Blink arm / disarm with a Virtual Switch

#8

Hope this is everything you requested.
So here are the logs. I only toggled one camera about 4 times and I had to do that in ST, it wouldn’t generate a log if I were arming and disarming in the Blink app.
The one camera started from the off position then on then off then on then off again.

logging
logging.png1421×698 197 KB

webcore log
webcore log.png658×926 105 KB

and just incase here is my current piston.
log info piston
log info piston.png1178×668 107 KB

It just seems that with Blink and ST its a one way street. ST can tell Blink what to do to its native app but the Blink app cant seem to tell ST what to do with a switch.

#9

webcore can tell both what to do :slight_smile:

thanks for the detailed information. seems like the events are being reported correctly. so, when ALL of the blink’s monitoring is turned off the switch 6 does not change to off?

no offense meant, but do you know how to look at trace in webcore?

#10

it would be helpful to look at trace and see what is actually happening at runtime. if you know how to turn on trace please follow the steps below and post the image:

  1. clear logs
  2. turn OFF trace
  3. for the 3 blink’s, set 2 of them to monitoring OFF and 1 to monitoring ON from the blink app
  4. turn ON the virtual switch
  5. turn ON trace
  6. for the blink that is on, turn monitoring OFF from the blink app
  7. wait for piston to run which you will see because it will log the current info line we put in
  8. then take a snapshot of the piston with the green button
  9. post snapshot image here
#11

well when it comes to arming and disarming the Blink camera’s it seems to be an all or nothing kinda thing in the Blink app. it has the ability to enable/ disable motion and sound (to each camera independently) but to arm/disarm, I cant do individually it seems.
As for Trace, all I need to do is just click on the Trace button next to the copy/paste button at the bottom of each piston window correct? It has a dark pull out section with all the ms info.
So with this how do you want me to proceed?

#12

ok. revised steps:

  1. clear logs
  2. turn OFF trace
  3. set blinks to monitoring ON from blink app
  4. turn ON the virtual switch
  5. turn ON trace
  6. set blinks to monitoring ON from blink app
  7. wait for piston to run which you will see because it will log the current info line we put in
  8. then take a snapshot of the piston with the green button
  9. post snapshot image here

yes

#13

step 3 and 6 are the same? how will this trigger if there is no off?

edit:
I tried it a few different ways but ST just doesnt seem to see the Blink app actions. The only place I could find any evidance was in the Smart app.

ST_Blink_Smart app
ST_Blink_Smart app.png1440×2560 219 KB

ST Blink smart app armed
ST Blink smart app armed.png1440×2560 206 KB

all the other logs are still empty and the Trace only becomes active when piston is right.

#14

sorry, typo. the second one should be OFF.

so changes in the blink app are not being reported to ST through the DH you are using? could you check with the folks you got the DH from, if its supposed to report the changes to ST?

#15

Yes I tried it that way. Nothing is logging. I am being to think maybe monitorstatus isn’t the right thing to use maybe. But looking at the list and reading the developers Blink post I thought it was.
Sorry for taking up your time with this. Just seems the Blink app won’t generate any log data on ST

#16

Yes that’s probably what I should have done first. Thank you so much for all your help. Its greatly appreciated.

#17

instead of monitorstatus can we try the switch? what are the rest of the attributes … seems like there may be more getting cutoff at the top.

#18

I tried using switch earlier before I started the post and I just gave it another try right now and still no logs, no trace and no activity.
here is a full png of the attributes.

attributes
attributes.png305×639 22.9 KB

I pulled this from RBoys ST Release DTH post incase that gives you any help even though its only applicable to the Smart app.

Blink DTH info
Blink DTH info.png742×750 132 KB

#19

image
image.jpg1020×54 25.4 KB

image

this seems like it should be integrated with ST. what is the status the sync module is showing? and there are multiple references to the DH working with core, so it should work.

#20

I believe it is referring to the system arm /disarm toggle in the Smart app. I posted screen shots of it a few posts back and circled it in red. This was the only evidance of connectivity between smart app and Blink app as far as arm and disarm goes.
It just seems weird that the Smart app shows a change but no log is generated.

I am going to contact someone on the DH side of it some time tomorrow.

#21

ahh, ok.

feel free to ping if you need any help afterwards. once you get it working, may be helpful for other users if you post back how you got it working. :slight_smile:

#22

I have 8 Blinks and had problems with this as well. Here’s what I did.

