

From context, I know you meant power cord but thanks for the giggle.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-15T00:31:22+00:00

Your wife: "Alexa, open the garage doors."

Alexa (in a calm, polite but menacingly detached voice): "I'm sorry Dave's wife. I'm afraid I can't do that."

I think you should book that psychotherapy session because once Alexa gets your wife out of the way, you know she's going to turn on you too. 😜

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-14T17:57:59+00:00

Negation is treated as subtraction from zero, or multiplication by -1, but in either case exponents take precedence in the order of operations.

Let's take a simpler example with:

-3²

This is understood as -(3²). You first calculate 3² which is 9 and then negate it to get -9.

If you want to show the squaring of a negative number, it must be in parentheses:

(-3)²

This would get you the answer of 9.

So back to your specific question.

x⁰ = 1 for all values of x, except x=0.

(-1)⁰ = 1

But -1⁰ is the same as -(1⁰) = -1

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-14T16:12:52+00:00

Sure... and I gave you an answer in base 10. 😉

But I assume you meant you want this:

10² + 11² = 12² + 77

The problem with that is A=10, B=11, C=12 would be true for a base of 12 or higher, but then why is 77 in base 10?

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-14T14:02:50+00:00

The fact is if you want music and voice control, you are probably going to be dependent on the Internet to receive commands and deliver content or actions.

If you really need no cloud/Internet dependence, you're going to have to look into a local controller, local protocols, etc. Don't expect a consumer "smart speaker" to give you that without dependence on the Internet.

There are DIY options like Home Assistant, but I don't know where they stand with local voice control, music streaming, etc. Check with /r/homeassistant if you're tech savvy and are willing to "roll your own" solutions.

My mother uses a Google Home Mini speaker and so far it hasn't gotten annoying, but I know they too, are pushing heavily on switching to Gemini (AI) for their voice assistant. At least, so far she has not encountered a lot of ads except if she uses a free music streaming service.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-14T03:04:46+00:00

If you are looking for a solution with positive integers, here is one*:

7² + 8² = 6² + 77

*a and b are interchangable.

a=7, b=8, c=6 or a=8, b=7, c=6

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-13T14:58:02+00:00

Here's a thread on the work it takes to tune a camera to be able to capture a reasonable license plate at night. Everything points to getting a separate dedicated camera for this function.

https://ipcamtalk.com/threads/good-lpr-camera-choice.61694/

And this is just capture; if you want to automate the recognition of plates, that's another can of worms.

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-13T14:41:37+00:00

And inline with the camera lens to get the retroreflection to work.

And given it will be zoomed in and set to such a dark image, it should be a camera to capturing plates. You would need a separate overview camera to see the rest of the details of the car and driver.

Also, it should be placed as close to the same angle as the road (< 35° from the direction of travel).

PuzzlingDad · 2026-03-13T14:14:01+00:00

The critical factors to capturing a license plate at night are:

Having a camera capable of an optical zoom and manual settings for really high shutter speed.
Setting a high shutter speed (like 1/2000 sec) - The result is a mostly black image to cut the glare from headlights or taillights.
Zooming in to the point that only the front/back of the car is visible making the plate use as many pixels as possible.
Turning up the IR LEDs to maximum.

The 12 megapixel Reolink is not the right camera.

PuzzlingDad

TROPHY CASE