MQTT update on autotrack move command?

[jakeycrx]

Hi,

I have my PTZ mounted on the gable wall of my house. The issue with this is that when auto tracking at night, it can pan round causing the gable wall to come into the field of view, which means the wall is lit up, but the rest of the image is dark.

I have come up with a crude solution to pan the PTZ away from the wall, but I have to constantly spam the Dahua API while Frigate is autotracking to check the PTZ pan position. I've noticed the video can get a bit glitchy during autotracking, which I'm guessing is due to the spamming of the API.

command_line:
  - sensor:
      name: "Dahua PTZ Pan Position"
      command: curl -s -g --digest -u user:password "http://192.168.1.2/cgi-bin/ptz.cgi?action=getStatus"
      unit_of_measurement: " "
      value_template: '{{ (value|regex_findall("status.Postion.0.=([\d\.]*)"))[0] }}'

My automation is set to constantly check the PTZ pan position while Frigate is autotracking using the state topic: frigate/dahua/ptz_autotracker/active I then pan the PTZ away from the wall in 10 degree increments until it is back into an acceptable pan range.

shell_command:
  dahua_ptz_move_right: curl -s -g --digest -u user:password "http://192.168.1.2/cgi-bin/ptz.cgi?action=moveRelatively&channel=1&arg1=0.05&arg2=0&arg3=0"

Is there anything in MQTT that will allow me to trigger the command line sensor only after an autotrack move command? Or can anyone think of a better way of doing this?

[hawkeye217]

There's nothing in Frigate's MQTT available other than what you're already using at frigate/camera_name/ptz_autotracker/active.

Some Dahua PTZs have firmware that enables a rotation limit. See this article: https://dahuatech.zendesk.com/hc/en-gb/articles/19548921760274-How-to-Set-PTZ-Rotation-Limit

Perhaps yours has that? Or you can update the firmware to get that?

[jakeycrx]

Unfortunately, my PTZ is an older model. I've updated it with the latest firmware which allowed autotracking, but there doesn't appear to be any limits in the cameras firmware.

[hawkeye217]

Bummer.

[jakeycrx]

I came up with a workaround. I've set my trigger for the automation to be when any of the tracked objects score changes to 0, that way I don't have to spam the camera with constant API requests. I've setup 5 presets with different tilt positions. The automation drives the PTZ to 1 of 5 presets depending on the tilt position, and if the pan position is over a certain value (pointing at the wall)