Thanks for the suggestions. Sometimes you have to “say it out loud” to start thinking clearly… I used to use AutomateIt with an old phone, so I’m not as familiar with Tasker as I’d like to be.
Delved into it a bit. Turns out it has its own app lock built in. So now ST is secure. Additionally there are ‘filter’ apps that dim the screen way down, and one of them is a Tasker plugin. Set it to go bright,wait 3O seconds, then go dark… of course if the intent from MotionDetector triggers again before the 30’seconds expire, the screen stays bright.
So it’s doing what I need. Not perfect, but good enough for now. And it’s entirely local to the tablet.
@Glen_King
I’m not familiar enough with how much electricity is used by the screen when it’s dimmed way down.
So, does the amount of electricity being used by the screen also go down significantly when the screen is dimmed as opposed to being completely off?
Another question, RE: the Motion Detector app you’re using… does running it and the camera all the time take much electricity, or is it negligible?
I ask because, if you’ve found a way to have the trigger happen directly on the Android (instead of sending the trigger to it via my method), and it doesn’t take any more elctricity (or, at least, if it’s significantly less to be considered a non-issue), I may modify my system to use that instead.
Another option is to use an app like Kiosk Browser – it’s full screen (good for Smart Tiles) and can be configured to require a password to exit. It is expensive though ($16).
I know this post a bit old but I noticed you were using a $50 Fire and wanted to know if you ever got the motion detector/tasker to work with it? I have the tablet rooted with all ads removed on 5.1.1 but it seems that the only problem is there is no option to remove the “swipe up to unlock” which I think is preventing any application to wake the tablet. Thanks in advance!
Thanks for the reply roofone. Does this keep the tablet on at all times? I was wanting for it to only turn on when motion is detected/within proximity of it. Are you currently using this with an Amazon Fire as well?
Ah, gotcha. Yes, I use the $50 fire. I have it set to dim/bright with Tasker and motion detection, but the screen just dims, it doesn’t shut off completely (but I never have to unlock it).
I have installed CM12 on a spare Fire, replacing the amazon OS completely, and am going to experiment with that to try and set something like you want up.
Oh I guess that works too. Yeah I have been wanting to get rid of the Fire OS overall, there isjust too much restrictions. Do you happen to have a link to a guide for CM12 on Amazon Fire 7 on version 5.1.1? I think I might go with that route as well. Thanks for the quick replies!
You’re fast and helpful, thanks roofone! I actually just installed CM12, going to mess with it now! There is an option to remove the padlock, now I will try the motion detector + tasker to see if I can get the motion detection to work completely.
Hey roofone! So I got it working perfectly with motion detector + tasker, everytime I walk by my tablet it wakes up and I have my smarttiles ready to for use. It is working flawlessly now that I am able to remove the “swipe up to unlock” option in the CM12 ROM. Thanks for your help and responses, it helped me to get it all working!
These are the steps I took in case anyone else wants their Amazon Fire 2015 (7" in my case) to get motion detector + tasker working:
From a factory Amazon Fire 2015 tablet on Fire OS 5.1.1 (Should work on 5.1.2 as well), I rooted it using the superuser tool from rootjunky (everything is ran from a .bat script and very easy and fast. (http://rootjunkysdl.com/files/?dir=SuperTool)
Once I have CM12 running along with Play Store, I downloaded Motion Detector + Tasker + Auto Start and followed this guide here: (http://android.stackexchange.com/posts/108443/revisions) and remember to use “org.motion.detector.ACTION_GLOBAL_BROADCAST” as the ACTION on step 19 instead of org.jastrzab.move.ACTION_GLOBAL_BROADCAST (OLD).
Remember to go into settings and change your screen lock security type to “None.” That way as soon as motion is detected the tablet screen will wake and be ready to use.
A few tips is play around with the sensitivity within Motion Detector to get exactly how you want it. I left mines on the highest sensitivity first than slowly moved it down to my optimal preference.
**NOTE: I was new to CM12 so I didn’t notice if root access is needed, you can click on your build number to bring up the developer tools and then switch on root access for apps.
I am very new to SmartThings and am also trying to achieve the above as well.
So far the status of my project is as follows:
I have a spare tablet, so I have downloaded Motion Detector, Tasker and Secure Settings.
I have followed instruction above and managed to add
"org.motion.detector.ACTION_GLOBAL_BROADCAST" to tasker,
then I have managed to add a task with Secure Settings to allow screen & keyboard lights
on for 1 second, which actually works with the front camera
I have set the main display settings (android tablet) to 30 seconds to sleep if device is inactive.
which does not actually work because the tablet is still detecting motion.?
Can someone explain what to do if I need to add another task to end the Secure Settings task?
It would be so useful if someone could explain and list just simple steps just for waking up the device,
and if no interaction put it to sleep again.
Also how do you get SmartTiles to work without a browser? in video below there’s no Google Tab page,
or Chrome page showing at the top? is there a special way to add URL’s?
Please can someone add easy steps for idiots like me… Thanks
I’ve not used Secure Settings so I don’t know. If you want to have the screen wake up with motion and turn completely off then you can follow e10trans directions in post 52. It requires replacing the stock firmware.
If you can live with the screen dimming and not turning off, you don’t need to replace the stock firmware. Instructions for that are here: FAQ: Affordable Hardware Dashboard
Has to be in a browser; people use browsers that offer a full screen or kiosk mode. I use Kiosk Browser, but Dolphin seems to be a popular free choice.
I saw e10trans post and thought it was for the fire kindle only?.
I only have android standard tablet, but I followed the instructions and the screen awakes
by motion from the camera and goes off by timeout in main settings, which is perfect.
I have also installed Dolphin for browser which looks all OK to use full screen mode.
The only down side tonight is SmartTiles are off line down for few days
while they update the SmartThings cloud, so could’nt install App at present
but I’m all set up and ready to go… Thanks
Is anyone using a browser that runs in the background?
I am finding that when the tablet goes to sleep or whatever, it won’t load the video streams and sometimes gets stuck reloading when I wake up the tablet.
