Made the switch from Wink, ? About Blink Cameras

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Received my HE hub yesterday, moved all the switches, lights and sensors over. Have created notifications and rules....this is a very powerful hub! Also have Alexa working with it just like it did with Wink. Anyone figured out how to arm and disarm Blink cameras?

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Blink and Hubitat both have IFTTT integrations. So I'd suggest using that route.

P.S Welcome to Hubitat!

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There is a decent example I put together for smartThings that I believe will work in a Hubitat <> IFTTT <> Blink integration. Minimally, the instructions give you an idea of how to make it work.

Dave

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Here’s my 5c of advice.
If your using “Z-“ devices then give your mesh some HOURS to settle. Don’t rush things. It appears anecdotally that You’ll likely need more repeaters using HE than you may have under Wink due to different power radio’s.
Resist the urge to press on. Build out your mesh’s, as small parts, letting them settle over night.

There’s now some good reads in the “docs” section.

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I have rebuilt everything I had with Wink and so far so good! Appreciate your advice as newbie to the HE.

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Thanks, I used IFTTT for awhile and was not impressed. Maybe with the HE capabilities I will try it again.

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Thanks! Looks like a great forum here.

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This is the only option AFAIK. There used to be a community-developed SmartThings integration for Blink that was pretty cool, but Immedia (the company that makes Blink cameras) shut it down right before they were bought out by Amazon (probably not coincidental timing).

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Thanks, I think you are right. It’s to bad I can’t access the Echo/Alexa Skill for Blink with the hub!

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Hmm .....

This might be possible. Look into installing Echo Speaks. I don't use it, but I know it is possible to control some Alexa-paired devices using it.

Edit:

Also, if Blink can be controlled using an Alexa Routine then you don't need Echo Speaks. You can simply have the routine triggered by the state of a Hubitat virtual contact or motion sensor that is exposed to Alexa.

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Thanks for the suggestions, I setup a virtual switch and it shows up in Alexa, no luck getting the routine to work with the Blink skill. Will look at Echo speak next.

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Alexa routines cannot be triggered with a virtual switch. It has to be a virtual contact sensor or a virtual motion detector that serves as a trigger

Here's a "virtual contact sensor + switch" driver I created a while back modifying a virtual motion sensor driver posted by @cwwilson08. Virtual devices created using this driver can be controlled as a switch at the Hubitat end and will appear as a contact sensor at the Alexa end.

Create a device using this driver on your Hubitat. Export it to Alexa. You should now be able to create routines that are triggered by the state of the contact sensor aspect of this device.

metadata {
	definition (name: "Virtual contact with auto-off Switch", namespace: "cw", author: "cwwilson08") {
		capability "Sensor"
		capability "Contact Sensor"
        capability "Switch"
	}   
}

preferences {
        section {
		    input (
                name: "AutoOff",
                type: "bool",
                title: "Enable auto off", 
                required: false, 
                displayDuringSetup: false, 
                defaultValue: false
            )
        }
}


def on() {
    sendEvent(name: "contact", value: "closed")
    sendEvent(name: "switch", value: "on")
    if (AutoOff) {
        runInMillis(12, off)
    }
}

def off() {
    sendEvent(name: "contact", value: "open")
    sendEvent(name: "switch", value: "off")
}   

def installed() {
}
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The code worked great, I can make it work in Alexa to do various things with routines but sadly the Alexa end is not capable of using the device in a routine that works with Blink. It shows my Blink in Groups but says it’s unsupported. Thanks!!

Update, just for fun I setup an Echo Dot next to the large Echo, I had the routine set to use the Dot, so it spoke to the large Echo and armed my bLink system. Not something I intend to do but thought it interesting having them talk to each other!!

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FWIW, I just learnt that Blink cameras can be controlled (armed/disarmed etc) using Node-RED. And @fblackburn has created a set of Hubitat nodes for Node-RED.

So if you go down that route, you can control your Blink cameras based on the state of Hubitat devices and presence sensors.

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15

Thanks again, I will take a look at node-red.