ZoneMinder Forums

Does anyone know how to create a switch that could toggle the recording function of ZM?

When I'm away, I have a cat sitter that does a great job and I don't want to make her anxious knowing she is being recorded while taking care of my kitty.

She deactivates my Ademco Honeywell 20P alarm system at the front door and I'd like to ideally have that same keypad deactivate ZM. If that's too complicated, a separate keypad switch or even just a simple hidden toggle switch would do the job. I have a dedicated computer that runs ZM that is not easily accessible so I can't ask her to fuss with the ZM box itself.

I can't use cron jobs due to varying times of the visits.

Basically, the idea is to deactivate the ZM service temporarily and then turn it back on---both with the opening/closing of a physical switch that is likely to be 100 feet away from the ZM box.

I think something like this would be really useful for other things such as trusted relatives/friends who are house guests and would feel uncomfortable with being recorded.

simplest way i know of is a simple parallel interface you will have to do some coding for this should be very simple. depend on the alarm there should be some kind of armed light you can tie into to trip the system on and off. Same goes for the toggle switch

basically you will need at minimum of a parallel connector and a few transistors.
RadioShack should have most of it my guss is aroud $20-30 bucks if you dont have one local jameco.com you can pick most of this up for under $2+shiping bucks.

Also if you want a Amost ready to go example google python parallel.


If you need anymore help don't be afraid to ask.