For 1 second clip, you will just get a motion notification with out the clip.
For 30 second clip length setting you will first get a clip recorded and than a notification of that fact.
That is why you would want to control the clip length. To first take action. i.e. lights turn on and than chang the clip length to 30 seconds to record something.
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I just tried it with Core Piston but it doesnt let me set the clip length to more than 10 seconds. Anything Iām doing wrong?
@ady624 CoRE may need an update to increase the max clip length to 120 (60 current + 60 reserved for future, the DH will handle it)
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webCoRE can do this.
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Thanks I will try webCore
Iām worried that I will wind up missing the motion on my recorded video. For instance, if I am using this on my front porch and the event is a FedEx package delivery (delivery guy comes and goes in a couple seconds), would I get anything on my recording at all. Since I have a 1 sec clip for motion detect, lag to cloud, set clip length to 30 seconds, lag to cloud, detect again and start recording 30 sec clipā¦ My concern is it could take 3 or 4 seconds before the 30 sec video starts to recordā¦ this might altogether miss what Iām trying to record (eg; somebody triggering the motion detection).
Another more security focused example is some bad guy walks up to my porch at night to try and peep in the door, lights turn on, bad guy bolts right awayā¦ then all I get on video is empty frames.
Am I off base here? Or are my concerns legit? Appreciate hearing about anybodyās experiences so far.
Also does anybody happen to know off hand if the Ring doorbell can be used as motion detector and if can fire events in parallel (eg; motion event emitted while simultaneously starting the video recording)?
BTW: Iām not just randomly fishing around here, Iāve already got the Blink cameras and @RBoy handlers etcā¦ just havenāt tied it in with CORE yet. Want to learn from others whoāve thought about this more than meā¦
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The round trip to change the configuration take a couple of seconds and what youāre saying may or may not happen. Depends upon when the detection happens. Say itās set to sensitive, the FedEx truck drives off it sets off a motion within 2 seconds, you change the setting to 30 seconds but remember there is a retrigger interval of 10 seconds minimum so itāll be 13 seconds before it triggers again.
One way Iāve done this to set it to 60 seconds but then enable the option to terminate the clip early if the motion stops (from the Blink native app). You wonāt get a 1 second notification but it wonāt take 60 seconds either depending upon how there is to record.
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All valid points @Jeff_Pollock. That is why I always have a redundancy built into my house. I purchased this mosion sensor from Xiaomi. It is the size of a USB thumbdrive and as wide as a Quarter; which makes it very descreat.
http://www.gearbest.com/smart-light-bulb/pp_257678.html
I have 2, so one triggers my driveway and one for my deck.
Appreciate this input.
I was hoping to be able to just/only use the motion detector from Blink, but as others have mentioned the āserializedā way this works is far from ideal. Especially as the re-trigger takes at least 10 seconds. If I were to use Blink only, Iād probably have to only use it with snapshot mode / no video at all. (eg; trigger motion and take picture at same time)
Sounds like Iāll need to use dedicated standalone motion detectors for triggering lights, and just let blink do its own thing for video recording.
Thank you. I understand. However, in this example the ābad guyā could come snoop around my porch and Iāll have him on video, but he have to leave (eg; no more motion) before my lights kicked on a few seconds later. Not ideal.
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Is this motion sensor compatible with smartthings?
https://github.com/a4refillpad/Xiaomi
https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-xiaomi-sensors-and-button-beta/77576?u=lmosenko&source_topic_id=89464
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Okay great thank you
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rontalley, thanks for the instructions on using Core. Iām having a hard time wrapping my head around a couple pieces of it after getting some very basic pistons working, hoping you can point me in the right directionā¦
Iād like to use your technique of setting the camera record time to 1s to get a quick motion alert then turn on some lights and allowing the next recording to be 60s (or some other longer time). Iām able to set it up to monitor my mode (Night), if the switch is on/off, when off to tell the camera settings to be 1s record time, but Iām stuck on how to capture the motion, turn on the light, set the camera back to 60s record time, then when it is all over revert back to 1s?
Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
I apologize if I missed this, but wanted to confirm - how is the Blink XT working with this integration? Iām thinking about ordering some.
Are you using webCoRE or CoRE? I would suggest webCoRE as it allows for maximum video length.
Since you already have the 1sec when off and night mode worked out and hopefully the camera is in monitor mode(record)ā¦ then you just need the attached piston. Import and tweak to your situation.
To give a quick explanation of whatās going on here:
At the top, I set the restriction to only work in night mode. This is the restriction for the entire Piston! Since this is the mode that you have the video length set to 1sec. If the camera is in monitor mode then once the quick 1sec video records, it will send a motion notification to SmartThings.
From here, the piston says if motion is active then turn on light and also set blink to 60 seconds with a 10 second re-trigger time.
It also say that when motion is inactive, then turn off the light and set the video length to 1sec with a 60 second re-trigger time.
Notice the lighting bolt on the leftā¦thatās means that this will activate some kinda of action in the then sectionā¦notice that the action for the light is in a separate action from the blink but both under the same āThenā.
Also notice that there are two āIfā arguments. They sorta work as a latching piston. If motion is active then thisā¦If motion is inactive then thatā¦
Motion is either going to be inactive or active.
Set Re-Trigger time or whatever else with a 4 second wait in between actions so the commands donāt get missed. For motion purposes I use 60 seconds. For security purposes I use 10 seconds. YMMV.
Thatās pretty much it!
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I understand the issue here. Really do wish that you could get a motion event before that video is uploaded and sent back as an event. 10 seconds is a long time in the eyes of āsecurityā. The Blinks work perfect, at least for me, for indoor use.
For the front door, I think I am just going to do a Ring Pro and for the back door, I am going to do a Blink with dumb motion flood combo with a relay to ST connected to a GE Smart Switch so can control the lights power to only work during alarm periods. Donāt want the light coming on if we are just outside hanging out. Bugs Man!
I could do a CCTV system for outdoor and just call it a day! Are there any that works with ST outside of running a server?
However, considering the costā¦Maybe those 10 seconds arenāt that important!..
They integrate just like the original Blinks. No issues with mine since adding them to the system in the begining of May. Mine are used for exterior cameras only and not used for motion detection for ST SHM or automations.
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Iāve been mostly disappointed in the XT in this regard. There were hints from previous communications with Blink that the XT would be better at environmental issues such as wind blowing trees and bushes around, sun/shadows, etc. Iāve noticed none of that. So as far as Iām concerned, the only reasons to buy the XT over the standard ones are:
- You need it to be weather-proof
- You want proper night vision
- You want to be able to disable the blue recording LED
- You want a black camera instead of a white one
EDIT: I did open a support case with Blink to ask about the false positives as I have to turn my sensitivity down to 3 to not be annoyed all day with them (which isnāt ideal as youāve gotta be rather close to trigger it, defeating the purpose of where I have mine placed). They did respond that theyāve received complaints from others about false positives and will be working on a firmware update to address some of them. No idea when thatāll be complete or how to know theyāve pushed it to my camera though.
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Hi rontalley,
Well I sort of had that working with Core but Iām converting to webcore, I think I understand this a bit better. I was able to import your piston with the code (Thanks) and set it with my devices (super cool!) but want to make sure I have everything I need. Do I need to create another piston that when in night mode arms the camera and sets it to 1 second record length?