Blink is a standard security camera that can record and not record when you want.
That means you can arm the camera and disarm it when you want or need it.
Blink Armed vs Disarmed
The difference between Armed and Disarmed is pretty apparent. When Blink camera is armed; it will actively detect motion and alert you, Still, when it is disarmed, it won’t detect motion and won’t also send you notifications.
Blink is a standard security camera that doesn’t ring an alarm like other 24/7 CCTV or surveillance recording cameras, which do intensive recording continuously and continuously without pauses unless you stop them.
But blink works more intelligently by recording only when there is some movement in your residential or commercial property area, and that’s why it doesn’t consume excessive network bandwidth or storage space. But it features two alkaline AA batteries, not Lithium-ion, and they are not rechargeable, only removable so that you can swap them with new ones.
When Blink detects the movement of humans or pets depending on the sensitivity you have set from the App, it will initiate recording based on the motion. It will record video clips at 5-second intervals unless you have increased the duration to 60 seconds, Still, you cannot decrease it from 5 seconds. You can also set retrigger time duration, which is the best part of Blink.
Fortunately, you can arm or disarm any individual camera from the Hub. In contrast, the rest are disarmed, and there is no need to disarm the entire system just for one or a few particular network cameras. Similarly, you can turn off alerts for motion detection for specific cameras, which can be done from the Sync Hub.
Your footage is stored on the cloud server and only remains there for 60 days; then the old videos are replaced with the new videos, or new videos overwrite old videos to save storage because you get limited storage space for your subscription and storing all the videos will quickly fill up the allotted space.
Similarly, when you can control the duration of clips that will be recorded when the camera triggers motion and, most importantly, you can set the retrigger time, which means how much time the camera should start recording after detection of the movement.
And finally, you have the sensitivity of motion option that allows you to adjust the motion. The ideal scale for the sensitivity for motion can be between 10 to 85; aggressive movement means that the camera will even notify you about the movement of leaves. So you can play with it to only get notifications or alerts when animals or humans are across your territory.
If you want, you can arm or disarm particular cameras connected with one Hub, and you don’t have to set dedicated Hubs for other cameras to arm or disarm them. Similarly, with one single Hub, you can control all cameras regarding alerts and motion detection, and unlike other cameras, it doesn’t have any alarm option.
To Arm the Blink camera, you can follow these instructions
Open App> Bottom right corner > Toggle switch to arm > Armed
The same is the process of disarming the Blink camera. When the Blink camera is disarmed, it won’t allow detecting motion and won’t alert you of any movement because it isn’t actively looking for signs and won’t show you a live feed.
If you are a Blink XT or XT2 user, you will get free could storage, but if you have Blink Mini, Blink Indoor or Blink outdoor, you have to get the subscription. You can also use USB to store your backup locally, but you have to format it for exFat and manually remove older videos as they won’t overwrite themselves to save up some space on the USB.
Methods of Arming and Disarming
You can manually arm or disarm the Blink or use other methods like the App, activating with Alexa voice commands or IFTTT.
Before we proceed with other methods of arming and disarming the Blink app, take a quick look at the table that shows a quick comparison of armed vs disarmed Blink to help you easily understand the difference between both options.
Mode
Motion Alerts
Motion-Activated Recording
Live View
Two-Way Audio
Armed
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Disarmed
No
No
Yes
Yes
Arming and Disarming Blink Automatically
You can schedule arming and disarming so that it will automatically arm and disarm itself every time but only for that specific time duration that you have selected and won’t require any manual help or intervention.
To manually arm and disarm the Blink camera, you can go to the
Settings > Time Zone > Scheduling > Plug Sign > Set Timetable and save it
Arming and Disarming Blink With IFTTT
If This Then That ( IFTTT ) is a program that allows you to manage Blink with the help of third-party devices like Google Home or Amazon Alexa so that you can set specific voice commands, and next time, Blink will arm and disarm itself with a hands-free approach.
Amazon Blink is compatible with Amazon Alexa; the voice commands you can set.
“Alexa, ask Blink to arm my system.”
“Alexa, ask Blink to disarm my system. My pin is ####.”
“Alexa, ask Blink, ‘when was my last motion alert?’”
“Alexa, ask Blink, ‘what’s my status?’”
“Alexa, ask Blink, ‘what’s my schedule?’”
“Alexa, ask Blink, ‘how many motion clips do I have?’”
To enable voice commands, you have to allow Blink Skill in Alexa, sign in with your Blink account, and set up a 4-digit PIN that you will use each time you issue a voice command.
In the same way, you can set up Blink to construct home automation routines.
Troubleshooting Blink
Power cycle, reset the modem, internet issue, reset App, reset Module,
In case you cannot arm or disarm the camera, you can perform a few troubleshooting steps with the Blink to ensure the camera is working.
First, test the camera to see if it blinks blue light for any movement. Blue light illuminates when Blink detects motion and starts recording. Sometimes the blue light is turned off from the settings, so check that and ensure this is done before moving forward.
Start fixing the Blink problems with the power cycle in which you disconnect the Sync Hub from the power outlet and remove batteries from the camera. Then re-insert those batteries back into the camera and plug the adapter back into the Sync Hub; most of the time; this resolves all the troubles Blink is facing.
Also, try placing the Module near the camera because the maximum distance is 100 feet. Then try resetting the Module, camera, or even the App. Next, you can reboot the App or your smartphone. Finally, you can uninstall and re-install the App on the smartphone.
Blink Armed But Not Recording
Sometimes people disable motion detection from the settings of the Blink app when they have guests at home and want to save themselves from the annoying alerts knowing that they are a lot of movement in their home.
And when they are later, the camera doesn’t seem to detect motion which you can quickly check by the blue light of the camera by going in front of it to see if it illuminates the blue light or not. Sometimes the blue light is also disabled from the settings to not let strangers know that the camera is actively recording them.
To figure that out, go to your Camera settings and see if you have disabled the motion detection, then enable it. So now, when you arm the camera, it will actively detect motion and send you alerts and the recorded footage in your email.
Other than that, ensure app firmware is updated because an outdated version can have bugs and glitches that can make the App unresponsive or prevent it from arming or disarming the Blink.
Similarly, check the internet connection because Blink requires a stronger internet connection, If the internet is unstable or unreliable, it won’t record high-quality video, so check the Wi-Fi bars on the Blink to see the strength of the network and if they are weak signals., Try placing the router or model near the camera to power up the signs because walls can block these radio waves or use a Wi-Fi booster or mesh to strengthen the movements if there are multiple users in the home, then limit the number of devices using the internet.
You should carefully examine the situation because Blink can suddenly run into an error, scheduled arming or disarming can fail, and it can leave your home unprotected or unguarded.
Blink keeps disarming itself:
If Blink keeps disarming itself repeatedly, that means either the scheduling setup isn’t working correctly, or the App needs your attention. But, again, you can get help from customer support for this matter.
Can Blink cameras be disarmed individually?
Blink can be armed or disarmed individually without affecting other cameras connected to the network.
How far can Blink cameras detect motion?
Blink cameras with Passive infrared technology can detect motion at a distance of 30 feet, and after that, the video captured will be of low resolution. The Pixel different Analysis sensor doesn’t work on the base of space. It just detects the change in pixels to detect motion to trigger recording.
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
Robert Smith is a technology lover and loves to write about laptops, monitors, printers, tablets, Apple products and anything that's related to computers and games. He is passionate enough that he maintains this blog regarding tech updates on a daily basis.
