Blink Camera Manager
Version 3.1.1
Okay finally managed to find a way to nail the issue of the busy server rejecting commands due to conflict. With this version if the server returns a busy/conflict, the app will queue the command and retry in 5 seconds and will keep retrying until the command is successful.
This should take care of the folks using multiple cameras and the not being to enable/disable them through routines. This will also solve the issue to doing photo bursts.
Yep I know itâs blink, can see it in the response from the server, so the solution was to wait and retry. However itâs taken time because the platform is so badly broken itâs been a nightmare trying to figure out how to get it to work. If anyoneâs interested read this thread: Bug in Parent Child Devices
so has anyone tried the usb port on the Blink hub?
Saving video to USB is not yet supported.
http://support.blinkforhome.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2321448-features-coming-to-blink
You were right. My developer was taken away. Not sure why. ST support was very responsive. Initial level support responded in two hours reporting he escalated to an âengineerâ who fixed it within 24 hours. Thanks for the continued effort to get this app right.
So Iâm still having the problem with the âissues with your networkâ error when trying to save/initialize the app, but turning the cams on/off in succession seems to work most of the time now. Doing so with routines is not as straightforward it seems. I made two new routinesâone that just turns all three cams on and another than turns all three off. The disable routine works most of the time, the enable routine almost always tosses an error. Maybe it is the ST platform, but frankly, if the platform is truly this unreliable it may be time to cut my losses. Routine logs below:
Disable routine:
1:20:01 PM: info HH ROUTINE ACTION COMPLETED id:7d2a24f6-542d-45e0-a733-b8b3eb4f702a elapsed:7.422 1:20:01 PM: trace getSuffix(), index: null 1:20:01 PM: trace prefix(turned'): I turned 1:20:01 PM: debug dimmedList: [] 1:20:01 PM: debug offList: [Blink front entry, Blink garage, Blink kitchen] 1:20:01 PM: debug onList: [] 1:19:54 PM: info HH ROUTINE ACTION STARTED id:7d2a24f6-542d-45e0-a733-b8b3eb4f702a 1:19:54 PM: trace settings: [offSwitches:[Blink front entry, Blink garage, Blink kitchen]] 1:19:54 PM: debug HH execute(), newMode: null
Enable routine:
1:26:40 PM: error java.util.concurrent.TimeoutException: Execution timed out after 40 units. Start time: Sat Mar 05 18:25:58 UTC 2016 @ line 342 1:26:40 PM: debug dimmedList: [] 1:26:40 PM: debug offList: [] 1:26:40 PM: debug onList: [Blink front entry, Blink garage, Blink kitchen] 1:25:58 PM: info HH ROUTINE ACTION STARTED id:e65cb879-33c8-4a66-a025-0494ec61de0e 1:25:58 PM: trace settings: [onSwitches:[Blink front entry, Blink garage, Blink kitchen]] 1:25:58 PM: debug HH execute(), newMode: null
Yeah I know frustrating. Guess you just have a bad cloud instance cause Iâm able to turn it on and off 20 times in succession and no timeouts. It queues all the commands retries then until succeeds.
Try your luck with ST support and maybe they can fix your slow instance issue, I know the some tools. Itâs a cloud unfortunately with little control you have.
The real answer is to push ST to allow users to run apps locally on your v2 hubs. Atleast thatâs why I bought the v2 hub.
Itâs in the pipeline but I guess they need a bigger push
In trying to update to 3.3.1 I now get the ânetwork issueâ when updating the app. However, whatever changes I make in the app are saved, even though ST states changes will be lost. I see the changed items in the app itself and in the Ide.
As far as photo bursts, with Rule Machine it is better but not exact. It takes some percentage (it varies) of the number of photos requested in the app.
Motion detection has not worked in any version of the device handler or the app, neither in Rule Machine or the Blink Camera Manager app. For the camera device, the ide does not show any jobs that are stuck. It shows jobs completed and a future job.
In addition to these issues, the new toggle to control the cams vs. the entire sync module doesnât seem to have any impact eitherâunless of course my ânetwork issueâ is preventing this change from being saved. But like you said, it sure seems like it is saving my changes. But when I switch back to the original behavior of arming/disarming the entire Blink system at the sync module, nothing changes. Tapping the on/off switch of a single cam only enables/disables motion for that individual camera. Thereâs still the âSystem Active/Inactiveâ tile in each cameraâs view, but that switch isnât exposed anywhere else in ST as far as I can tell. In other words, if I want to just enable or disable my entire Blink sync module via routines, I canât. This is primarily what I want, though I think using the cams as an additional motion sensor would be cool too.
