Problems with Blurams Smart Video Doorbell

[itm]

I've just received this via Blurams' crowdfunding campaign (I'm in the UK). While it has some nice features (e.g. face detection, Google Home integration and free lifetime cloud storage), I can't get it to reliably notify me (on my Android phone) when someone presses the doorbell. Basically I only get a notification maybe 1 in every 10 times that the doorbell is pressed. I get countless notifications from the PIR (one every 2-3 minutes - people walking past the house, about 3 meters from the doorbell), even though I set the detection zone to "near", so I can't use those notifications to alert me of visitors.
I've contacted Blurams support and they seem to be pointing the finger at Google's push servers, which they use to relay the notifications.
Every press of the doorbell is recognised by the device, as they are listed in the clips shortly after the event has occurred. It's just the notifications that are almost never firing.
At first I thought the power supply may be an issue (it's only 12V/1A, and they recommend a 16-24V supply). but I also tried it on the (fully-charged) internal battery and I still get virtually no notifications when somebody presses the doorbell.
The doorbell is approximately 7 feet from a mesh wifi access point (it shows 100% network strength), and sending the live camera stream to my Chromecast is pretty quick (< 5 secs), so network latency doesn't seem to be a big issue.
Does anyone have any ideas for how I might diagnose/fix these issue, and get more reliable notifications when someone presses the doorbell?

 

[allantaximan]

ITM, I am in exactly the same position as you, indiegogo backer, get notifications of people walking, as you say many meters away, BUT NO, or very rarely a notifications of the bell being pushed. Oh, yes, it does appear in the history as a "missed ring" but hardly every as an instant notification.
I have removed, reset, re-installed the device, but no improvement. It really defines the unit as "not fit for purpose", but what can you do? Blurams is no longer offering ME support.
What else have you tried? (I'm also on Android BTW)

 

[itm]

Yes they've stopped replying to my emails too. I did dabble with it again yesterday, but the app refused to log me in - I got this message:
"We’re sorry, login failed. Please try again. Error code: 283504". I'd reported this problem to Blurams support a month ago but got no response.
I rebooted the phone and was eventually able to log back in. Still no notifications when I pressed the doorbell though. However....

Strangely, I noticed this morning that I did get a couple of "doorbell ringing" alerts yesterday on an Android tablet that I'd also installed the app on for testing. Those are the first "ringing" alerts I've had on any device for over a month - shame I wasn't there to benefit from them! Sadly I couldn't get it to repeat - I just pressed the doorbell again and, as expected, no alerts on any device.

So I started fiddling (again) with the Android notification settings for the Blurams app on my phone. I had previously disabled "Disassembled Alarm" and "Event notification" to suppress the (literally) hundreds of notifications per day that I get when people walk past on the street. So the only option I had enabled was "Voice Call". I tried re-enabling the "Disassembled Alarm" option and managed to get 3 consecutive ring notifications on the phone. They were notifications only (in the past they have also popped up like a voice call, which is better), but it was better than the complete silence that I had before. I made the same change on my wife's (Android) phone and that seemed to work too, But then I made the same change on the Android tablet and stopped getting the ring notifications on both phones again (!).

So I don't know whether the "Disassembled Alarm" option helps, but maybe only for a limited number of concurrent devices, or whether it's just completely random and flaky. My guess is the latter. I'm pretty sure that, on the rare occasions in the past that I actually got a ring notification, I had the "Disassembled alarm" option disabled. So either that's a red herring or they've changed the app behaviour.

I have "Someone appears" notifications enabled (with rich notifications), but have Motion Detection disabled. I have Detection Distance set to "Near" (I needed to temporarily enable Motion Detection to access this setting), but it still notifies me of activity more than 3 metres away .

How have you had your notification options set when you've actually managed to receive a ring notification? Do you have "Disassembled Alarm" enabled? Do you also have the app installed on multiple devices? I'm wondering if that might be a factor???

