Vera Proximity New Android Applications

[integlikewhoa]

After changing the rapid period to a value of a couple of minutes my fences are detected quite accurately. Occasionally there is a little hiccup (leaving immediately followed by entering my outer fence), but overall I am very happy with detection. The issue I still have that my virtual switch is not flipped. Is there a way to see if a command is actually sent to my vera? It would be nice if VP would integrate with VA to get some notifications.

Error logs in VP will show you what you need I think. Three things with not flipping the switch.
One the switch info is incorrect. Make sure you set the switch and tell it the on or off position for both entering and exiting. On exiting I usually set my bigger and smaller circles to both turn off the home switch. So If I leave and the first fence misses it, the next fence (maybe your rapid alert fence) will also resend the off or away switch. Also if you go into choose which switch it will reset to default even if you don't make a change. So double check that.

Next issue could be with the licences to use VP. If you don't have one for each VERA you own (not each mobile phone) or don't have it entered right, you'll get everything but the link to VERA. So check options, settings, registration Key make sure one is showing for your VERA or each of your Vera's.

And Last make sure you don't have "Disable Actions" checked in the settings tab. That will also shut down the connection with VERA.

[pls90]

@integlikewhoa
I have the same setup you are suggesting: on leaving both fences I set my virtual "ishome" switch to off.
I double checked my settings, seems right to me. Your mentioning the log gave me the idea to send a debug report to myself. I guess your right that licensing could be the problem. I found the following in the log:
02.09.2014 20:03:13 I:VeraProximity.Execute:Handle:Entering Inner Home to Home
02.09.2014 20:03:13 I:VeraConnect.Notify:Notification:Evaluation Period is expired
What should be in the log if a command was actually sent to vera? I Didn't get a license yet because I wanted to see it working first, but I guess I'll buy Richard a beer right away.

[integlikewhoa]

I'm far from knowing more then just enough to get me in trouble, but Looks like that's your problem.

I'll check my log right now and paste a bit of it.

[integlikewhoa]

Yup here's my log when I got to work this morning at 9am. LOL

I have XXX'd out my user and password and other personal info from the log.

Code: [Select]

Sep 2, 2014 9:09:28 AM I:VeraProximity.Execute:Handle:Entering Fence to WORK
Sep 2, 2014 9:09:28 AM I:VeraConnect.NetworkListener:GetWIFIIPAddress:0
Sep 2, 2014 9:09:28 AM I:VeraConnect.VeraGateway:URLRequest:https://fwd2.mios.com/XXXXX/PASSWORD/XXXXXXX/data_request?id=action&output_format=json&DeviceNum=81&serviceId=urn:dcineco-com:serviceId:MSwitch1&action=SetStatus3&newStatus3=1
Sep 2, 2014 9:09:29 AM I:VeraConnect.Notify:Notification:Entering Fence to WORK
You can clearly see it logs into my vera and switches my Multiswitch ID 81 and button 3 to ON

[RichardTSchaefer]

You can refresh your license by clearing the APP data.
Where you can remove APPS there is an option to clear app data ... just select that ... but you will also have to re-define all of your fences ... actions ...

[pls90]

I finally have it working. Problem was the expired trial period.
Apart from an occasional false leaving and then reentering my fences everything is working fine. The false leave happened once when my phone had been sitting on a table for some time, no movement at all. @richard
VP seems to be more reliable than my ping sensor setup for setting away / home states. Well done, Richard!
Feature request:
Could you bind the leaving / entering event to motion (gyro). That would avoid false triggers. I recall you are already doing something like that.
Could you allow triggering different actions depending on current movement when leaving / entering a fence? This would allow to do something like this : when enter ing in a car / bike (fast movememt) open gate and garage door, when entering fence on foot (slow movement) only open gate, no need to open garage. This would also afford to allow triggering more than one action from within VP.
Thank you for considering this.

[integlikewhoa]

I finally have it working. Problem was the expired trial period.
Apart from an occasional false leaving and then reentering my fences everything is working fine. The false leave happened once when my phone had been sitting on a table for some time, no movement at all. @richard
VP seems to be more reliable than my ping sensor setup for setting away / home states. Well done, Richard!
Feature request:
Could you bind the leaving / entering event to motion (gyro). That would avoid false triggers. I recall you are already doing something like that.
Could you allow triggering different actions depending on current movement when leaving / entering a fence? This would allow to do something like this : when enter ing in a car / bike (fast movememt) open gate and garage door, when entering fence on foot (slow movement) only open gate, no need to open garage. This would also afford to allow triggering more than one action from within VP.
Thank you for considering this.

Make your fence bigger, your phone GPS/ cell service is only so accurate.