Iâd also kind of like to be able to disable the whole âalarmâ function where the cam shows up in red due to an âintruderâ, but I canât seem to figure that out (or maybe it isnât possible). But mostly, I just want to be able to arm/disarm my Blink system automatically for now and maybe get fancier if ST ever gets things together with the bugs. FrustratedâŚ
To disable the entire system, set the switch in the Blink Camera Manager app, hit done, get the error, and then back out of the app (arrow on top left). The Blink switch that is exposed to apps will now turn off the whole system instead of an individual camera. Just tested with Rule Machine and it worked. Create a new rule, do not use an existing rule. See if that works for you.
Why do you say that? Did you go through the FAQâs?
Blink Camera Manager
Version 3.1.2
@awc @ErnieG - this should make a significant difference to your initialization routines and hopefully no more timeouts due to the slower platform/time limits
The initialization of the app works properly now. Thank you. Still no luck with motion detection.
Open IDE Live Logging (filter by your camera and app logs once you see stuff showing up)
Are you seeing the Check for Motion timer fire every 60 seconds? If not then the platform isnât firing the timer for your instance and youâll have to contact ST support (they have some tool to fix your timer issues). If yes then PM me what you see in IDE Live Logging.
I say this because while each camera is exposed as a switch in ST, when I enable the âSwitch Interface Controls System instead of Cameraâ toggle, the behavior doesnât seem to change. Each cam switch merely enables/disables motion for that cam only. Iâd expect one of two things when this toggle is onâan additional switch in ST to toggle the Blink sync module arm/disarm (to be used with rules or routines) or when I toggle any one of my cams it would just turn the entire system on/off like it did in an early iteration of this app. Since I couldnât properly initialize the app earlier (thatâs working great now, btw) I wasnât sure if that was the issue but it seems not.
Anyone else using this toggle successfully? I still get timeouts in ST when trying to turn all three cams on/off via routines, so Iâd rather just do the entire system until ST cleans things up on their end.
As I indicated above, it worked for me. I just had to redo the rule for it to work. Did you recreate the rule /routine after changing the options in the Blink Camera Manager?
Yes it does, enabling the option now changes the way the âSwitchâ interface works instead of a the camera it controls the sync module. Please read the FAQâs again the differences between the commands interfaces and switch interfaces. Command interfaces do not change behavior, switch interfaces do.
Blink Camera Manager
Version 3.2.0
NOTE: Make sure youâre using Version 3.1.0 of the Blink Camera Device Handler
Folks with 2 cameras will see a 50% reduction in ST instance load and those with up to 10 cameras will see a 90% reduction in load factor (and consequently timeout issues)
@ErnieG
Iâm not even attempting to use a routine yet because I havenât been able to get the camera switches to flip off the Blink sync module arm/disarm setting yet. Iâm just trying to get manual operations from the âThingsâ list to work.
@RBoy
Iâve read that FAQ a few times now. So either Iâm misinterpreting it or not wording my problem very clearly.
Iâve got the system interface set the way I want:
Iâve got three camera switches, all currently enabled (I also ensured the system was armed in the Blink app):
Next, I tap the first switch to turn it (which as I understand it should be the entire Blink system now) off:
But, all that happens is that the âfront entryâ just has motion alerts disabled:
And the corresponding view in the Blink app:
If this is how it is supposed to work, then clearly Iâm misunderstanding something. Oh, and for good measure, the logs:
12:30:20 PM: trace Disable Camera Motion Alerts sent successfully: true 12:30:20 PM: trace Generate Event called: [['name':'enableStatus', 'value':'off']] 12:30:20 PM: debug LOG FROM PARENT>Got camera Blink front entry -> Motion Alerts enabled status false 12:30:19 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Querying Blink: /network/7510/cameras 12:30:19 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Getting All Cameras Details 12:30:19 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>First sync module NetworkID: 7510 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Querying Blink: /networks 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Getting first Sync Module network ID 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Getting Camera Motion Alerts Status for Blink front entry 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Command result: Command succeeded 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Querying Blink: /network/7510/command/2956723 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Getting state of command: 2956723 12:30:17 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Successfully sent Disable Camera Motion Alerts, command Id: 2956723 12:30:16 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Configuring Blink: /network/7510/camera/28161/disable 12:30:16 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>First sync module NetworkID: 7510 12:30:16 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Querying Blink: /networks 12:30:16 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Getting first Sync Module network ID 12:30:16 PM: trace LOG FROM PARENT>Disable Camera Motion Alerts called by Blink front entry 12:30:16 PM: debug Disabling Camera Motion Alerts
