That is what I see on mine. The temperature reflects the “Last Updated” time. If no events are triggered this does not get updated. I tap the “Upadate” button to refresh the temperature. It also updates when you toggle arm/disarm or enable/disable or if you use live view.
I assume this is to conserve battery.
An update/refresh would be nice. If someone uses this to poll they probably need to be warned it could reduce battery life.
I successfully installed the smart app. Thanks. It appears that I cannot automatically turn the alerts on/off of any individual camera automatically using routines etc. Please confirm if I’m correct or whether there is a way to do this.
Timely temperature reporting may be addressed with the late March release:
"We estimate introducing our first feature release in late-March, this will include:
Temperature and Battery Alerts
Multi-System Support
Scheduled Arming/Disarming"
Ok so for smart Home monitor-security, I need to turn on the cameras(via turn on switch?) or they will automaticly turn on when needed via the motion settings? Also I assume the record and sensitivity settings are still standard and set withing the blink native app.
Record and sensitivity settings are only through Blink app. Not sure I understand your first question, but once the cameras are armed they will record when detecting motion. The cameras can be armed/disarmed via the Blink app, this device handler, or a Smartapp like Rule Machine.
I’ve looked at and understand building the custom commands for Rule Machine, but when I try it’s asking for a numeric parameter…does it matter what I put in for an interger?
I didn’t put in any settings for numeric parameters and it worked for me.
I guess what I’m asking is in the Home Monitor(Security) will it be automatically turned on via the motion detector or do I need to turn on the blink camera’s via Switch setting within the security settings.
It does not show up as a motion detector in the Smart Home Monitor (SHM) security section. So SHM cannot arm or disarm the Blink cameras in the security section. Maybe you could something under SHM custom. I don’t use SHM so I don’t know for sure.
This is what I get. And if I don’t enter a number, I get the second frame…null.
If I enter a number, I get something like the third and fourth frames.
Maybe @bravenel can weigh in?
When I did it I just selected the custom command and saved the command. I did not touch the parameters field at all.
Could I trouble you to pot a screen shot of your custom commands screen in RM?
That’s a trip. I thought maybe I’d figured it out, as I was looking under motion, and not switch, but no luck. Can I get you to go back in and screen shot the screen where you’d add another custom command beyond what you’ve already picked? I want to see what it says under the Select Custom Command line… That is, the parameter line…
Got it! Needed to de-select the parameter type…then it all worked. Thanks for the help!
Version 1.2.0
Button to force a sensor refresh by waking up the camera and show when the last update from the camera was received by the Blink server
The lack of night vision is a huge bummer on the blink cameras. Otherwise they are awesome. Almost ordered 5 until I noticed a dark room will be dark until it’s activated and it’s light shines. Good for some uses but we like night vision. Makes the wife happy.
Nice device type and app though. Gotta figure out a new use case!
It has a PIR sensor (which doesn’t need light) and when it detects presence it turns on the light (which is pretty bright) so there should be no problem.
