Hello everyone, and good evening. I got to old motorola phones (one fusion and a g8) and I’m gonna install ip webcam to put them to some use. Is there any other way I can make use of them with HA? Can I use their sensors for anything else?
The HomeAssistant app can pull data from a lot of smartphone sensors but it depends on what the sensors are vs how useful they will be. I tend to use the battery level sensor on my wall mounted devices that are used as HomeAssistant controllers. This way I can turn a smart switch on and off that controls the power brick that charges the tablet. It turns on at 30 percent and off at 80.
I also setup custom dashboards for devices based on location, near a door has camera feeds for multiple cameras and controls for lights and switches nearby. Master bedroom has automations that can kill every light in the house with feeds for a front door and back door.
I imagine you could run some apps to fetch rtsp feed but I am doubting the reliability of such setup. If its still running full android then it will be more pain to make it work as a 24/7 camera than to just use it as a control panel. Do let us know if you manage to utilise them, I am quite interested.
I went this route a while ago using old cellphones and ultimately found them not worth the “savings” over even thirty dollar IP cams. There are just too many fiddly things that interfere with their reliable operation:
- updates
- app crashes
- awkward placement and power delivery
- overheating
