1/31/2024 0 Comments Battery life radbeacon dotSo as you review various project descriptions, check the version of android that the author is using as it will make a big difference.Īlso, with the cost of radius networks eddystone-capable “radbeacon dot” beacon device down to $14, there’s less reason to create virtual beacons from phones these days.Īgain, since I already have a network of Android devices in my house (and will be adding more over time as I add to my collection of wall-mounted home automation control panels running SmartTiles, LANnouncer, etc), even at that low price, it’s still cheaper to do what I’m suggesting here in this thread…that is, IF we can find a way to do it (that said, I still clicked the link, and will probably at least buy one just to see what it’s like). There may be a way around it, but the last time I looked if a tablet was acting as a virtual Beacon it couldn’t do anything else at the same time. So it would no longer be available as your landroid announcer, for example. There might be a way to have Tasker switch between them but it could get tricky. Also you can run down the battery on your phone that you are caring with you pretty quickly if you have that many I Beacon regions. But there’s a lot of creative stuff out there, you may find something that works. Let us know if you do.īy the way, what we do in our house is the reverse, mostly because of the battery life issue. We do have multiple tablets around the house as home automation control stations. So we use those as Ibeacon receiving stations (not as virtual Ibeacons). Then I have an ibeacon on my wheelchair and my housemate has one on a key fob and as we move around the house the different stations pick us up and can trigger various events.īecause the tablets are all plugged in, there’s no battery issue. So this just becomes one more home automation activity that the tablet is responsible for. The goal is to use beacons for room presence with Home Assistant smarthome automation.One question I have is about the battery issue that you mentioned… …By the way, what we do in our house is the reverse, mostly because of the battery life issue. I always have my iPhone with me, so tracking the phone will quickly locate me in a room or at the front door when I come home. IBeacon is the protocol (packet format) the beacon will emit. Eddystone and AltBeacon are other protocols. Even though Apple defined iBeacon, any device, eg. Beacon packets are emitted using Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE). I chose RadBeacon’s “Dot” beacon over their “Chip” beacon because the Dot has a replaceable coin battery, CR2032 (a popular coin battery size). Radius Networks sells two versions of the Dot: Non-configurable ($11) and Configurable ($14). Get the RadBeacon Dot workingĭownload the RadBeacon app from the Apple app store. The first screen will be an empty list of beacons because you haven’t discovered any beacons yet. Turn on the Dot by clicking the top of it (lighting bolt symbol button) once. The GREEN led will flash once, indicating the Dot is ON. To turn off the Dot, click the button once and the RED led will flash, indicating the Dot is OFF. With the Dot ON, press and hold the button for about 5 seconds until the GREEN led flashes twice. This indicates the Dot is in CONFIGURABLE mode (config mode, for short). Swipe down (pull down) on the app’s first screen to scan for nearby beacons that are in config mode. Your new beacon will appear in the list with its name, model, version, id, and battery status. (I’m not using any of the UUIDs in this article) Tap the row for the beacon to see detail and config options. In the next screen, you can configure the beacon’s name, type/protocol (iBeacon, Eddystone, AltBeacon), UUID, major & minor numbers, advertising rate, and transmit power. To extend battery life, I decided on an Advertising Rate of 1 time per second (1000ms, or 1Hz), the lowest setting. This should be quick enough for room presence applications. For Transmit Power, see below.Īfter you setup everything, tap “Actions” in the top-right of the screen and tap “Apply” in the actions menu. If it asks to calibrate to the measured power, tap “Yes”. The app will ask for the Dot’s PIN, which by default is 00000000 (eight zeros). To determine a suitable Transmit Power, you can tap “Actions” in the top-right of the screen and then tap “Range” in the action menu. This will run a utility that shows, in real-time, how close your iPhone is to the beacon in meters. “Immediate” means the phone is super-close to the beacon. “Unknown” means the phone doesn’t “see” the beacon and so is out-of-range. You can copy-paste your Dot’s UUID from here to another app like OwnTracks: Play with different Transmit Power (measured in dBm) strengths and use the “Range” tool to tune the detection range to your liking.
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