# NodeRed with Hikvision
**URL:** https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514
**Category:** General
**Created:** [31 May 2021 15:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514 "2021-05-31T15:28:42Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [31 May 2021 15:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/1 "2021-05-31T15:28:42Z")
Hello everybody
I have a Hikvision recorder at home, now I would like to download a momentary picture via Nodered and send it to my mobile phone .. preferably on Whatsapp .. Does anyone know how to do this?
I have already downloaded these Notes ([https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-hikvision-ultimate](https://flows.nodered.org/node/node-red-contrib-hikvision-ultimate)) and tried them out a little, but I haven't got any further ...
Many Thanks
---
### Author:  [@smithy](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/smithy)
#### Post date: [31 May 2021 17:09 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/2 "2021-05-31T17:09:54Z")
You might want to compliment with Pushover nodes, not sure how featured the WhatsApp API is, you should also take a look at Telegram.
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [4 June 2021 14:32 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/3 "2021-06-04T14:32:14Z")
I decided on Telegram .. And I have already set up Telegram so that I can send messages .. What do I have to do if I want to send a picture?
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### Author:  [@krambriw](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/krambriw)
#### Post date: [4 June 2021 14:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/4 "2021-06-04T14:35:06Z")
> [@automati](#):
>
> What do I have to do if I want to send a picture?
You have to lookup the documentation for how to do that
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### Author:  [@dynamicdave](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/dynamicdave)
#### Post date: [4 June 2021 18:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/5 "2021-06-04T18:04:51Z")
Something like this in a 'function' node should work...
Replace 'content' with the path to your image file.
'Caption' could just be... caption: "My caption" (In this example I'm getting it from a flow variable.)
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 10:47 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/7 "2021-06-06T10:47:11Z")
it doesnt work, what is wrong?
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 10:49 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/8 "2021-06-06T10:49:45Z")
Does the image open in an image viewer (is it a valid image)?
Attach a debug node to both outputs of the gray camera node - let me see what comes out of it.
Lastly, you dont need to even write a file - you can (potentially) send the image directly to telegram
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### Author:  [@zenofmud](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/zenofmud)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/9 "2021-06-06T11:04:03Z")
Is the image actually stored in a directory called 'root'?
that seems very unusual. I see that the owner of the image is 'root' so there may be a permission issue accessing the image.
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:28 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/10 "2021-06-06T11:28:49Z")
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:30 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/11 "2021-06-06T11:30:19Z")
Can the size of the picture still play a role?
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/12 "2021-06-06T11:31:06Z")
I need to see the debug output - is it a buffer? a base64 string?
> [@Steve-Mcl](#):
>
> Attach a debug node to both outputs of the gray camera node - let me see what comes out of it.
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:35 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/13 "2021-06-06T11:35:41Z")
Uploading: debug.PNG...
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:39 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/14 "2021-06-06T11:39:45Z")
try this...
- delete file node
- connect camera node to function
- changing your function to ...
```auto
msg.payload = {
content: msg.payload, //the image
caption: `Image from camera`,
type : 'photo',
chatId: "xxxx" // << update this
}
msg.payload.options = { parse_mode : "Markdown" };
return msg;
```
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:44 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/15 "2021-06-06T11:44:30Z")
I just have to adjust the chat ID?
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:45 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/16 "2021-06-06T11:45:49Z")
yes, to the correct chat id.
I dont know if it will work with base64 image - give it a go & let me know. If it doesnt work I'll show you how to convert it to a buffer (that will work)
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### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 11:48 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/17 "2021-06-06T11:48:26Z")
did not work
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 12:04 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/18 "2021-06-06T12:04:21Z")
As i suspected - but worth a try - now we know base64 doesnt work.
there are 2 options...
#### 1. best option
if that gray camera node can return a buffer - change it to return a buffer & it should work
#### 2. alternatively, convert base64 img uri to buffer
change function code to this...
```auto
var imgBase64 = msg.payload;
var pos = imgBase64.indexOf("base64,");
imgBase64 = imgBase64.substr(pos + 7);
var imgData = Buffer.from(imgBase64, "base64");
msg.payload = {
content: imgData,
caption: `Image from camera`,
type: 'photo',
chatId: xxxxx // << update this
}
msg.payload.options = { parse_mode: "Markdown" };
return msg;
```
---
### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 12:27 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/19 "2021-06-06T12:27:43Z")
didn't work either .. am I doing something wrong?
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### Author:  [@Steve-Mcl](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/Steve-Mcl)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 12:31 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/20 "2021-06-06T12:31:22Z")
> [@automati](#):
>
> am I doing something wrong
you need to return the msg at the end of the function (i assumed you realised that sorry)
add `return msg;` to the end of the function.
---
### Author:  [@automati](https://discourse.nodered.org/u/automati)
#### Post date: [6 June 2021 12:59 UTC](https://discourse.nodered.org/t/nodered-with-hikvision/46514/21 "2021-06-06T12:59:40Z")
it worked! Thank you so much!
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