Working fine now! Thanks a lot!!
I have contacted SkyBell support to see if they could do something to improve the delay the skybell HD home assistant component is showing because of receiving the activation of the push button sensor too late from their cloud. I hope they donāt mind me copying their answer so, here it is:
Hi Jorge.
Being that we do not control this particular third party integration there may be a bit of a delay in finding a resolution. The particular delay has been noted, you may see some improvements once our updated firmware build is released.
Kindly,
Moses M.SkyBell Technologies, Inc.| Technical Support Lead
So letās see if itās possible to see some improvement once we get the next firmware update.
Hi, forgot to mention that given the kind answer I received from Moses of SkyBell technical support, it may be possible that they were open to a collaboration with @MisterWil in order to give him more information to be able to improve his own SkyBell component. What do you think? I know itās not an open API but they seemed to want to help improving the integration.
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Has anyone reached out to skybell to get better integration and snapshot support?
@jolaca How did you contact support? Just the Q&A support ticket system? Iām more than willing to reach out to Skybell to improve things (as the developer that did the component and skybellpy), but Iām less than optimistic that they would be willing to give me information on how to trigger snapshots and get more instantaneous alerts.
Great to hear back from you. Yes, I contacted them via a support ticket from here:
https://skybelltechnologies.zendesk.com
Iāve checked it and my original ticket is closed now for comments but they do let me create a follow-up from it. If you want I could do this, introducing you (and your email) as the developer that was willing to improve the integration and needed their help/info(they seemed to be willing to help) Or if you prefer so, you could create directly a new ticket referring to my original one, its number was:
Request #988038992
Let me know what you prefer. Iām here to help. I understand your concerns about what they want to share, but letās give it a try!
Thanks for your interest!! @MisterWil
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It would be great to see this happen if anyone is still following the issue. The delay is definitely not ideal!
Hi, Iām still trying to get something from support. Itāll be great if they would like to collaborate. It seems that theyāre still fixing their latest update. The chief of support is willing to collaborate but he depends on the developers and their time and they still seem busy with the app.
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Did they come back to you yet?
Sorry @Will_Garbutt didnāt see your message. They did not come back, and I have tried several times. Today I have sent a new message. Iām a bit concerned about Skybell, it is quite strange that they released several months ago an app that took away the specific sound for a pushed button and after lots of complaints of customers on āgoogle playā they havenāt yet released a new version of the software. So it seems as if they have abandoned software development?? I donāt know, letās see if they answer my todayās request and clarify things a bit.
BTW, today the image from my skybell camera is not showing on my HomeAssistant front end. Am I the only one or thereās someone with this issue??
Iāve lost the front door image as well. Though it was never real time.
No, not real time, but at least it was there as the last uploaded image, but now it doesnāt work anymore.
Someone from tech support has answered me only to say that thereās no issue with Skybell as a company, and asked me to be patient till their next app release. But, again, he didnāt say a thing about helping with HA Skybell integration, maybe on Monday, Justin (the one Iāve talked to in the past) tells me something about that question.
Iāve been in contact with them as well, and have received somewhat cryptic messages. But it seems like they are (saying that they are) working on it.
First, I wrote about the slow update, and shared a link to this thread (specifically @jolacaās post with their reply).
They replied with:
So alright! I am going to put your Firmware for an update. It is going to take 5-7 business days to update. I donāt update the Firmware, our engineers do. So I have already submitted your Firmware for an update. And itās gonna update automatically
I was a bit puzzled, and asked if the issue I talked about has been addressed in the firmaware update (I am currently on firmware version 7024 and app version 4.0.0 (173)), and they replied:
Yes it sure has been addressed. Itās still in progress
Not that Iām less confused now, but the replies were received 9 days ago, and three days, respectively. After tomorrow (Monday) it will have been 7 business days since the first reply. So please keep an eye out for any updates, and let us know.
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Thanks @Aephir for the info. Iāll definitely keep an eye, and if I get more info from them Iāll let you know.
Is anyone still missing there images? My images are still missing on the front end .
The skybell component has been updated to address this missing image - see this post.
The updated version (as of 84.6) displays the ālast activityā image as a workaround. A newer version will include an option to display the latest saved image or the last activity. This will probably be available in HA 85.0.
Is it possible to avoid the latency associated with the Skybell server by communicating directly with the doorbell through the BLE interface? May not help with images, but notifications of a button press or motion detection should be much quicker.
BLE Interface? I donāt see any indication that these things have any interface other than Wi-Fi, which is encrypted to the Skybell server.
Hmmm. I was reading an article at: https://justclickappliances.com/skybell-2-0-vs-skybell-hd-review/
It says:
Difference #8: Bluetooth low energy ā Bluetooth low energy capability allows your smart device to transmit and receive information using bluetooth rather than Wifi. Bluetooth technology in the Skybell HD uses a lot less power. Additionally, this connection offers increased integration with other devices such as the Nest Cam, Nest Protect, and Kevo Lock.
I donāt see any reference to Bluetooth on the skybell web site, so maybe this is bad info.
I suspect itās bad info. Bluetooth scanning in the area has not found anything, nor is there any advertised mode that would use such a feature (direct communication with any device other than the skybell servers). As for the claims of using less power, the skybell doesnāt really care as itās not operating on batteries, but rather itās using the hardwired doorbell power supply.