I am staying in an apartment with a guarded entrance but somehow there are still quite a lot of house break-in cases that is never solved by the police. It is suspected that this is an inside job, done by some people who stays in the apartment. Some people goes out and comes back at a fixed time and this gives the burglar a pretty good opportunity to cut off the locks and get in the house to grab whatever they want.
Sometimes when I am away for a few days, I am always worried about my apartment. Thankfully I know my neighbor and I always inform them to keep an eye on my house. However, relying on neighbor is still not good enough because they can’t be looking out all the time so I needed something better which is can immediately notify me on my cellphone when there is a motion detected. The good thing about my apartment is the design where there is only one possible way to get in which is from the main door. So all I needed is to set up a motion detector that monitors the front door. This is my current setup and it works perfectly.
To set up a home based CCTV motion detection, I will need a computer running Windows, a webcam or an IP camera, motion detection software and a World-Text Email to SMS subscription for sending SMS text alert.
I already have a Logitech webcam connected to the computer running Windows so all I need to do is find a good working webcam software and set it up with World-Text. I found a lot of shareware webcam monitoring software that are quite expensive such as webcamXP, webcam7, Webcam Monitor, Netcam Watcher Pro but very few freeware that has the ability to take an action such as send email, run a program, upload to FTP or save file when a motion is detected. After searching around, I found Yawcam (Yet Another Webcam Software).
I like Yawcam because it’s free, ability to send email WITH SSL support when motion detected, uses very little CPU when motion detection is enable, supports password protected online Streaming using Javascript or Java Applet and has a scheduler so that I can set when to auto turn off the motion detector. Follow the steps below on how to setup your webcam as a motion detector using Yawcam software.
1. Yawcam runs on Java so make sure you already have Java installed. You can go to this link to check if you have Java installed.
2. Download and install Yawcam.
3. Run Yawcam and you should see the message “No device selected” at the Preview window. Go to Settings > Device (none) > Change to > and select your webcam that is displayed in the list.
4. Now click on the Window that is on the menubar and select Motion detection. The only thing that you will want to configure is the Actions tab. The actions tab let you decide which actions that shall be taken when a motion is detected. You can set it to:
Save an image file (or a sequence of files) to the local computer Upload images to an ftp account Send an e-mail (with or without images attached) Execute a program or batch file Play a sound file
5. To enable Motion detection, simply click on the “enable” button for Motion at the Control panel. Alternatively, if you’re at the Motion Detection window, you can click the enable button there too.
Now your webcam connected to your computer will act as a motion detector and will perform actions (if configured) upon detecting any motion. This is however not good enough for me because I want to get instant SMS text message on my mobile phone when detected a motion. Many years ago, Malaysian mobile carriers such as Digi, Celcom and Maxis offer “free” Email To SMS gateways which can be used to forward simple text emails to a mobile phones but they’ve stopped it long ago and my guess is due to abuse. Your country might still have this service running, just search in Google and I’m sure you can find it. The more concrete way is to just subscribe to a email to SMS gateway service as they are more reliable. I don’t want to save a few buck and ended up my house being break in to. So here’s how I set it up
1. Sign up for an account in World-Text. Make sure you enter a valid information on the application form.
2. Check your email and click on the activation link to activate your World-Text account.
3. You should receive a text message from World-Text containing 5 digit pin number. Enter the 5 digit pin in the activation link to verify your mobile number.
4. Login to your World-Text account.
5. Click on “Email Gateway Configuration” link.
6. Click on “Send SMS Using A Password” link and note down the “Current Secure ID“
Note: By default a new account gets 30 free credits. Sending a text message to Malaysia cost 15 credits per SMS. You can refer to the table from this link on how many credits are needed to send a text message to your country. You should buy more credits because the 30 free credits won’t be enough since you need to test send a few SMS alert to make sure that it’s working.
7. Go to Yawcam, click Window from menubar and select Motion detection.
8. Go to Actions tab and click the Settings button for Send-Email.
9. Fill up the Email settings accordingly.
To = [mobile_number]@sms.world-text.com
Replace [mobile_number] with your mobile number. You must include your country code. An example for Malaysia Maxis user is 60128883333@sms.world-text.com . You can refer to this page for more detailed instruction.
From = Your full Gmail address, example raymond@gmail.com
Subject = Your World-Text Secure ID
It’s the same Secure ID that you noted down in step 6 above.
