[BRAINSTORMING] CoRE Integrations - ideas?

Pandora! ! ! ! ! !

As mentioned in the presence FAQ, I use Ibeacons for presence. Very reliable if you want a small detection zone.

I plan to implement these for individual rooms of the houseā€¦ I hope. How small of an area can you make with them?

Is everyone at your house getting mandatory implants? :slight_smile:

Now that would be awesome!

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2 inches square with perfect transmission. :sunglasses: The Apple standard provides for three distances: immediate, near, and far. Which usually translates to a few inches, about 3 m, and further than that up to about 15 m.

However, and this is super important and every beacon manufacturer will talk about it, itā€™s not actually a distance. Itā€™s a measure of signal strength. You could be standing 8 inches away and if you drop a cookie sheet in between your phone and the Beacon suddenly you will register as ā€œfar.ā€

So thereā€™s some trial and error depending on local interference. And conditions can change. For example, if I park my wheelchair in a specific place in my living room I block reception.

But if youā€™re not trying to get absolute precision, it works pretty well.

And some beacons, like Estimote, let you set a custom transmission strength, which let you vary the detection zone.

Ibeacons are also designed to let you define a ā€œregionā€ of multiple beacons, so that you could cover an entire house with four beacons and have it all count as one region. still not mesh ā€“ ā€“ each individual beacon is point to point. Itā€™s just that the receiving station app, which evaluates what to do with the information about the beacons, knows to count them all as part of the same region.

Entirely separately, the Estimote brandā€™s newest model has a ā€œlocationā€ feature which uses three beacons to triangulate a personā€™s phone in the room and gives you pretty accurate positioning. But it does require three beacons per room.

http://developer.estimote.com/ibeacon/tutorial/part-3-ranging-beacons/

So there are different options that you can play around with. Just remember that Bluetooth is a 360Ā° signal, so if you use ā€œfarā€ itā€™s going to pick you up on multiple floors in the building.

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Itā€™s on multiple devices. Sometimes itā€™s accurate, other times it takes two days to update.

Key word being small. That doesnā€™t work for locking doors, changing thermostats, and arming SHM when everyone leaves and disarming when someone comes back. Leave the area and bad things start happening.

70mā€¦ itā€™s more than enough for most homes.

Here is a comparison of offerings on Estimote:

You can use multiple beacons to define a region. Thatā€™s what department stores do, so that a person only gets the ā€œwelcome to Macyā€™sā€ message when they first enter the store even though they are now 300 feet from the entrance.

But of course that increases the total device cost.

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This post is in response to my request for the Sonoff wifi switch above.

ā€œReally hate to post this but thought it the responsible thing to do.
I have had one of these turning on/off my fish tank light for just over a week now.
Tonight it lost association with my hub and I could not control it any more. i could turn it off and on via the button.
Then the light started flickering about an hour later.
It was now getting a bit warm.
I have removed it from the circuit and I will bin the other 2 that I have installed.
I am in the UK running 220V.
It could just be one faulty unit butā€¦
Just thought it my duty to tell the forum what I have foundā€.

Also thanks @JDRoberts for the advise about the swiidinter cord switch. I know these are more expensive but more order has just gone in.

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Not sure Iā€™ve given enough thought on this but Airfoil would be nice. Would like ability to turn on/off speakers, adjust volume, simple play/pause/skip functionality, and use it to connect simulated push buttons for quick access to presets. Have people had much luck with the other options for Smartthings + Airfoil (& + VLC Thing)?

Integration with Networked Tuners/Receivers. Where you could turn on the unit, set a source, and adjust volume, etc.
@redloro created a basic but functional DTH for the Yamaha receivers:

Can you not use the harmony hub and integrate it through that?

Of course, but I dont have a Harmony hub, so why pay the extra cash? Also, thatā€™s adding another layer of complexity and lag that isnā€™t necessary if the receiver can be directly integrated through ST.

True. But I love my harmony!

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iRule
Yonomi
SmartTiles

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what about PLEG?

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Probably already been mentioned countless times but it would be an absolute godsend to be able to copy pistons.

Most of the time, my pistons are slight variations on previous ones so being able to copy a piston as a starter for 10 would be fantastic!

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Not really an integration of new hardware but the inclusion of a backup/restore if it is possible?
Someday I would like to upgrade to a V2 hub but the thought of entering in all those Pistons again is painful. As well, the house would be stupid until I did and there goes the WAF.

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