No auto switch to night mode in a Raspberry Pi OS install

[straytachyon]

Hi, I have a pi 3 with a fisheye camera (https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32982250982.html 5MP OV5647 Webcam) that comes with two IR lamp. I used to run motionEyeOS on it and the camera will switch to night mode if the light gets too low, and switch to normal mode when there is enough light. I have decided to install the latest version of Raspberry Pi OS, installed motion through apt-get and installed motionEye by following the installation instructions. After playing with the configurations, the system works pretty much the same as before. However, there is a problem with the night mode switch. The camera will not switch to the night mode. I have to manually change one of the settings through the motionEye web interface (to restart motion?), then the camera will be in night mode

Can you please tell me what is wrong with my system? Thanks a lot

motioneye.conf conf_path /etc/motioneye run_path /var/run log_path /var/log media_path /media/motioneye log_level info listen 0.0.0.0 port 80 motion_control_localhost true motion_control_port 8080 motion_check_interval 10 motion_restart_on_errors true mount_check_interval 300 cleanup_interval 3600 remote_request_timeout 10 mjpg_client_timeout 10 mjpg_client_idle_timeout 10 smb_shares false smb_mount_root /media enable_reboot false smtp_timeout 60 list_media_timeout 120 list_media_timeout_email 10 zip_timeout 500 timelapse_timeout 500 add_remove_cameras true http_basic_auth false

motion.conf

@enabled on

@normal_password

webcontrol_html_output on webcontrol_port 8080 setup_mode off webcontrol_parms 2 webcontrol_localhost on camera camera-1.conf

camera-1.conf

@webcam_resolution 100

@upload_subfolders on

@upload_server

@enabled on

@network_server

@upload_username

@motion_detection on

@upload_port

@upload_location /FrontDoor

@preserve_movies 30

@network_username

@upload_movie on

@id 1

@webcam_server_resize off

@upload_password

@manual_record off

@upload_method post

@upload_picture on

@working_schedule_type outside

@network_password

@upload_service gdrive

@preserve_pictures 365

@storage_device custom-path

@manual_snapshots on

@network_share_name

@upload_enabled on

@network_smb_ver 1.0

@working_schedule

@clean_cloud_enabled off

ffmpeg_output_movies on threshold_maximum 0 stream_quality 50 threshold 251942 quality 85 noise_level 31 ffmpeg_output_debug_movies off pre_capture 1 noise_tune on smart_mask_speed 0 stream_maxrate 5 output_pictures best stream_localhost off ffmpeg_variable_bitrate 75 ffmpeg_video_codec mp4:h264_omx text_changes off movie_filename %Y-%m-%d/%H-%M-%S movie_passthrough off auto_brightness off stream_port 8081 rotate 0 stream_auth_method 0 threshold_tune off framerate 2 emulate_motion off snapshot_filename %Y-%m-%d/%H-%M-%S despeckle_filter snapshot_interval 0 minimum_motion_frames 20 stream_motion off target_dir /media/motioneye/FrontDoor text_double on vid_control_params video_bitrate_mode=0,sharpness=0,saturation=0,auto_exposure_bias=0,power_line_frequency=1,iso_sensitivity=1,h264_level=11,compression_quality=85,h264_i_frame_period=60,blue_balance=1000,scene_mode=0,contrast=0,color_effects_cbcr=32896,auto_exposure=1,exposure_time_absolute=1000,exposure_metering_mode=0,iso_sensitivity_auto=1,rotate=0,brightness=25,video_bitrate=10000000,white_balance_auto_preset=1,color_effects=0,h264_profile=4,red_balance=1000 post_capture 1 lightswitch 0 stream_authentication user: output_debug_pictures off on_picture_save /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/motioneye/scripts/relayevent.sh "/etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf" picture_save %t %f on_movie_end /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/motioneye/scripts/relayevent.sh "/etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf" movie_end %t %f text_left FrontDoor picture_filename %Y-%m-%d/%H-%M-%S locate_motion_style redbox locate_motion_mode off videodevice /dev/video0 max_movie_time 0 on_event_end /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/motioneye/scripts/relayevent.sh "/etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf" stop %t text_right %Y-%m-%d\n%T on_event_start /usr/local/lib/python2.7/dist-packages/motioneye/scripts/relayevent.sh "/etc/motioneye/motioneye.conf" start %t camera_name FrontDoor event_gap 30 height 1944 mask_file width 2592

[yurnov]

I looked at a description of this camera and seems like this mode switch is a feature of the camera itself/camera driver in Linux, so, looks like it is not a question to motioneye, rather to the camera vendor how this feature is supported on the latest versions of Raspberry Pi OS.

[starbasessd]

As you have discovered, any auto switching between daytime (no IR) to night time (IR) modes are usually handled by the camera itself. Were there any other changes / additions made (like HA or external IR lights or accessories)? Maybe additional software? If so, I would check the command: vcgencmd get_throttled to see if it is overheating or going under-voltage.

[straytachyon]

Thanks guys. There was no hardware change. The system was able to switch to the night mode automatically when it was running MotionEyeOS.

vcgencmd get_throttled throttled=0x70000

Arm frequency capped has occurred Throttling has occurred Soft temperature limit has occurred

I suspect the throttling was caused by video encoding though.

[starbasessd]

It is overheating. This causes all sorts of problems. What other software are you adding that is running on RaspberryPiOS that wasn't available in motionEyeOS? What changed? If you switch back to motionEyeOS, does the camera switch normally? What does the vcgencmd get_throttled report then?