[clambert]

This app really needs some documentation to know how to use it properly.  I bought it because I appreciate everything Richard does.  The learning curve on this one is a bit challenging though.  You've got inner & outer fences with different radius' and rapid update periods.

All I'm focused on right now is opening my garage door when I get home (because I am that lazy and I can do it).  It's a starting point for me and the app.

Location:  My Home

Inner Fence:  .04 radius
   Enter:  Local Alerts / Tone / Vera Action (Open Garage)
   Exit:  Local Alerts / Tone

Outer Fence:  .45 radius
   Enter:  Local Alerts / Tome / Rapid Update 00:45
   Exit:  Local Alerts / Tone

Issues:

1)  When I go outside and I'm around the house but don't have Wi-Fi it sometimes thinks I've left my inner fence.  Do I need to make my inner fence larger?  If so, how much?

2)  The app notification doesn't seem to always have a persistent notification.  Is it still running in the background?  If I disable the app and re-enable it, it will be persistent again for a while.  At some point it seems to go away.  Greenify is not set to hibernate the app.

3)  I have no idea what version I'm actually running.  Where in the settings do I find this?

My phone:

VZW Samsung Note 3 running 4.4.2 (rooted w/ custom ROM)
Location Services are set to high accuracy (GPS, Wi-Fi, Mobile Network) | Battery Usage reads High for location requests (Is that normal?)

Thanks in advance for any help.

[ubun2Junky]

Documentation would be nice.  I'd like to see examples of how other people are using this app.  I simply want something that would report to my vera when I was home and when I was away.  I used to do it via ping, but when my phone battery died, it would trigger me as away and start shutting everything in my home!  I see people have inner, middle and outer radius, not sure why or what's the reasoning behind that.  A guide or documentation again would be nice!

[Aaron]

There is documentation on Richards web page.

I use mine like this...

Outer Fence
   purpose: turn on GPS when entering for accuracy
   Radius:  .20 radius
   Enter:  Rapid Update 03:00
   Exit:  <none>

Inner Fence:
   purpose: trigger Vera Actions
   Radius:  .10 radius
   Enter:  Local Alerts / Voice / Vera Action
   Exit:  Local Alerts / Voice / Vera Action, Rapid Update 01:00   (this is in hopes to increase accuracy)


BUT, none of this (and other settings I've tried) works most of the time. It usually detects I'm home after I pulled into the garage & parked for 10-30 seconds.

So... it is not providing me with the benefits of its intended purpose.

I wish I could get it working properly because the 1 time in 50 that it does, I love it.

[clippermiami]

I have mine set up with an outer fence at .15 which starts the rapid update. The inner fence is at .04 which sets the VS for at home. The downside is that with that tight an inner fence when the weather turns shaky it will report me as Away then Home then Away then Home .... as the phone keeps switching cell towers.

I too am still looking for the perfect solution.

[ubun2Junky]

I just let my gps run all the time.  I've tried tasker's location plugins and I've had same sort of results where they haven't been as reliable as you'd like it to be.  I checked out this page http://rts-services.com/Android/VeraProximity/  Seems like he's planning on writting some documentation, but there isn't anything there.  Unless there is another URL you can direct me to.

[integlikewhoa]

1)  When I go outside and I'm around the house but don't have Wi-Fi it sometimes thinks I've left my inner fence.  Do I need to make my inner fence larger?  If so, how much?

Everyone is different, Every house or property is a different size and shape. Cell towers and reception (triangulation is used from the network) is different. You need to make it bigger if you getting false exits. How much.... you can test .01 at a time until no more false readings. I have mine set at .06 and .08 for a larger vacation house.

2)  The app notification doesn't seem to always have a persistent notification.  Is it still running in the background?  If I disable the app and re-enable it, it will be persistent again for a while.  At some point it seems to go away.  Greenify is not set to hibernate the app.

My Note 3 (also custom rom) doesn't display it on the front and it runs fine in the background. (I don't like it bugging me anyways.) My wife's S4 is always displaying even if I try and hide it.

3)  I have no idea what version I'm actually running.  Where in the settings do I find this?

In app I don't know but you can find it in your phone's application manager. Home screen, settings (maybe under the swipe down from the top, not sure which rom you have), then general, then application manager, then click on the app and it will say on the top above force stop and uninstall. 

[clambert]

Thanks everyone for your feedback. I'll take everyone's advice and continue to play.  It looks like I just need to continue tweaking it in my environment. 

[RichardTSchaefer]

If I get an event from the Phone (GeoFence,  Cell Tower Change, Wifi Change, GSM service Change, it will wake up my app.
While my app is awake ... you can NOT remove the notification icon ... after a minute or two it will allow you to remove the notification.

So if you can't remove the notification you are constantly getting one of the above events!