Something I am particularly interested in is the ability to connect the Vera to some sort of small display unit, maybe an LCD with 30-40 characters or something like that.
In brief our Veras are in Vacation Homes and it would be useful to be able to send a message to the guest using the LCD display. For example useful messages like ‘Please Close Pool Door’.
I don’t mind how it is connected, be it either USB or WiFi, but I don’t really want to re-invent the wheel, so if anybody has done it before I would love to know how.
I didn’t realise that there were photo frames that you can send things to wirelessly, but it looks like a very nice way to go about it. Simple and off the shelf hardware should be a nice thing, if there is some easy method to upload of course!
I had danced around with the picture frame idea… Could do the warnings for doors left open in a nice graphic sort of way. Could also throw in forecasts and such to. That would probably require another embedded Linux box or remote access. (Not a problem in either case for me). Have been looking around hoping to NOT have to reinvent the wheel. (Thats how I stumbled on vera in the first place).
The digital frame would be the coolest… rotating slides… ‘welcome to ****’ , weather forecast,
reminders for the rental, warnings like ‘patio door has been open for 15 minutes’ air conditioner will be turned off. Then again sometimes I take ideas to an extreme and realize the cost and effort isn’t worth the payback or the ‘cool factor’
However, the guests do love coming to a cabin that is not 40 degrees in the winter which was my original use for vera (remote thermostat). And I do love making sure things are set back / turned off when they checkout.
It is great to hear that somebody else uses the Vera in a pretty similar way and would also like to attach a screen to do almost exactly the same things as I myself have in mind! Not to mention somebody else who worries that they too might get carried away!
[quote=“tt55du, post:7, topic:166817”]Maybe overkill with what you you are asking, but I posted this some time ago
the router in the picture is the same asus router used for Vera1[/quote]
Very cool link.
I guess you could always use a Chumby or the Insignia Infocast and write the flash app to run and react to device status (ie door open for 5 minutes, display warning). Lots of options, but also some work needed.
How about a simple alarm that goes off if the door is left open for a certain period of time. I have been wanting to link my old RS232 scrolling LED sign to Vera, you could mount that above the door…with an alarm.
To answer the question about putting an alarm over the door if you do so then people will rapidly become irritated by it sounding. I used to have pool alarms which served that purpose and they were regularly disabled and/or broken by the guests. Interestingly the AC being disabled appears a lot less irritating because they don’t tamper with those sensors and eventually they just get in the habit of closing the door behind them.
Yes, @Les F I used it to stream RSS Feeds and had plans on using it as a Marquee to a Mame cabinet too. I am thinking the Betabrite might be cool to have stream Vera’s log records just for fun.
@mtf, why didn’t you say that in the first place just turn the air off if the door is left open problem solved
The problem with just turning the AC off is that some guests aren’t very bright and then don’t understand why it is off, so I need something to really ram the message home. Having an electronic sign would be rather cool though and I could even put up the boil water notice that is currently in place.
If you’re looking for a picture frame, I just bought a Toshiba Picture frame that supports a service called “Frame Channel”. It also support Picasa. Frame channel does all that nice stuff like weather, local news and stuff like that. You can also email pictures to it.
Go to www.framechannel.com and check it out. It’s free. Google Desktop even has a sidebar plugin that works with it so you can ‘try before you buy’.
I’ve been watching this and other similar posts because I’m looking for a “DOES IT ALL” monitor…I guess monitor might not describe what I’m looking for. Anyway, I came across a very cheap Android tablet today being sold by Walgreens (yes, the drugstore chain) for $99 that might be a good fit for you. I’ve never owned an Android product so I don’t know if it has a pop up message like iOs devices do but if it does, this could be your answer. It’s wifi so you could stick it anywhere and it’s a 7" touch screen so they could actually reply if they had an issue plus it does have speakers if that helps.
Oh man! I gotta get one of those at $99!, (however its only running android 1.6 FYI) (And in a few years it will be in the closet next to the BetaBrite! ) ;D
[quote=“mbairhead, post:15, topic:166817”]I’ve been watching this and other similar posts because I’m looking for a “DOES IT ALL” monitor…I guess monitor might not describe what I’m looking for. Anyway, I came across a very cheap Android tablet today being sold by Walgreens (yes, the drugstore chain) for $99 that might be a good fit for you. I’ve never owned an Android product so I don’t know if it has a pop up message like iOs devices do but if it does, this could be your answer. It’s wifi so you could stick it anywhere and it’s a 7" touch screen so they could actually reply if they had an issue plus it does have speakers if that helps.
just turn the air off if the door is left open problem solved