Core: Blink Notification Sensor doesn’t update

[jer78]

Home Assistant release with the issue:

0.74.0

Last working Home Assistant release (if known):

Unknown

Operating environment (Hass.io/Docker/Windows/etc.):

MacOS, Python 3.6

Component/platform:

https://www.home-assistant.io/components/blink/

Description of problem:

The sensor that provides notifications for the blink camera only ever shows 1 as the state. According to the documentation this should show:

unread notification (i.e., detected motion events).

Multiple users are reporting the same issue indicating there is an issue with the component and not my particular setup.

Problem-relevant configuration.yaml entries and (fill out even if it seems unimportant):

blink:
  username: YOUR_USERNAME
  password: YOUR_PASSWORD

Traceback (if applicable):

Additional information:

This issue is widely reported in the forums with Blink camera users for several months now.

[awarecan]

Upstream library blinkpy has been upgraded to 0.8.0, HA still use 0.6.0.

Maybe it is time to upgrade.

PRs are always welcome.

[freekeys]

Can anyone support with how to do this?

[fronzbot]

Hey just saw this (wrote the platform and API)

The current blink platform is woefully insufficient and really requires an overhaul (my goal about a year ago was to make it more like the arlo platform). Unfortunately, I just haven't had much time to get this done. I believe I changed the API enough from 0.6 to 0.8 such that the home assistant platform would require an upgrade to work with it anyways... So again, a platform rewrite would be necessary.

Also,.I'm not totally sure the most recent blinkpy API would fix this issue, it may be that Blink changed their urls (again). Although, a different method to detect motion was recently added so that could make the notification sensor obsolete.

I'll try to start looking into this some more soon. Also, could you point me towards the forum posts so I could get some extra info? Thanks!

[freekeys]

Hey @fronzbot - thanks for the response! I recently got some Blink cameras and was literally about to set up some motion based automations tonight so am MORE than happy to help in anyway I can with testing etc! Just let me know :)

These are the posts I’ve seen:
1) https://community.home-assistant.io/t/blink-notification-isnt-working/45756
2) https://community.home-assistant.io/t/blink-cameras-push-sensed-motion-to-ha/53693

I’ve posted in some other threads too so will let you know if I hear anything else :)

[freekeys]

Hey @fronzbot ! How did things go with this? Anything I can help with? :)

[fronzbot]

@freekeys - didn't go so well, as life got in the way. I'm not sure when I'll have a free weekend to look at this, but I promise I haven't forgotten about it!

[freekeys]

Thanks @fronzbot - I’ve got my fingers firmly crossed! :)

[fronzbot]

Seems like even with the updated blinkpy API, motion detection always returns True if the camera's motion detection is enabled. I'm working on fixing that, assuming I can find a useful parameter instead. Any updates to that can be followed along here

As a side note: I'm also working on revamping the blink platform itself to emulate the arlo implementation.

[fronzbot]

Check out the referenced PR. If anyone can test it out, I'd appreciate it!

[freekeys]

Awesome, really good to see this happening, thanks so much for doing it! I’m home in a few days so will give it a test then :)