Attach Image = CHECK
SMTP Server = smtp.gmail.com
Port = 25
Use encryption connection. (SSL) = CHECK
Password required = CHECK
Username = Your full Gmail address, example raymond@gmail.com
Password = Your Gmail password
As for flood control, I’d advice you to activate it or else it will send out really a lot of email alerts in one shot. I personally set it to send 1 email in every 60 seconds to prevent too many SMS. An example of
10. Click OK when you’re done and click the “enable” button at Motion Detection window. Try to create some motion in-front of your webcam and check the Motion Events tab. There should be information about motion events detected by Yawcam and what actions that were taken. If you got the settings right, you should instantly receive a SMS text message on your mobile with the message you set in the email settings window.
If you receive a text message alerting you that a motion is detected, log in to your Gmail email, go to Sent Mail folder and check the email sent by Yawcam. It should have an attached image of what tripped the motion detector. If you see a burglar, CALL THE POLICE!
Extra Note: There are some mobile carriers that has antispam installed and they won’t allow the sender ID to be in text such as World-Text, SMSAlert, SMS-Bureau, and etc. It’s safer if you configure World-Text’s default sender with numeric characters. Login to your World-Text account, at the Basic Configuration, you should see a drop-down option to change the Default Sender. Select any one with numbers and you’re done.
y i cant activate world text…i don get the message for the pin no…
a very useful one….
but there’s a problem here. when u enter to ur house through ur maindoor the motion detector will capture ur image too and send message to ur phone. the camera will capture your picture at least twice, which is after u activated the motion detector and u leave ur house, and also when u return from work or somewhere else. if this repeats everyday it will cost u quite a amount of money. anyway to set a timer for this motion detector?
Also check out this program:
spycamlizard.com
Made exactly for that.
Installed the webcam with your guide and it works great.
I have it looking at a room and at 85% sens and 30% tolerance I get some shadow alarms in the morning, but that is ok. I put a attractive box where the camera can see it. I just check the last image in the email and if the container is how it should be and the drawers on the hutch are all in, I’m confident that it is a shadow alarm. I might play with the settings a little more, but satisfied.
Note: it is not a video (obviously), so even if it shoots as fast as it can, if the person does not pause in view you might miss them. Put something attractive to make them pause in view.
House was broken into today. We live in an active neighborhood and two neighbors were home but did not see anything. Dash and Grab, cash and gold only. Thanks Cash4Gold for fencing goods, I guess it makes the dvd, computer, etc too much of a hassle when they can safely fence gold no problem.
Fixing door tomorrow and installing webcam with this plan.
The FTP works well if in near real time so it can upload pic before they steal the computer.. assuming they come back for the stuff the saw while here the first time.
take a look at brooksyounce.com/
one sang is that its motion detecter whenever capture nay alterantions , it gives the click sound , so sound perhaps to be on mute.
Ray,
Well done, as usual sir.
Does the Yawcam software control the standby state of the computer?
Are there any Windows OS settings that should be checked for quick re-start ?
Very nice tutorial, will come handy.
Thanks
@Dave Ash
Nice one.Liked the humor…
Maybe you got be more sophisticated,he he.
Not a very good idea Dave. I have wireless broadband and the computer’s power are backed up by a UPS that last a VERY long time :=P
When robbing Raymond’s home you should wear a mask and disconnect the phone line as soon as possible and take all PCs laptops that are there :=)
Great for away vacations. Thanks!
Nice one Raymond – thank you for an excellent article.
thanks workds grate i get free email-to-text with telus in canada :)
omg i bein waiting for this kind of program for a whilleee thanks so much!!!
thanks for the info Mr Raymond
any good web camera with nightvision?
Peace.
Only a geek like you can only post this article..
very nice one..
Thanks Raymond for your very useful info. . . more power…
yeah i have heard abt. it but such a detailed and wonderful tutorial; thanks raymond
Thank’s Ray,I have Logitech Pro for notebook webcam.I tried this motion detector software
Very good…
Yes any type of webcam if it can be installed on Windows.
Can this method be used for a non logitech webcam?
Thanks this will work well with AT&T as they offer their own email-to-text service for free.
Very detail tutorial on setup webcam as motion detector. I believe it will reduce the burglar happens if everyone take it seriously. Thanks for great sharing.
That’s Great Raymond :-)
Thank you very very much