About Blink Camera Not Detecting Motion, With high-quality videos, motion detection, and weatherproof capabilities, Blink cameras are one of the most innovative technologies in security.
However, at least once in their lifespan, they may experience problems such as not detecting motion.
This problem can be because of several underlying issues, but fortunately, several solutions exist.
In this article, I will show you what you need to do to troubleshoot your Blink camera not detecting motion issues.
Table of Contents
- Ensure appropriate placement location.
- Ensure Motion Detection Settings are Proper
- Inspect Activity Zone Configurations
- Check Private Zones Configurations
- Evaluate the Cameras Firmware Version
- Tweak Your Night Vision Configurations
- Power cycle Your Wi-Fi or Rest Your Camera
- Other Solutions
- Contact Blink Customer Support
- Conclusion
Ensure appropriate placement location.
While placing the camera in the right place seems obvious, it is the most basic yet vital tip in security camera installation.
First, locate the area that requires monitoring and place the Blink security camera at an angle that faces there.
Ensure no obstacles, such as trees, that might stand in the way of the camera’s view.
Also, ensure the camera is not near a bright light or a window, lest it focuses on something else instead of motion.
Lastly, avoid placing the camera near a heat source, e.g., your HVAC, to prevent false alarms.
Ensure Motion Detection Settings are Proper
You can do this by checking the camera view on the app. Blink also includes several motion settings to customize your camera and enhance their capabilities.
To access these settings, open the Blink companion app and locate the settings menu.
For instance, you can increase the sensitivity to ensure more motion detection or lower it to reduce false alarms.
Note that reducing sensitivity can cause significant misses; hence, it must be balanced.
You can also customize the detection zone to help you monitor a specific place within the camera’s field of view.
Additionally, within the settings, you can adjust the mode to help you optimize the camera for outdoor surveillance.
The camera app on a phone
Inspect Activity Zone Configurations
Just like there are settings for areas you wish to monitor, there are also settings for masking some areas.
These may include areas with movements like tree branches that could trigger false alarms.
If your camera doesn’t detect motion, check if you have interchanged the monitoring areas with the ones you wish to mask.
You can do this by resetting zones in your app where you visit the setting, activity zone, then reset zones.
Check Private Zones Configurations
As the name suggests, private zones are areas where you prohibit your camera from streaming or recording for privacy.
They may include your bedroom or neighbor’s door and always have a gray mask in the camera view.
Ensure no areas are mistakenly set as private zones, yet you want to monitor their movements.
For private zones reset, visit settings, then privacy zones, and click reset privacy zones.
However, this functionality comes only with Blink Outdoor cameras, Blink Video Doorbells, and Indoor Gen 2 cameras.
Check monitored zones in a camera
Evaluate the Cameras Firmware Version
Blink updates their camera firmware regularly to enhance capabilities and fix bugs such as detecting motion issues.
Therefore, if your camera is having issues in this area, it could be an outdated firmware. You can check if your version is up to date using the below steps:
- Visit the Blink app, then the settings menu
- Select the camera with the issue
- Click device information to view the camera’s current firmware
- Visit the Blink website and compare with the latest version
While on the device information on the app, check if there is any ‘update is available’ message. You can use it and follow the provided steps to update the firmware version if available.
But ensure you have a stable internet connection first. On the other hand, if the camera firmware is current, consider restarting the camera by unplugging and then replugging.
Tweak Your Night Vision Configurations
If your camera fails to record motions at night or after the introduction of an external source of light, consider changing IR settings.
To view night vision settings, open the camera settings on the app, then click night vision. You can toggle between on, off, or auto based on how much external light is available.
Generally, I recommend setting this functionality to auto to detect motion in any lighting. You can also change the IR sensitivity to maybe high or medium to enhance performance at night.
Power cycle Your Wi-Fi or Rest Your Camera
Blink cameras use Wi-FI; therefore, any issues with your router can fail to detect motion.
While there are several wifi fixes, you can perform the quickest and most extensive solution: a power cycle.
This method fixes all bugs in all electronic devices. To perform a power cycle on your router, just turn it off, wait for a few seconds, and turn it back on.
If this doesn’t fix the problem, you may need to factory reset your camera.
Reset your camera
A factory reset clears every data, including settings, and should be the last solution if all others don’t work.
You will find the reset button at the bottom for the Blink mini camera.
Using a think blunt object, press and hold the reset button until blue and green lights appear. Now wait some minutes for a reset, and you are done.
For the Blink indoor, outdoor, XT, and XT2 cameras, you must remove the back cover to access the rest button.
The rest button is at the top right of the camera, and you can press and hold it till the camera start flashing.
In the case of the Video Doorbell camera case, you can have a soft or full factory reset. I recommend the soft reset first.
For a soft rest, remove one battery, wait for a few seconds, then insert it. You should see the LED light flashing, after which it normalizes, indicating a successful soft reset.
When performing a factory reset, locate the reset button near the batter compartment. Press and hold till the red light start flashing, and then wait for a reset to happen.
Resetting a security camera
Other Solutions
These are some other tips that may seem minor but can make a difference when your Blink camera fails to detect motion:
Change the battery
Although not all, some Blink cameras use AA batteries. When the charge of the batteries is low, the camera may not function properly.
All you need to do is remove the camera from the mount, open the back cover, and replace the batteries.
AA battery
Check the retrigger time
It is a function meant to prevent sending alarms of the same object. While it is an excellent capability, it can fail to sense the motion of two events happening too closely.
You can find this functionality on the camera settings, where you adjust the slider to your preference. Note that not all cameras have this capability.
Contact Blink Customer Support
If all the above methods don’t work, it would be better if you sought assistance from Blink customer care.
They are supportive and can provide extra troubleshooting tips or replace cameras if necessary.
Conclusion
Apart from the rare failure to detect motion, Blink cameras are some of the most advanced technology for security. Additionally, the above tips should work in case you encounter these problems.