 

[itm]

....a disappointing but entirely predictable update....someone just rang the doorbell and there were no notifications on any of the devices. I think this was basically a waste of money

 

[allantaximan]

Thanks for taking the time to reply so fully.

I have only tried it on one android phone, on my app the notifications are "motion Detection", "someone appears", "familiar face appeared" - all off - on the assumption that too many notifications before a ring might overload the "push" system. Also on another suggestion I covered the lower half of the black segment to possibly suppress detection. Not a resounding success.

I wonder if Paul Hibbert, upon whose recommendation I invested has had better luck. I must admit it was the personalised face recognition responses that interested me in the first place, but to be honest, theyve bored me, as thats the only thing the doorbell gets right, and in retrospect its a bit juvenile.

I shall experiment further, but I'm notconfident. I may re-install my RING doorbell. Dated, but still works.

 

[allantaximan]

PS on my app the notifications are "motion Detection", "someone appears", "familiar face appeared" - all off

there isnt a notification for "someone pressed the doorbell"

 

[itm]

PS on my app the notifications are "motion Detection", "someone appears", "familiar face appeared" - all off

there isnt a notification for "someone pressed the doorbell"

I found that I never got any ring notifications unless I had the "someone appears" option enabled. Could be coincidence of course, given how flaky it is.
I also bought it on Paul Hibbert's recommendation. I can't remember now if he tested the button presses - alot of the reviews focus more on motion detection, which isn't relevant in the case of the Blurams unit as it triggers every time a spec of dust moves in the same postcode.

 

[allantaximan]

LOL. Yup

 

[philw102]

I'm kind of glad it isn't just me having these problems.
I also purchased on the recommendation of Mr Hibbert, first and last time sadly.
I've tried setting up IFTTT rules and all sorts makes no odds I never get an actual someone pushed the button you can speak to them notification.
I think I will just cut my losses and learn the lesson.

 

[synthwave]

Saw Paul Hibbert's video and bought 2 of these doorbells off Indiegogo last year with lifetime cloud service for $294, one for me and one for my mum.
When bell is pressed it doesn't process the "video call" to mobile phone, on both doorbells.
Battery life lasts only 6 days, not the 4-6 months advertised.
Bottom security screw is getting very loose/bent from all the weekly unscrewing.

Sadly the doorbell doesn't live up to the hype.

IF i could somehow power it by solar power it would be "OK" i guess, but i have no idea how.
The charging port is on the back of the doorbell,a usb micro port, which would be very impractical for permanent charging by usb solar panel, i'd have to make like a huge hole in my door frame or something.
Any advice?

 

[itm]

Saw Paul Hibbert's video and bought 2 of these doorbells off Indiegogo last year with lifetime cloud service for $294, one for me and one for my mum.
When bell is pressed it doesn't process the "video call" to mobile phone, on both doorbells.
Battery life lasts only 6 days, not the 4-6 months advertised.
Bottom security screw is getting very loose/bent from all the weekly unscrewing.

Sadly the doorbell doesn't live up to the hype.

IF i could somehow power it by solar power it would be "OK" i guess, but i have no idea how.
The charging port is on the back of the doorbell,a usb micro port, which would be very impractical for permanent charging by usb solar panel, i'd have to make like a huge hole in my door frame or something.
Any advice?

I ended up ditching mine and replacing it with an EzViz DB1C, which works well (and also offers a permanent RTSP stream, so it can also be used as a security camera).
I've come across others (in other forums) who have had the same experience. I think the Blurams Doorbell was basically a waste of money - it doesn't actually function as a doorbell.

 

[Bartw]

Guy's,

It is working whithit the latest update on the app in the playstore version(5.1049.0.289).

It is working on my android phone after this update.

Kind regards,

Bart

 

[itm]

Guy's,

It is working whithit the latest update on the app in the playstore version(5.1049.0.289).

It is working on my android phone after this update.

Kind regards,

Bart

Congratulations on getting a response from Blurams support. I didn't get one in 3 months