The Blink camera’s will arm when SHM goes into Away mode (when configured from the Blink Camera Manager). I think you’ve got the relationship backwards.
It doesn’t seem right to set SHM modes based on Camera arming/disarming, the causality of this should directed from parent → child, SHM determines the state of the state, the child (camera) should follow suite
You misunderstand me. I arm the SHM via the Goodbye! hub mode. I also tell the mode change to turn on the Blink cameras which are now available thanks to your great work with the code. I also manage my thermostat and mode change in there. With all of these things triggering at the same time, my home router and the ST hub are overwhelmed and don’t fire everything in this mode change.
That would be something to address with ST support. As a workaround instead of arming the cameras through the switch in the routines, configure the smartapp to arm the cameras when SHM changes mode (use the SHM integration features) offloading work from the routines.
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I am ahead of you. I decided to use the Smart Lighting to turn on the cameras at certain time and turn them off at another time.
Thanks for bouncing ideas with me.
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Anyone come up with a solution for getting notifications from a second blink module. I am installing a number of cameras in another location and just recieved this from Blink support:
Thank you for contacting Blink. Currently, the app doesn’t natively support Multi-System use. We are working hard to implement this feature. The temporary workaround would be to create 2 separate accounts for each system. You would need to sign out/in from the accounts to access the other one. This means that you would only receive notifications from the account that you are currently signed into. When we release Multi-System support, you would not need to do this anymore. When that feature is released, we will post an article on our Updates page linked below with more information. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
I have an email into support to clarify some issues but was wondering if anyone has come up with a solution other then manually logging into the other account when SmartThings notifies me via a motion sensor.
Have you tried using the Blink Camera Manager?
Install the SmartApp twice (you’ll need to modify one line in the code, make singleInstance to false), and login with different accounts into each SmartApp and it should give you what you need.
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I use Tasker and SharpTools for most of my integration but I’ve been meaning to give that a try. Now I have a reason knowing it can handle both modules. Thanks.
Give it a shot (we don’t have 2 sync module to try it yet) and let me know how it goes. It should work in theory
I have two sync modules but at present I have too many SmartThings hub issues to try this right now. Once they get the scheduler fixed I’ll give it a try.
Is anyone’s SHM not Arming since yesterday?
I removed Rboys smartapp for this reason yesterday. It appears to interfere with this. Once removed it works fine. For now I’m using the other smartapp available to arm and disarme blink based on home/away status.
There are multiple issues with routines and are buggy, ST aware of the issue and is working on fixing it.
If your Switch mode in the SmartApp is set to Camera, it will slow down the routines since EACH camera needs to be enabled, the better way would be to change the Switch mode to System instead of Camera and that will be more reliable as it arm/disarms the entire sync module and not each camera.
However, the right way is to use the integrated SHM options in the SmartApp to arm/disarm the cameras, don’t use it directly via the Routines. When SHM is armed/disarmed it notifies the app to arm/disarm the cameras. You can independently control the modes (arm/stay/disarm) via the SmartApp options.
All I want to do for now is to have my blink system armed when SHM is armed. I have one camera on my porch which is set for motion detection. I want to get a Blink notification/video when motion is detected for that one. The other one is inside and is not set up for notification as my dog would probably set it off all the time.
How would I set the options in your app up to do this?
Thanks for that info @RBoy.
@JvH, here is what is working for me(for now).
1) Turn off these:
2) Arm the Blink system via the Blink app. Make certain that all the cameras are enabled.
3) Setup you HH routines to turn on the Blink cameras as switches. (I was playing a round with this since 5AM and now SHM Ams(Away) properly).
Actually, this is exactly what you need to turn on to make it work. These switches are the appropriate way to interface with SHM without overloading other routines.
What you said about changing the default switch interface to System instead of camera is the second best solution and won’t overload the routines, but I would still prefer the option 1 above.
@JvH FYR also.
Is this “Switch mode” you are referring to the option in the Blink Camera Manager app labeled “Switch Interface Controls System instead of Camera”? And is that tied directly to the “Armed/Disarmed” toggle in the Blink app?
If so, how would a Routine trigger the Blink armed/disarmed switch? Would turning on one of the cameras as part of a routine turn the switch to “Armed” in Blink?
I think I may be making this more difficult then it is, but it seems confusing for some reason. Here’s an example:
I have 5 cameras: A, B, C, D, & E. Cameras A & B I don’t want to activate motion when in an “armed/away” mode, but cameras C, D, & E I do want to activate motion when in an “armed/away” mode.
In the Blink app, I would go into each camera’s setting and turn OFF Motion Detection Enable for cameras A & B, while turning ON Motion Detection Enable for cameras C, D, & E. When I “Arm” the Blink system from within the Blink app, cameras A & B are not armed for motion detection (the running man is grayed out) while cameras C, D, & E are armed for motion detection (running man is green).
I want to use the better way as recommended to toggle the arm/disarm switch instead of arming/disarming each individual camera:
HOW do I accomplish arming the system by using a Routine? Would I simply edit the Routine to turn on one of my Blink cameras? Does this arm the whole system leaving cameras A & B motion detection disabled?
Yes, please see the FAQ’s on the other thread to understand how it works.
Looks like this is getting more complicated than it should be, after reading let me know your feedback so we can simplify it.
If you want to control each individual camera, dont’ change any option, just turn on/off each camera (each camera will show up as a switch) from the Routines. This is the default behavior.
Individual camera can only be controlled via the Switch interface (ie. they show up as Switches to Smartapps and Routines).
However if you want to Turn on/off the Entire System (sync module), the way the Blink app does then you should use the SHM integration options (as shown in @lmosenko’s screen grab earlier). You can enable/disable the Entire System for Away, Stay, Off modes independently using the options in the Blink Camera Manager SmartApp. When this option is enabled it turns on/off ALL the Cameras in the System.
If you were to change the Switch Behavior option in the SmartApp and configure it to control the System instead of the Camera, then when you manipulate the switch from a Routine (since it controls the system and not the camera) it will enable/disable the system (sync module) and not modify the camera settings. (i.e. disabled will remain disabled and enable will remain enabled).
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So to summarize there are 3 ways to control the motion detection:
- Turn the switch on/off from the Routine, this will enable/disable each Camera individually (default behavior)
- Enable the SHM integration options in the SmartApp, this will turn on/off ALL cameras when SHM arms/disarms
- Modify the Switch behavior via the SmartApp to control the system instead of the cameras. This will now arm/disarm the system (sync module) instead of controlling each camera individually when the switch is turned on/off from the Routine.
Simply put option 3 is for advanced users, most folks just need option 1 or 2.
Does this help?
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@RBoy Thanks for your work on this. It is great. Quick question and I apologize if this has been answered anywhere on this thread as I haven’t read every entry, but with the blink camera manager can I use the motion detection for a camera anytime?
So for example my SHM is disarmed, I’m at home, but I want to use the camera motion detection to turn on lights when i enter the room. Is this possible?
See post #263 above. The Blink needs to be active/armed to report motion events.