I created another account with a different e-mail and was able to add a second Sync Module. I can now isolate the cameras that I always want enabled with those I want enabled when away using @Terafin’s app .
I have to log out and in to switch groups. However, some of the clips seem to be visible in both, but not all. Odd.
Blink Android app v1.1.20 released
Bug fixes and interface improvements
Fixed setup crash on some devices
That’s odd!
Are you adding the app twice? Do you have logs from when this is happening? I can try to look this evening!
No problem with your app. The oddity is the Blink app displaying some clips across accounts.
I just got this confirmation today:
Thank you for contacting Blink. If a camera is connected to a power source, it will prefer that over the batteries and then fail over to the batteries if there is an outage. Let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.
So keeping the battery in the unit while it is being powered via micro USB doesn’t hurt. I don’t know how useful that is. If a power outage occurs you will need a battery fail-over for your router and sync module depending on your home network setup; you may not be able to get access to the internet.
It is rather easy to add a UPS for the router and Sync Module. Once they release storage to USB, they will be covering all bases.
What other system can handle so many cord cutting scenarios that come anywhere close to the Blink price point?
Works great, I tested it out last night with an automated mode change to “night”.
Cheers,
Matthew
So Blink tech support finally got back to me from my ticket last week.
Strangle enough, even though everything is working fine now, they say when they checked my system logs I have a bad HUB.
So they e-mailed me an RMA form to fill out for a shipping label to send it back for replacement.
I’ll let you guys know when I send it to get an idea of turnaround for that.
Cheers,
Matthew
Anyone else noticing motion detection lag.
Last night when I got up to use the facilities, I walked past the door to the room where the camera is and it did not pick me up.
It did pick me up on the way back to bed, but I was already past the doorway before the recording started. I assume these units don’t pre-buffer to conserve battery power.
Cheers,
Matthew
I had a bad Sync Module, and they set up an RMA as well. I didn’t have to send the broken unit in first. A new module arrived via regular FedEx, not SmartPost, so it arrived relatively fast within a few days. I then used their packaging to return my unit.
@Terafin thanks for the great work on this SmartApp!
I’m not sure if I’m doing something wrong but it doesn’t seem to arm my blink system at all. I configured the modes I wanted to arm blink but it stays disarmed. It does disarm it when in armed mode than I change the status of my ST security to disarmed.
Does it only work if you tie it to the switch that is active (right now I have that section empty)?
I figured I want to arm blink when I’m in Away mode regardless if a door is open or not. Can I do that?
Thanks!
I had the exact same issue, I had to go into the routing itself and tell it what mode to set the system to when it executes.
For example, Good Night! Routine does not automatically set the mode to Night.
Cheers,
Matthew
Playing with the routines seems to make it work!
Thanks!
None. I never thought of using it as a stand alone system without the cloud recording since most of my IP cameras have SD cards slot capabilities built in and the thought of losing the camera and the data defeated the purpose of using local camera storage. I use a secure DVR system. But if you could hide the sync module along with all of the data in a secure place, then it could replace the need for secure cloud based storage while also being immune to power outages. I like it.
Let’s hope they deliver it.
I’m hoping they will allow pre-buffer and longer clip length options if locally stored. They haven’t really indicated how local storage will work.
Can’t hurt to ask. I recently requested:
in an email with support. Support has forwarded this thread link to their engineers so hopefully someone is watching our comments. I just want to be able to use the camera units as an all in one motion/temp/video trigger for all my SmartThings needs.
I’m pretty new to custom SmartApps/code, but have successfully installed and configured this app. Thanks a lot for writing it. I’ve got two questions though:
Where/How is the Blink username and password stored? Curious just how secure it is in that regard.
Not a question about this specific SmartApp, but how do people keep these custom apps up-to-date? I see there’s some GitHub integration, but I’m a noob to GitHub too. I know how to manually update the custom apps but the “getting notified of changes” bit is what I’m curious about and whether or not there is any automated way to install the updates. Or even just a way to link to GitHub so suck in your updated code and skip the whole copy/paste thing.
Sorry if that’s a basic question, but I couldn’t find anything on maintaining SmartApps in the community when searching, but maybe I had poor search terms.
Hi. I’m based in the UK where the voltage is 240V @ 50Hz. Is there any description on the Sync Module documentation the power input requirements? Does it accept a wide range of voltages?
I couldn’t find this info in Blink’s website and raising a ticket requires a Blink username. Thought it would be faster to ask Blink owners here. Many thanks.
Edit: another question- is 720P enough? I would have thought 1080P? Admittedly, the video ice seen is pretty clear. Hmmm.
I noted the ‘illuminator’ is not IR (from security gem video). What is it? A simple light source?
Hi Allen,
I’m not sure how this is stored, this would be a question for SmartThings - I can investigate a version of the SmartApp that takes only the token too!
I personally log into the https://graph.api.smartthings.com/ website every day or so and see if there’s any apps that have updated. I wish there was an auto update 
The Sync Module is powered by a micro-USB port. The AC adapter it comes with looks just like one you’d get on an iPhone (well, an American iPhone anyway) and supports 240V.
I’m not personally concerned with 720p and the illuminator is probably my biggest complaint–I didn’t realize it was just an LED light. It seems okay for most rooms, but our main floor is pretty open so it certainly doesn’t light the entire room up. But I’m likely to use two cameras on that floor anyway. I’ve not had any experience with the IR nightvision cameras, so I have no clue how good or bad it performs vs. those. In the future, I want to get some smart switches and hoping I can just fire up all the indoor lights in the event of camera motion at night and not bother with their illuminator.
Also, I can tell you Blink doesn’t detect motion through windows, which is on their FAQ, but pretty certain it wasn’t when I pre-ordered the cameras waaaaay back in August. Since they aren’t made for outdoor use I had planned on mounting one inside the house and just through a window. Picture looked great where I had placed it, but useless without the motion detector working. But, I guess this is a common problem (if only I had researched how motion detectors work ahead of time…) with IR-based motion detectors. Oh well, the price was hard to beat and they’ll get most of the job done, I may just have to buy an outdoor camera or research weather-proof enclosures.