Blink arm / disarm with a Virtual Switch

#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!

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#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…

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#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.