I realize SHM has issues but all of my other things that trigger on it work and even with RM triggering off of SHM to open my garage when the alarm disarms it works so I added Blink cameras to the same rule to turn off and tried custom command disablecamera and it still did not turn off the cameras and the garage opened as it should.
Open IDE live logging and then run it. See if the commands at being called in live logging. It should give an idea of whatâs going on Itâs working fine here. Something isnât right itâll help pin point what.
Also make sure youâre on the latest codes.
Earlier today (not sure about now) I couldnât even get into most of my âthingsâ to refresh them (I wanted to verify everything was good as our power company had the power out for maintenance this morning) and kept getting errors. I eventually gave up. I guess Iâll never know for sure if my house is on fire, flooded, or being ravaged by thieves. Thanks, SmartThings!
As for SHM integration, Iâd say leave it if people like the feature when it works. It is easy enough for me to leave the feature off. I want the individual camera control, personally.
But while on the topic of app changes/enhancements, Iâve been meaning to mention one thing. In the manager, the snippets of text meant to explain the options can be a bit confusing based on where the horizontal separator/lines are. For example, when I look at the âSilent Alarmâ toggle, immediately below it with zero separation is the text âSelect the lights or switches to activate when motion is detected on the cameraâ. This makes it look like the text is explaining the toggle directly preceding it, especially since that text is followed by a horizontal line that essentially boxes the toggle and that text together. Same goes for the âSend Push Notificationâ toggle.
I think the SHM integration section of the app looks pretty good in terms of how things are laid out, but thatâs because it is in its own section. Iâm not sure if this issue is fixable or just how the SmartThings interface works right now, but I feel like the toggle/selector/whatever shouldnât be separated from its help text or maybe move all the toggles with no text explanation to a separate area.
And, somewhat related to the app layout, is there a way to not have the red âintruderâ indicator on the cameras? Sometimes that doesnât clear right away (frankly, Iâm not sure how to clear it at all, it just normally goes away eventually) but mostly I just donât want it at all and feel like I shouldnât be seeing it as I donât have any alarms selected in the âAlarm to turn on if motion is detectedâ selector. I havenât tried in a while, but in the past I had enabled the âSilent Alarmâ toggle thinking it might disable the feature, but it didnât seem to have any impact (likely because I have no alarms selected of course).
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Great feedback. Thanks will look into it. Iâve always felt the UI was cluttered.
Thatâs correct to emulate a motion sensor behavior it turns off automatically after 2 minutes. Maybe itâs to long and it should turn off in 1 minute. You can also disable it by clicking on it.
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Title says âOfficialâ does that mean itâs approved and supported by ST?
The beginning thread should also state that you need to buy the code. I saw the camera deal last night, Found the thread and read what it claims to do and how to install. Did not see any mention that the code was being sold. Installation should be 3 parts not 2. #1 should say Join my site for $10.
$10 is not a big deal but you should say this up front.
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Is the timeout for motion detection adjustable?
Also, I havenât read the whole thread yet, but WOW! This thing seems amazing!
Thanks a lot for putting this together.
I guess my only question is⌠why are we not all buying these and only these now? lol
Seriously though, I assume there must be pitfalls or at least shortcomings.
What (if any) are the arguments against this cam and/or this Device Handler and SmartApp combo?
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No unfortunately not yet, this is due to the minimum limitation of the ST platform timer right now, so the timeout is 2x the minimum resolution to avoid duplicate/recurring notifications. The camera tends to generate multiple events sometimes so the double is based on testing to make it more resilient. In future this would probably be made configurable.
Youâre welcome! Working closely with the Blink engg to make this successful. I have to thank them too.
Thatâs one of the things weâve been discussing with Blink to see how this camera can be a potential replacement for a regular motion sensor. Feel free to send in your ideas (here and to blink)
It currently takes 30-60 seconds to report motion detection, weâre working on a strategy with Blink to reduce this to a few seconds hopefully.
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With the 3.8.1 of the SmartApp this has been fixed, now itâs spaced with itâs own headers.
With 3.4.1 of the Device Handler, changed this to Blue and renamed to Motion when motion is detected to make it more inline with a standard motion sensor.
The biggest shortcoming of this cam for me is the recording length. At present, the max recording length is 10 seconds with a 10 second timeout before it can record again. I would would like at least 20 seconds of record time.
I have seen others complain about a small blue light that turns on when the camera is recording and the fact that the camera turns on a light to record in the dark. Neither of these bother me.
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Hi Blink Backer,
We have told you that it was coming, and we are excited to announce that it is finally here!!
As promised, starting today (March 24) through March 31 we are offering a special backer-only discount on Blink systems and add-on cameras!
To receive $30 off each Blink Home Monitoring System (any size), go here and use promo code KSDISCOUNT30 at checkout.
To receive $10 off each Blink Add-On Camera, go here and use promo code KSDISCOUNT10 at checkout.
Act now to get that extra camera or two youâve been waiting for, or to buy a system for those friends and family who have grown jealous of your new peace of mind. Donât miss out, order today!
Best,
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Orders are subject to local taxes.
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So temping⌠do I need more than 10?
@RBoy
Thanks a lot for the quick and thorough response. 
I suppose for the near-term, this might be OK. Iâd mainly be looking at these for cameras at this point.
However, in the future, when this has been fixed/modified, I could indeed see these replacing many motion detectors. Not all of them (too expensive), but for critical ones in critical spots or whatever, this would be very nice.
[quote=âErnieG, post:292, topic:40535, full:trueâ]
The biggest shortcoming of this cam for me is the recording length. At present, the max recording length is 10 seconds with a 10 second timeout before it can record again. I would would like at least 20 seconds of record timeâŚ[/quote]
@ErnieG
Thanks. Ya, 10 seconds (or even a minute) seems hilariously and dysfunctionaly short lol
I guess I understand the impetus for such a short duration (a battery-powered device, etc), but would definitely like to see this changed. In my case, I always like to have every security cam constantly recording all day long in an in-first/out-first approach. Oh well thoughâŚwith everything else about this thing, I guess itâs fine.
HmmmmâŚya, it seems odd to have a noticeable change of lighting (any lighting) on a device which has as one of its primary use cases being that of a security camera. lol Again though, oh well. I assume I could just put some black glob of something on the LED to block it or something, and I assume that, after hearing from the Community, theyâll most likely either remove it, or add a disable option somewhere/somehow eventually.
Thanks for the great feedback!
Is there an actual Blink forum?
Hi @sgnihttrams,
Blink post that they will look into expanding the recording time in the near future.
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For now this is it, another topic Iâve discussed with them. Theyâre working on setting one up, working through design options.
At the 10 minute and six minute marks, i.e., at 1:10, 1:16. 1:20 ST is showing a picture for each camera in the âactivity feed.â There is no motion and the pictures are not new. Activity feed also very slow to load. Is there a setting I can tweak or is this a bug?
Thanks.
On their site, it says that the Blink system is limited to 10 cameras. Is that the case here too, or different with this ST integration (not that I have plans for more than 10âŚyet)?
Also, does it have an option to plug in a power adapter to power it (I knowâŚitâs the opposite of what I would normally think of asking, but I have somebody with a use case where theyâd like to have cams plugged in instead of just relying on battery-life. Obviously, using other cams would be fine, but just checking on this oneâŚsince it seems so cool in so many ways)?
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quick thought, since I do notice that the more cameras I add, the slower the response time, I wonder if it would help to split the cameras up over multiple sync devices⌠too bad I would need 2 login to do that right now.