[straytachyon]

I used the Raspberry Pi OS Lite image and installed only motion and motioneye. cat /etc/debian_version 10.10

motion version is 4.1.1

Under MotionEyeOS, the video was encoded using the h264/OMX codec while the current setup is using the h264 codec (i assume that because i see this in the motion.log: ffmpeg_set_codec: Preferred codec h264_omx has been blacklisted)

[straytachyon]

Oh, motion does crash a lot in the new setup. I assume it crashed because the camera feed stopped and if i changed one setting in the MotionEye web interface, the camera feed came back

[starbasessd]

Sounds like it was maybe 'borderline' in motionEyeOS, and fails in RPiOS (thermally speaking), or coincidentally failed when you switched. Your changing a setting and the system forcing a restart to get it back up again is an indication of the thermal throttling. Try finding a way to cool the case, put in heat sinks, etc. You could try another Pi3B, 3B+ or 4B. I don't know which instructions you used to install motion, but the latest instructions install motion 4.2.2, and 4.3.2 is available and tested working. Might be more 'efficient'...

[straytachyon]

the Debian repo only has motion 4.1.1 i guess.

[starbasessd]

The Raspberry Pi OS install instructions do not use the Raspbian repo or the Debian repo, it uses the motion github: https://github.com/ccrisan/motioneye/wiki/Install-On-Raspbian wget https://github.com/Motion-Project/motion/releases/download/release-4.2.2/pi_buster_motion_4.2.2-1_armhf.deb dpkg -i pi_buster_motion_4.2.2-1_armhf.deb To get 4.3.2 just change the 4.2.2-1 to 4.3.2-1

[straytachyon]

Installed motion 4.3.2 as instructed. Let's see if the auto switch to IR mode will work tonight

Thank you very much for your help

[straytachyon]

Screenshot at dusk https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ajMWEtZoGAco2Gts9H3PJKCoSVTaf9pc/view?usp=drivesdk

IR mode had not turn on yet. I know that because the camera will switch to IR mode with a “click” if I block the light sensor Auto brightness is off. Turning it on will make the image fluctuate between higher and lower whiteness with zero image improvement

[straytachyon]

Things are worst with motion 2.3.2. Restarting motion by changing settings on the web interface or restarting the motioneye service will not switch to IR mode.

[starbasessd]

Did you try to re-load motionEyeOS? Which version were you using before?

[straytachyon]

Not yet. I used the latest version of motioneyeos. Don't remember the exact version

I removed the camera and add it back as before (V4L2, mml something type) and the camera is in IR mode now

[starbasessd]

CSI ribbon cable cameras are always MMAL, not V4L2.

[straytachyon]

The camera didn't switch from IR mode back to normal mode this morning. The image is almost all white due to excessive high ISO. Iso Sensitivity Auto was set to true. Changing a setting make the image back to normal.

[starbasessd]

Do a clean install of the camera. Do not change ANY settings for the camera (I think you are editing the camera-1.conf file directly) Find out if it is changing mode (night/day) correctly. If it is, then change one item at a time, until you find out which one is not supported on your camera, which one breaks the switch from night to day.

[straytachyon]

Nope, I never edited the camera config directly. I made all changes through the web interface

[starbasessd]

Where is: Iso Sensitivity Auto was set to true.

[straytachyon]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UI062mvL0IHANSvIfnoXvLk-Y9H5jcjX/view?usp=sharing

[starbasessd]

MotionEyeOS and Fast Network Camera set? What is the Motion, motionEye, and OS versions under Settings, General?

[straytachyon]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1797Nwq_M3M9DxoFCiu53z_IWI3MAO2_J/view?usp=sharing

[straytachyon]

Not fast network camera, the camera is what I bought from AliExpress and it is connected directly to the Pi with the FFC cable.

[starbasessd]

I don't know. None of my V4L2 cameras give me those options in MotionEye. I only get those options in motionEyeOS with Fast Network Camera on MMAL type cameras. What do you get when you delete the camera, re-install it as MMAL type instead of V4L2? What do you get for: vcgencmd get_camera

[straytachyon]

supported=1 detected=1

[straytachyon]

I added the camera with camera type "Local V4L2 Camera" and camera "mmal service 16.1"

I'm gonna delete it and add it back as "Local MMAL Camera" and "VideoCore Camera". Let's see what happens tonight

[starbasessd]

Again, What do you get when you delete the camera, re-install it as MMAL type instead of V4L2? Delete existing setup Install new camera Select MMAL instead of V4L2 in dropdown box

[straytachyon]

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1c7SP1YOoV-y6WA_pQZkODGtebV-Enj-n/view?usp=sharing

[starbasessd]

So what was the result of adding as MMAL? Did it auto-switch?

[straytachyon]

I was thinking of testing for a few more days because motion kept on crashing (the image stuck), but I suppose it did switch mode with the MMAL type selection

[starbasessd]

I would bet, if you can ssh into it, that vcgencmd get_throttled shows a non 0x0 result, and the logs show high temperatures.

[straytachyon]

throttled=0x20000 Binary: 100000000000000000 'Throttling has occurred since last reboot.'

sudo vcgencmd measure_volts core volt=1.3188V

sudo vcgencmd measure_temp temp=58.5'C

[starbasessd]

Barrel connector? That's 12V. The Google Nexus Player power supply isn't designed for 5.1v, 3amp power. Using vcgencmd to measure the voltage doesn't really help, unlike doing the temps. The get_throttling command lets you know what the system has done to self-protect. Try a different power supply, or power cord.

[straytachyon]

Forgot to thank you for your help. Thanks a lot

[straytachyon]

I’ll try to find another power supply then

[starbasessd]

BTW, phone/tablet chargers, even if rated correctly, seldom can keep the voltage up when pulling anywhere near their full rated current (hence the voltage drop and throttling...) You're welcome, that's what I'm here for, my payback to CCrisan and the community.