Oil Level Notifier

Automated oil tank level monitoring using UniFi Protect camera and Claude AI vision analysis.

Features

• 📷 Grabs snapshots from UniFi Protect camera
• 🤖 Analyzes oil gauge using Claude AI vision
• 📊 Logs all readings to CSV file
• 📧 Email alerts when oil drops below 25%
• 💾 Saves all snapshots to images/ directory

Setup

1. Install Dependencies

python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install anthropic python-dotenv Pillow requests

2. Configure Environment Variables

Create a .env file with:

# UniFi Protect Configuration
UNIFI_HOST=your-unifi-host
UNIFI_API_KEY=your-api-key
CAMERA_ID=your-camera-id

# Anthropic API
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your-anthropic-api-key

# Email/SMTP Configuration (optional - defaults to localhost:25)
SMTP_SERVER=localhost
SMTP_PORT=25

3. Generate UniFi Protect API Key

1. Log into UniFi Protect web interface
2. Go to Settings → Integrations
3. Create a new API key
4. Copy the key to UNIFI_API_KEY in .env

4. Find Camera ID

python3 list_cameras.py

Copy the ID of your oil gauge camera to CAMERA_ID in .env.

5. Get Anthropic API Key

1. Go to https://console.anthropic.com/settings/keys
2. Create a new API key
3. Add billing/credits if needed
4. Copy to ANTHROPIC_API_KEY in .env

Usage

Check Oil Level Once

python3 check_oil_level.py

This will:

• Grab a snapshot from the camera
• Analyze the gauge with Claude
• Save the image to images/
• Log the reading to oil_level_log.csv
• Send email alert if oil is below 25%

Schedule Automated Checks

Add to crontab to check daily at 8 AM:

crontab -e

Add:

0 8 * * * cd /Users/jgoulah/dev/oil-notifier && /Users/jgoulah/dev/oil-notifier/.venv/bin/python3 check_oil_level.py

Configuration

Alert Threshold

Edit check_oil_level.py to change the alert threshold (default: 25%):

ALERT_THRESHOLD = 25  # Alert when oil level drops below this percentage

Email Address

Email alerts are sent to jgoulah@gmail.com by default. To change, edit:

ALERT_EMAIL = "your-email@example.com"

Files

• check_oil_level.py - Main script
• list_cameras.py - List available cameras
• get_camera_snapshot.py - Helper for camera snapshots
• oil_level_log.csv - Reading history
• images/ - Snapshot storage
• test/ - Test and diagnostic scripts
• .env - Configuration (not in git)

Troubleshooting

Email Not Sending

The script uses localhost SMTP by default. To use an external SMTP server, add to .env:

SMTP_SERVER=smtp.gmail.com
SMTP_PORT=587
SMTP_USERNAME=your-email@gmail.com
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-app-password

Then update the script to use authentication.

Inaccurate Readings

The system is calibrated for readings within ±5-10%. If readings are consistently off:

1. Check camera angle hasn't changed
2. Review saved images in images/ directory
3. Adjust crop coordinates if needed (see test/crop_gauge.py)

Cost Estimate

• UniFi Protect API: Free
• Anthropic Claude Sonnet: ~$0.01-0.02 per reading
• Daily checks: ~$0.30-0.60/month

oil-notifier