[DEPRECATED] Blink Camera Device Handler with Motion Sensor, Live Video Streaming, Integration with SmartThings/SHM, Temperature, Signals and Push Notifications

Does Blink use WIFI? If so I’m assuming it should work fine in the UK correct?

Works perfectly fine in the UK, got 5 myself.

All the cameras talk back to their own sync module (included in the kits). I believe its over the 2.4Ghz (wireless) frequency but not 100%

Kraeg

1 Like

Don’t know if there is a different version for UK, but the US version is 2.4Ghz WiFi and to keep power usage to a minimum communicates between sync module and cameras at 900Mhz.

1 Like

Great Job RBoy. I have a couple questions.

  1. I’m able to arm and disarm the camera using the routines and/or modes (away, home) but when armed, I cannot get the cameras motion sensors to show motion (staying inactive) in the app nor does the movement turn on my siren when movement is happens. The Blink Camera App records the clips like it should and I can see the blue light turn on when I walk by, but it does nothing to with my siren.

  2. Is there a way to delete the images taken in the ST app under each individual cameras section? I see how to save it to the phone and etc, but how do I remove them?

Thanks for your time. I tried to read through your FAQ before posting.

Guys -
what means “developer account” in very first post and how to to opt-in for ?
I log in to graph.api.smartthings.com with my SmartThings email and passwd (the same i created when registered my hub and the same i use in my phone app) and did not find any way to " to opt-in for the developer account".
Thanks,
Serge

  1. This is just a device handler, you’ll need to get an appropriate SmartApp to take action on the motion event (turn on alarm, lights etc). Here is one:

2. No, those are ST app features, you can submit a request to ST support to create those features in their app

Is there somewhere we can help get this feature request bumped up the list? I’d love to have this feature in ST.

2 Likes

###Blink Camera Manager - Version 5.6.0

  • Added support for ability to set cameras Video Recording Length and Motion Sensitivity for each Mode
  • Improved battery reporting accuracy to compensate for battery discharge cycles
  • Reduce logging overhead thanks to the new ST patches

###Blink Device Handler - Version 5.2.0

  • Updated to support new version of Blink Camera Manager
  • Added new custom commands setMotionSensitivity / setRetriggerTime and attributes motionSensitivity / retriggerTime for use through CoRE

With this update now users can dynamically change the behavior of the camera.
For e.g. when in Home mode, the cameras can be configured to high sensitivity and a video recording lengh of 1 second. This would allow the camera to be used as a motion sensor and take actions based on those motion sensor condition.
Consequently, when in Away mode, the camera(s) can be configured to medium sensitivity (to avoid false alarms) and set video recording length to 10 seconds, so if there is an intrusion in the house you’ll get 10 seconds of recording to see what happened.
Similarly at night mode, some camera(s) can be configured to work as motion sensors and others as security cameras.

Also a point to note, with this update as pointed out by @beckwith there is a discharge curve for batteries which has now been accounted for while calculating the battery levels.

Enjoy!!!

Please make sure you’re on Blink Camera Manager version 5.5.0 or later. Blink will be updating their setup in a couple of weeks to scale and enhance their features. Please update to version 5.5.0 or later to ensure a smooth transition. Once the Blink update is complete the old SmartApp/DH will likely stop receiving notifications.

9 Likes

Thanks @rboy - You deserve a :taco: and a :beer: !

3 Likes

Love it! :thumbsup:

Thanks for all your efforts - You really make this Community great!

4 Likes

@RBoy When trying to set my email and password in the Smart App “Blink Authentication”, it gives me an error “Error Saving Page”. I believe it has also given me a different error which I cant remember. I believe that it is not recognizing or accepting my password. I know that it is correct. Just to be sure, it is asking for my Blink email and password correct? Eitherway my email and passwords for this stuff is all the same. Any idea what might be the problem? Also, after trying to do this, SmartThings gives me a notice saying “Error creating Blink device”.

Did you enable OAuth in your settings? Could be an ST account issue also. Open IDE Live Logging and see what error it’s throwing when you install it. Cannot create device typically means the device already exists i.e. You’re installing a second instance of the app with the same logins.

I’m curious to understand more about this. I always assumed you just took the reading from the Blink servers and displayed it in SmartThings (and maybe that’s how the old version worked). Do you now show a different value based on some maths? Just curious if I’ll see a different value in ST vs. the Blink app. I’ll upgrade tonight probably.

So until Blink releases an official update and position on this I’m going to refrain from going into too many details and conversation with them so far. The camera reports raw battery values which needs to be mathematically calculated into a %. If you see @beckwith post you’ll get an idea of what correction needs to adjusted. Now this algorithm is ours for now based on some tests we have been running in the labs and subject to tweaking based on dialogue with blink. Blink is aware and is also working on it in parallel.

1 Like

###Blink Camera Manager - Version 5.6.1

  • Workaround for bug in ST app v2.2.0 (iOS and Android) which causes the mode/SHM based configuration pages to break

###Blink Device Handler - Version 5.2.0

  • < no change >

Please make sure you’re on Blink Camera Manager version 5.5.0 or later. Blink will be updating their setup in a couple of weeks to scale and enhance their features. Please update to version 5.5.0 or later to ensure a smooth transition. Once the Blink update is complete the old SmartApp/DH will likely stop receiving notifications.

1 Like

Hello I just got a Blink Camera for my livingroom where I already have a SmartSensor I was hoping to replace it with the blink camera. At the moment the existing motion sensor is used to turn on the elivingrom lights at certain times and for security when the system is armed.

I find that regardless of the length of the clip I set up, it takes about 10 seconds for Smartthings to receive a motion event, thus the lights turn on delayed and the recording is too dark (I dont want to use the LED) or when I need the lights on, it is way too slow… Any tips??

Also can the blue LED be turned off when recording?

Thanks

The short answer is that is how it works now and we hope Blink will have a motion only trigger in the future.

It is designed this way so you absolutely know when it is on. Some have used paint, white-out, etc. to block it. I actually like it because I want to know when it is recording especially if by mistake.

1 Like

You may want to double check that, you can verify the settings in your Blink Camera page in the ST app at the bottom. We have 14 cameras in our labs here and our response time is between 1.5 to 2 seconds when the recording length is set to 1 second. So I would verify that recording length again, maybe it isn’t changing it on the camera (hit the force sensor refresh button to get the latest settings from the camera).

Thank you for replying It is set to 1sec

Then I guess your ST instance is running slow