ORBnext: Device did not connect

BlinkUp
1

I’m currently trying to Connect to my ORBnext directly via Electric Imp App. Not sure, whether this is possible or not. I did successfully clear the device settings with the app, but when I try to setup the device, it does say, that the “Device did not connect”.

Once I start the setup process via BlinkUp! the device starts to flash the green light for a couple of seconds. After that, the LED goes off. Around 80 seconds later, the Electric Imp app says, that it wasn’t able to connect. Is there a way to manage the ORBnext via Electric Imp application?

Thanks in advance,
Markus

2

I believe you need to ask ORBnext to unbless your device if you want it to appear as a developer device (so you can deploy your own code to it).

3

Thank you, I’ll try that. :slight_smile:

4

I am having the same issue connecting an OrbNext.

Blink-connect
Blink-connect1440×2560 38.6 KB

5

That screenshot shows an old blinkup app that has not been updated. Was that the ORBnext app?

6

Yes. That was the blink.n.play app. I tried the Electric imp app. With that the flashing light on the OrbNext turns to flashing green. But in the end, the app gives me a red ball and says “device couldn’t connect”. Not sure how to proceed. I even tried putting the phone on the same wifi network as the device. No change.

7

So seems like ORBnext have not updated their app - I’m afraid we can’t help with that. Are you wanting to use the device with the ORBnext app, or with your own code?

I believe they will unbless your device (ie make it a developer device) if you want to program it yourself. At that point - it’s a server-side operation - then you will be able to use the imp app. You can’t use it now because the device is still bound to their account.

8

I was using it with IFTTT to notify us when we had a voicemail on our Oooma VOIP. So, I guess with tie ORBnext app.

9

I’d contact ORBnext and ask them if they can update their app - the required change was due to the Symantec TLS CA becoming untrusted so it the pinned certs had to be changed.

10

ORBneXt points to EarthLED which points to Advanced Lumonics, which seems to be out of business. I may be SOL. :frowning:

11

Hey @hatfieldcb I’m in the same boat you are. You have any luck getting unblessed?

12

Let me see if I can track the original people down…

13

I ran into the same issue. The company is defunct. You could try pinging the former owner (Mark Costigliola, https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-costigliola/) for help, as it appears his father (Charles Costigliola, who runs https://store.scanbarcode.com/) wrote the code. The Android app indeed has that SSL problem, and the iOS app won’t run anymore (as of iOS 14.2). If you have an iPhone running an earlier version of iOS, you can use the Apple Configurator 2 to manually install the blink.n.play app. I just tested this on one of my kids’ old iPhone 5s, and it works. The app is no longer available in the App Store; DM me if you need it.

It appears to be possible to write a web-based replacement for the blink.n.play app that keeps the IFTTT functionality working. Might be a hobby project once I get some spare time.

14

We can also unbless those devices if you get permission from Mark, so then you can run your own code on them and not need to rely on the old app.

15

Has anyone ever been successful in getting these devices unblessed? I have 2 prod and 2 dev versions. Of course, I can use the dev boards, but not the prod versions. I wrote to the Electric Imp folks a while back asking if they could unbless the prod boards because the company was defunct, but never got a response.