[Solved] Amazon BLINK camera and doorbell installation problems….

[Emkay]

Isn‘t there a long standing urban myth that trying to install IKEA wardrobes sometimes leads to divorce?!

Anyone tried installing Amazon Blink cameras and doorbell? This is possibly worse! We’ve managed most without without too much stress but the last bit is very challenging. BLINK US customer support says all is fine so get advice elsewhere!

Does anyone have any idea on how to set an Echo Show 5 (3rd Generation, purchased last month from Amazon as latest model), so that doorbell footage shows live on the Echo Show rather than just a notification and ring sound. Asking Alexa to show doorbell camera footage does work though takes ages before understood

I’ve found a few YouTube videos though can’t really manage with the English compared with DE apps….I’m getting slower/dafter!

Any advice would be very much appreciated.

[Franklan]

Does anyone have any idea on how to set an Echo Show 5 (3rd Generation, purchased last month from Amazon as latest model), so that doorbell footage shows live on the Echo Show rather than just a notification and ring sound. Asking Alexa to show doorbell camera footage does work though takes ages before understood

Showing the video automatically is not the standard configuration, as this would drain the battery of the Blink doorbell too fast. So, the hotline is kind of right, even though it is understandable that customers would want the automatic video to be the standard.

However, you can manually create two automations, one to show the camera on the Echo show when it rings, and one to shut off the camera 20 seconds later.

The following video shows quite nicely how to achieve that.



This video basically has three sections:
1.) Conveying that the standard behaviour is not to show the video stream automatically.
2.) How to add a routine to show the video stream automatically.
3.) How to add a routine to stop the battery draining video streaming automatically.


PS: This post is also a nice example why adding ones location to the profile of this forum is not just a nice gesture but a helping feature. If people would know your location, somebody might be able to say "Been there, done that; I can drop by to fix that, as I am just 15km away from your location, if you want...".

[Emkay]

Thanks so much Franklan, I’ll see if I can figure out your video versus DE app. I really couldn’t with others I found. Must be getting on a bit!

I spoke with US Blink support. They had access to our set-up and said everything is fine. Need to contact Alexa support. From Amazon.de login requesting a call back, they said we have to contact Germany…..we didn’t have another option to do so from Amazon.de.

I get what you mean about battery power etc. We just need to be able to set the Echo Show to show doorbell ringing person footage and ability to speak to them remotely…as shown in ads. All other footage from outdoor cameras is only a few seconds long.

Hope I can figure your video link as Amazon support was a bit sketchy after a few calls to them. They might yet call back today as promised. Many thanks again.

[Franklan]

I have two phones, one is set up in English and one in German. So I have the German and the English Amazon App available.

If you get to the point where you stumble on English vs. German differences, send me the "offending" screenshot, we'll figure this out.

[Emkay]

Thanks again Franklan. It’s just the Blink and Alexa apps that are a bit challenging when the YouTube videos speed up to the trick to get live doorbell footage when doorbell pressed. Hope to figure it out soon.

[Emkay]

Ahha…..after much patience (swearing too!) my husband managed to get the Echo Show working with the help of your link. Thanks so much, we‘re very grateful.

Amazon never phoned back as promised within 30 minutes. 2 hours now. Hopefully we can figure the same for other iPhones/iPads.

It’s days like this that I think about moving back to my former South China Sea tropical island home …..nothing much matters there

[Franklan]

Amazon never phoned back as promised within 30 minutes. 2 hours now. Hopefully we can figure the same for other iPhones/iPads.

For Amazon, the whole "Echo/Alexa" business is a big money burner.

They sell the equipment at/below production costs, have huge data center costs for the voice recognition, but not the expected cash flowing back.

It was their plan that people will say "Alexa, put washing power on the shopping list" etc. and create a huge business model for amazon shopping.

That just didn't work out. It will be kind of interesting to see where Echo/Alexa is in 5 years.

Amazon has massively reduced support of the devices, a lot of employees in the echo departments were fired, and anything that goes beyond the delivery state of the devices is declared as "not as designed and not supported".

You have to find freaks&geeks on the internet to get support for those problems.

[Emkay]

Amazon never phoned back as promised within 30 minutes. 2 hours now. Hopefully we can figure the same for other iPhones/iPads.

For Amazon, the whole "Echo/Alexa" business is a big money burner……….

They sell the equipment at/below production costs, have huge data center costs for the voice recognition, but not the expected cash flowing back.

You have to find freaks&geeks on the internet to get support for those problems.

We bought the Blink security system (3 outdoor cameras and video doorbell, fittings, memory card etc) during Amazon‘s 50% off offer over Easter. Soon after, back at full price. I’m sure a new generation is likely to be released soon.. We also bought the Echo Show at the same time though it’s not really necessary for the security system.

Now we’ve managed to figure out most functions, it is pretty good for the price. Including very good night vision.

A Ring system was also a possibility. I believe Amazon bought Ring so the Ring and Blink Systems are probably very similar.

All in all, for ca.270€ (including Echo Show) we’ve got a decent starter home security system. Not forgetting the additional 100€ per year (or 10€ per month) for the subscription cost. This allows videos to be cloud saved and accessed over several devices. External data storage is possible without subscription. Other lower cost subscription variations are available too. Or even none.

Many thanks again for your help Franklan. Now we know a bit more, we’d be more than happy to help anyone else.