I created 2 Virtual Switches with Trend Setter (Cool Grouping App). Cameras (Inside) and Cameras (Outside)…Alexa responds to Inside or Outside Cameras as well!

Trend Setter has the following logic built in:

If any are on then set switch to the percentage that are on. (Mostly On, Are All On, Half On, Onish, etc…) If all are off then set switch to off. If using the Virtual Switch (Grouping), then On=All On and Off=All Off.

Now, I just say Alexa turn on/off Inside Cameras or Outside Cameras or if turning on individually, progamatically or whatever then Trend Setter sets the status of the Virtual Switch. Work Perfect!

018069cfcf0c223aafbdb9ce6a79c901b9a9198ca4
018069cfcf0c223aafbdb9ce6a79c901b9a9198ca4.jpg1125×2001 146 KB

01c53860b80d7d2b0c7765981029f82468ff3c015d
01c53860b80d7d2b0c7765981029f82468ff3c015d.jpg1125×2001 104 KB

01b73b8d8871d1a1411c7ca947b3eb8fc517873b31
01b73b8d8871d1a1411c7ca947b3eb8fc517873b31.jpg1125×2001 107 KB

01f1a57e5189bfea67fbe7739a44fa3723bfd4a288_00001
01f1a57e5189bfea67fbe7739a44fa3723bfd4a288_00001.jpg1125×2001 119 KB

#23

Thank you for posting this.

Using Trend Setter I have set it up to be just one switch for three Blink cameras. It works well in ST and the Alexa environment for enabling and disabling the motion only. But it doesn’t seem to sync with the actual Blink app (which has been my hurtle all along). What I mean by this is, when I try to arm or disarm from the Native Blink app the virtual switch stays static. I am still in the same boat as before.
My goal is to have a virtual switch ARM and DISARM not just effect motion status and to do it from the Native Blink app as well as Alexa so that the Virtual switch will update and always stay in sync.
This Trend setter Virtual switch seems to be unaware of what ever status or commands that are being sent from the native Blink app . There is a good chance perhaps that I have set up the Trend setter incorrectly yet it looks straight forward to me.
I am more then happy to hear more suggestions or tell me were I am doing wrong. I would like to know if you still use the Native Blink app along with Alexa. Also if you were able to ARM/DISARM rather then just motion enabling using Trend Setter.

#24

My Blink app stays always armed. There is no need to turn this off…

Turning on or off the Blink camera(s) in ST treats the camera(s) as regular switches. It enables/disables the camera(s) individually which basically turns on or off motion.

If all cameras are off, then even if the Blink app is armed, nothing is being recorded because the camera(s) motion switch is off.

I was once in your boat until I discovered it is just simpler and much faster to just keep the Blink app (system) armed at all times.

That way, using whatever rule you like in webCoRE, you can set the motion status (on/enabled or off/disabled), re-trigger time and video length without having the additional step of arming/disarming the Blink System (Blink app).

If you “really” wanted to, instead of turning on/off the cameras individually, you could use RoyBoys Manager app’s setting to just arm/disarm the Blink camera system…However as explained above, this would trastically limit your options in ST. (Screen Shot of that setting is below)

I would strongly advise to let the Virtual Switch be the master turn all on/off switch. Again, even if the Blink app is in armed mode, it really doesn’t matter if all of the cameras motion switches are off…

IMG_0032
IMG_0032.PNG1125×2001 250 KB

#25

using the blink camera with ST, is there a DH available that does not require subscription?

thanks.

#26

Finally found time to set this all up. Thanks rontalley for all your help. After thinking more about your post I now agree that just enabling motion status on and off is a more efficient way to go. So Using the Trend Setter I created a switch (just like in your example) and am able to use it perfectly with my Amazon Echo. I am leaving the Blink app always armed because it has to for this to work.
So to make things even easier we are using an app called Sharp tools (on our android devices) to be able to create a shortcut widget on our phones giving us an on/off button linked to the Trend Setter Switch. This way we can either trigger the cameras to turn On or Off from our phones without even having to launch an app.

Thanks again for all your help. You helped me find a better solution then I had originally envisioned.

#27

Can someone tell me if there is a device handler for Blink cameras today? Just want motion detection and ability to arm/dearm thru ST.