Fibaro button presses

As some of you know, my lovely wife has a habit of falling. Several years ago she missed the last step going to the basement and fell and shattered her ankle. If it were not for the men working upstairs hearing her scream and calling 911, she would have laid there in pain until i came home.

I put a Samsung button at the base of the steps so she could alert me through a text. The Samsung button ate batteries (every month) so i bought the Fibaro button. I don’t need the multiple presses and that would confuse things because if I had it send a text with one press but if she panicked and pressed it a bunch of times I would not get the text because it only alerts me if she presses it once, not 3 or 4. Any way to get the automation to alert me whether she presses is once or 5 times?

Hi Tom,

The way I would achieve this would be to use webcore and set up the if statements to use 1,2,3 or 4 button press then alert you.

Hope this helps

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  1. “alexa find my phone”, where “my phone” is set to your number, then you say “why is alexa calling me, oh yeah my wife fell down the stairs again”

or

  1. “alexa ask GCHQ to call NSA to call me because my wife fell down the stairs”. I don’t think you have to mention terrorism but maybe

As @bazgee suggested, Just set up the same action for each different button option. You don’t even need webcore for that. That’s what we do with the buttons that my service dog will use. He doesn’t understand the difference between single press and double press so we just assign the same action to both. :sunglasses::dog:

All of that said, I still recommend a wearable device instead for someone who falls. Plus an echo if she’s able to vocalize. The combination of those two give you a much more convenient method of signaling for help then trying to get yourself back around to wherever the particular button is. Each serves as the backup to the other.

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I will create 6 automations, each sending me a text, so if she presses it once , twice or more each automation will get the desired result. Thank you for the Alexa suggestion. I will purchase an Echo.

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I would personally not trust a smart device for something as serious as this though. My recommendation would be the same as @JDRoberts - wearable device or what about those necklaces older people have that contact emergency services?

I just think button presses are too unreliable.

Agreed. I used to use one of the traditional wearables, I’ve mentioned it before. I started out with Philips Lifeline, then switched to GreatCall.

These days, though, if you can afford it I really recommend an Apple Watch. The third generation is fine, although newer generations have a built-in fall monitor which can also be useful. You can just do so much with these, although you do have to also have an iPhone. But you can send texts, make calls, call 911, All kinds of stuff. It shares the phone number with your iPhone, and usually cost $10 a month for the shared service. But you don’t have to have your phone with you, you can go out with just the watch if you want. And you can wear it in the shower and the new ones even while swimming. Walmart usually has the best price on the series 3, typically $299:

Anyway, if you can afford it, it just gives you a lot of options. :sunglasses:

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I understand your concern and appreciate the suggestion. She would not wear a necklace unfortunately. The button is the best solution I have been able to come up with.

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