@GazUpNorth  Tapo camera has privacy mode and can be scheduled on/off via the smart action>automation feature, maybe this can help in your situation.

  @Summer_S 

Thanks. No the camera is on a live stream so needs to remain public at all times. It is the Contacam software I need to schedule, there is a way to do this I think, just need to work out how !

  @KiwiDave  @nwchris

Contacam works, second night running it and I got a meteor !

  @GazUpNorth Hi Gary, congrats on your first rock!

I am still in Florida, so I am going to try to explain turning off the Contacam by going remotely to my Canada computer.

Turning off cameras during the day:

1. go to advanced:

2. click on the question mark in the upper right about batch files and follow instructions:

They will have you use Windows Task Scheduler, it is pretty cool actually (I can't believe I said that).

It is a bit tricky, but I'm no programmer and I eventually got it.

Here's  my ON batch file for three cameras:

@echo off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.133_554\CAMERA.bat" on
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.146_554\CAMERA.bat" on
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.174_554\CAMERA.bat" on
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.133_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 60
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.146_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 60
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.174_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 60

And my OFF batch file:

@echo off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.133_554\CAMERA.bat" off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.146_554\CAMERA.bat" off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.174_554\CAMERA.bat" off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.133_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 0
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.146_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 0
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.0.174_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 0

I did this months ago, and may have missed something, but it should get you started.

The net result is that you will see this during the day if you open Contacam:

So, Contacam still running, but cameras are shutdown. If you want a peek at the camera, click on the camera with the slash icon at the bottom.

If the IP changes on your camera, you will have to edit the batch file.

This will greatly reduce, but not eliminate CPU and memory usage. Handy if you use the computer during the day.

Post back if you have questions.

-Chris

  @GazUpNorth PS: rocks have been deadsville in January for me.

-Chris

  @nwchris 

Thanks for this, I've tried to set it up, fairly sure I have the correct info, just swapped the IP address for my camera in place of yours, so…

@echo off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.1.9_554\CAMERA.bat" on
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.1.9_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 50
 

@echo off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.1.9_554\CAMERA.bat" off
call "C:\ContaCam\192.168.1.9_554\CAMERA_REC_SENSITIVITY.bat" 0

Not sure what I need to do with this tho, where do I need to paste it/do I have to edit the original batch file ? Do I need to create 2x new batch files one for on and one for off ? Unsure how to edit or create these batch files.

When I open the Contacam folder there is a Camera windows batch file, a Camera PHP file and a Camera text document. I have no idea what these files do ?! Do I just edit the text file ?

Sorry for being a thicko, this is a steep learning curve for me !

  @nwchris 

PS - Got another meteor this evening ! Shame it was cloudy tho, just looked like a bright white flash.

  @GazUpNorth  No problem. You now need to dive into Windows Task Scheduler as descibed in the Contacam blue question mark when you go to Advanced Camera Settings:

It's been a while since I did mine, but it's been working well for me. Have a go at it, I can dig back into mine if you are stuck, but the Contacam guide was pretty good, I recall.

The flashes I get a lot of, too. I think they are satellite solar panels that happen to reflect the sun directly at the camera for an instant.

-Chris

  @nwchris 

Thanks, the task scheduler looks fairly straightforward tbh, but it's the batch files I'm stuck at, where do I paste this new batch file information ? Do I change the original 'camera' batch file ? Not sure how to edit that ? Seems like there are 3 'camera' files, a batch file (no idea how to edit that), a PHP file and a text file. This is the bit I'm stuck on. I hope once I've worked it out the windows task scheduler should be easier to deal with.

PS - Not sure if it was a satellite flare, see them occasionally, but this thing was very bright indeed ! Someone on an astro forum suggested it could actually be cloud to cloud lightning discharge ?  

  @GazUpNorth Good questions. I struggled with this also, I seem to recall.

You do not change the batch files in the boxes.

The batch files I created I saved in c:/contacam folder. They will be started by Wiindows task scheduler, and then "call" the batch files in the boxes.

To save the batch files I think I saved them as .txt files, then renamed the txt extension to .bat. It was a while ago, I hope I'm not leading you astray.

When its all done you can test the batch files by double clicking them in Windows explorer, and you should see a little command prompt box pop up showing:

The camera has to be "on" for this to work.

By the way, if I have to use the computer for large tasks that need CPU or memory resources I will shut the cameras off completely by clicking the small X here:

until I see this:

In this state the batch files will not work. therefor you need to restart camera(s) by:

I have found that closing or minimizing the Contacam program does not stop the cameras from turning on, your system may be different due to settings that I'm not sure about.

About the flares, I'm pretty sure they are satellites as I had a few that you can see the slow moving satellite just before and after the flare. But I could be wrong.

Wow, long post. Let me know how it goes!

-Chris