What Happens When Blink Camera Battery Dies?

In today’s digital era almost everyone wants to have a safe and secure home. And the modern security industry offers a lot of devices for it, but most people prefer to have not only smart systems in and of itself, but also to couple them with cameras. And Blink is one of the nowadays top-notch manufacturers of surveillance devices, from pretty simple video doorbells to full-fledged home security cameras, all connected to a single app. Also, this brand has a lot of completely wireless solutions, which users prefer more than wired ones, not even thinking about what happens when blink camera battery dies. That’s when it’ll come in handy to know how to deal with such situations. when to expect them and what to do to prevent them.

Blink Cameras and Their Batteries

There are three lineups of Blink cameras that use a changeable power source – Outdoor series, Indoor series and video doorbells. All of them can work without any wires at all, and could be powered by a pair of batteries. And there are three battery types that could be installed installed in Blink cameras:

• Non-rechargeable AA size 1.5 V Lithium power cells.
• Rechargeable AA size 1.5 V Lithium-ion power cells.
• Rechargeable AA size 1.5 V alkaline power cells.

Although officially wireless devices are compatible only with the first type of batteries, the other two also could be used as alternatives, but it’s not advised to install them. But you can use an adapter to make them fully compatible.

All those power cell types mentioned above are surprisingly long-living in the case of using them with cameras, because Blink devices actively work only about 60-70 seconds a day, if placed wherever there is not too much motion in view. This way, batteries will live up to 2 years, according to Blink official claims.

What Happens When a Blink Camera Battery Dies?

The very first thing you’d notice whenever your Blink camera is nearing discharge is its lowering usability. Basically, it’ll start work slower than it should, including possible delays in motion detection. And this is vital for camera usage, because it’ll literally create holes in your home surveillance system.

Also, sometimes nearly discharged batteries could send your Wi-Fi connected devices into ‘Offline’ mode, fully stopping motion tracking and recording. But you’ll be able to connect to the device manually via the Blink app. And it’s important not to mistake such situations with cases when the battery is dead – the latter will cause complete device shutdown.

There are several ways to check the battery status of your Blink cameras:

• You can check the power level using the Blink app. In the ‘Device Settings’ – ‘General’ menu, you can find power indication that will either show ‘OK’ or ‘Needs Replacement’.
• You can set up your Smart Assistant, i.e. Amazon Alexa hub, to notify you whenever one of your cameras is nearing low power levels.

It’s important to remember that usually wireless Blink devices are not notifying you visually. There are no specific indicators for it on devices.

How to Prevent Your Blink Camera Battery from Dying Unexpectedly

To increase wireless Blink camera’s longevity, you can use battery extensions. Those are power packs for batteries that could be externally connected to the device to serve as the additional power source. Or, if you’re using Outdoor models, install a solar panel to power it independently.

There are several situations where your devices could use their batteries faster than they should, causing it to last shorter than 2 years. The device itself will warn you with ‘High Usage’ notification via app, if it uses more battery charge than it should under normal conditions.

Taking all that into account, there are several things you need to consider when using wireless cameras:

• Frequent motion detection activation will cause constant energy consumption.
• Slow Wi-FI connection will drain power cells faster.
• Extreme heat and cold could cause faster battery drain.

When the device is used in extreme conditions, is not set up properly or detects motion constantly, its lifetime could drop to 720 minutes, as Blink claims, or even lower. Therefore, it is highly vital to regularly check on battery status via the app to be always ready for power cell replacement. Only this way you won’t miss the moment when you need to do it.

Steps to Take When Your Blink Camera Battery Dies

There are two main device designs with slightly different power cell replacement routines. But both of those designs are pretty easy to disassemble, so you won’t mess up if you follow simple guides.

To replace batteries in Indoor and Outdoor lineups, you should:

• Unfasten the rear panel with the tool that’s attached to the device.
• Open the cover and pull out discharged batteries.
• Insert fresh batteries into their slots.
• Re-attach the cover and fasten it back.

To change batteries in XT and XT2 lineups, you need to:

• Slide down the switch on the backside of the device, following the arrow sign.
• Lift the cover and take out old batteries.
• Install new batteries and close the cover.

All lineups use AA-size power cells by default. There are several battery brands recommended by Blink:

• Energitech, Duracell AA – the long-living AA batteries.
• Energizer, Bevigor – most suitable batteries for cold and hot conditions.
• Duracell Optimum, AmazonBasics – safest rechargeable batteries with multi-layered protection.

To always know when to replace power cells in your cameras, you can use the Blink app. Its setup routine is relatively easy, and you can do it by visiting ‘Settings’ – ‘Notifications’ menu in the app. There you can turn on various types of notifications, including ‘High Usage and ‘Low Battery’ alerts, as well as their more critical addition – ‘Camera Offline’ alert.

Troubleshooting Common Battery-Related Issues in Blink Cameras

Most issues that are caused by batteries are usually around power cell recognition, app settings mismatches or rapid drains. And most of them could be solved by power-cycling the device. The routine differs from model to model, but there’s a short guide on how to do it properly.

To power-cycle your camera, you need to:

• Turn off the device. Take out its batteries, if needed.
• Wait for 15-30 minutes.
• Power up the device and turn it on.

If this procedure was not helpful, you should try to delete the camera via the Blink app and reconnect it. Or, as the last resort, you could try the Factory Reset, but this procedure will delete all the cameras from the app, because it could be done only by resetting the Sync Module:

• Hold the ‘Reset’ button on the Sync Module until you see the indicator becoming red.
• Wait for 3-5 minutes, until the indicator shows green and blue signals.
• Configure all cameras as if they’re new.

In addition to those short guides, there are some tips on how to deal with quick battery drains:

• Try using different batteries. This will exclude problems with power cells.
• Check the camera environment. It shouldn’t be in extreme cold or heat. There should be no excessive motion that causes its frequent activation.
• Power-cycle the device in case its power module recognition is malfunctioning.

Generally, there’s nothing much you can actually do if there are problems with batteries, if there are no issues with the power cells themselves. Because if power-cycling, resetting and reconfiguring are not working, then there are problems with the device. Therefore, if you can’t resolve something by yourself, it’s a must to contact a Blink Support Service for guidance or repairs.

Wrap Up

If you’re setting up a surveillance system at home using Blink cameras, and you want them wireless, it’s highly vital for you to maintain their batteries. Otherwise, if you’re not managing power levels and not replacing power cells in time, you could find yourself in a situation when all cameras are offline and your home security is literally nonexistent. Therefore, you should set up a notification system with the Blink App or your Smart Home hub (preferably, both) to always be in touch with the situations and to be able to replace batteries in your cameras before they shut down.