End customer commissioning new device

Blynk 2.0
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I am starting a project on the Blynk platform. Suppose I want to develop and sell devices.
How will the end customer be able to use a purchased device? What steps must he take to start using a device? Which preparation steps do I have to take?
I suppose this info is available somewhere, but I don’t find it. Can you help me out?

1 Like
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Add him as user in the organisation

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Fill in your details and queries !! They will get in touch with you soon…

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That clearly doesn’t answer your question, but you will need to look at creating sub-organisations and placing the device and the user into that organisation. Be aware that even with the PRO subscription, you are limited to 20 users and 40 devices. Additional devices can be added for a one-off payment, but the only way to add more users is with an add-on subscription which starts at an additional £100 per month.

If your plan is to have more than 20 customers eventually then you should give some serious though to re-charging your customers for the ongoing Blynk costs via a monthly or annual subscription.

The device will need to be flashed with a sketch over USB, then it can be sent to the customer and provisioned via the app, assuming that your devices are supported in the Blynk Edgent sketches.

I think someone from Blynk will provide you with more detail, but it may be better to provide more info about the type of device(s) you are thinking of selling, then quantities involved, whether you want the option to ship firmware updates via Blynk.Air , etc.

Pete.

5

@PaulCoo great question. I’ll try to explain the process here.

First of all, the commissioning process is mostly depends on the hardware you are using.

  • In case you use Wi-Fi enabled device (ESP8266, ESP32, MKR1000, NodeMCU) you can use Dynamic / Wi-Fi provisioning - Device Activation - Blynk Documentation. With Dynamic Provisioning, you have a single firmware that could be used for all devices you’re selling. You don’t need to hardcode anything (like Wi-fi credentials or auth token). Please check the doc above it explains how it works and has video with the process.
  • In case you use non Wi-Fi devices, you’ll need something called Static provisioning - Static AuthToken - Blynk Documentation. With static provisioning, you’ll have to hardcode the auth token. This process requires more manual work. However, that’s the only option in some use cases.

So, after you had chosen the static or dynamic provision process. Now you have to deliver/share the device with your clients. There are multiple ways to do that and they are described here - Device Sharing - Blynk Documentation.

So, to summarize, let’s assume you use the dynamic provision with ESP32 and your devices will work via Wi-Fi. The one possible flow will looks like this:

  • You create and test the firmware with your test device in your main organization called Main Org
  • Now you’re ready to sell the devices, you flash the tested firmware to your devices
  • You made a contract with the company Company A and now you have to deliver them 5 devices on site
  • In the web you create the sub-organization Compnay A
  • You invite the User A from Company A to the sub organization Company A (you can invite from the mobile or web)
  • You come to the Company A with 5 devices (or you can just them the devices with instruction)
  • Now, you turn on your devices one by one. Log to the app with User A, you click “Add device” and follow the provisioning process. (You can also do the provisioning under your account, but in that case you’ll need either switch to the sub organization or provision within your organization Main Org and transfer the devices than to the sub organization)
  • After the provisioning - all devices were added to the sub organization Company A and user User A can see and control them now (if you give the role of the invited user enough permission to do that)

Also, you’re as the owner of Main Org that is parent org of Company A also can see all devices of the Company A.

Please let me know if you have any further questions.

More details docs:
Dynamic - Deploying Products With Dynamic AuthTokens - Blynk Documentation
Static - Deploying Products With Static AuthTokens - Blynk Documentation