And am now thinking how I will use it. I plan to use to unlock the door when I’m not home and someone needs in the house, I will also use it to verify the door is locked when no one is home.
I don’t know how I will unlock the door upon my arrival home. It seems to me to be a lot more involved to use my phone to unlock the door rather than a key. I will experiment with the geofencing function but I’m not sure that is very reliable.
I have an Aeotec Key Fob that I have programmed to unlock the door. I hit the button when I am in the garage so the door is unlocked when I get to it. Door sensors are nice too, so you can tell the door is closed AND locked.
Thanks, I’ll check out the key fob. That sounds like a good method. I have all doors and windows wired/wireless to a Vista 20P integrated to the Vera so I have good visibility to everything being closed. What I was lacking is the confirmation that my daughter locked the door when she left for school each morning.
Another way is to install the ping plug in, set your phone up with a static IP, use a scene that when the ping sensor detects your phone the deadbolt unlocks and locks when the phone is not detected.
I’ve used this. It’s effectiveness is dependent upon how often it pings the network looking for your phone and how long it takes to get to your front door.
U use geofencing and ping to create a master home or away. I think use a motion sensor on the porch, that if im home and motion is detected with a time to auto unlock.
Doors lock when both me and wife away.
I personally have a key pad tho so guest when watching my house can use. Keypad also allows me to press the lock button when leaving and auto lock is only a backup.
I havent carried keys in over year and altho i could probley get away without a keypad most times I think missing the keypad is a huge turn off for me. I could/rather do with the key hole.
The option without the keypad was an aesthetic compromise with my wife.[/quote]
I figured it had to be aesthetic and my guess is she will likely continue to use a key. Pulling out a phone, opening an app and going threw the motion to unlock it is not a common task. Locking it behind you is also going to be difficult. You will find that home and away is delayed both directions and at first it would be more then difficult to turn the corner on your block hoping that it auto locks either soon or ever.
Ping sensor works good for androids but not for iphones.
Geofence depends on your cell reception and your property size. Geofence needs to have a large fence or it will bounce you out even if your inside as it’s accuracy changes. If you have a large property and only circle the house you can get it to trip closer to your home. My main house is small and in a heavily populated area. My geofence won’t trip until I’m 2 blocks away or more. You also have delays in there when your phone looses wifi as your leaving then switches to cell towers. So even if your phone fence trips quick there is still time your phone take to get online and login to vera servers to trip the virtual switch or scene or what ever your using.
I didn’t setup auto unlocking until was comfortable with how everything was working and I added alot of protection to prevent false triggers. I don’t want to drive by my house on the way to get the kid from school and have it unlock my doors for someone else.
The keypad was the main use for 6 months or a year.
When other family or close friends are watching the house (we travel alot) and feeding the dogs, they already have their own pin code to enter. This is also tied to a custom notification to let me know when someone enters and who it is that unlocked the door. That wouldn’t be provided when using a key.
And just like my cars, keys are a thing of the past. They are also the hardest to change, easiest to loose and most vulnerable part of the lock.
I’ve been using the beta iPhone Vera app and it seems to get the leaving part down pretty well. I may have it lock the doors whenever I arm the alarm. What if I set it to lock with the alarm and when I leave the property? I assume that would double check it.
Whenever I get a text from my AD2PI when my daughter arms the alarm when she leaves for school I log in and double check she turned off all lights and I set the Nest down low. With this lock I will also check if she locked the door.
The key fobs would help but it’s not very automated.
I lock my z-wave door after arming away or stay on my alarm, but I also have the keypad type, I would hate to lock someone out on accident.
I also get alerts when certain people access the lock (like my house cleaner), or never show up (like my puppy sitter). But again that is a function of the keypad style locks.
[quote=“BillFulton, post:10, topic:190053”]I’ve been using the beta iPhone Vera app and it seems to get the leaving part down pretty well. I may have it lock the doors whenever I arm the alarm. What if I set it to lock with the alarm and when I leave the property? I assume that would double check it.
Whenever I get a text from my AD2PI when my daughter arms the alarm when she leaves for school I log in and double check she turned off all lights and I set the Nest down low. With this lock I will also check if she locked the door.
The key fobs would help but it’s not very automated.[/quote]
Vera geofence only works for one person/phone. I don’t have it lock when I leave but wife is home.
If your manually setting the alarm every time your leaving then sure you can just have the door auto lock when the door is closed after the alarm is set. PLEG would easily handle that.
Manually setting the alarm goes back to not being very automated. If you get your home and away setup for all users you can have the alarm set, doors lock, and lights off when everyone is gone. I don’t have this happen when only one person leaves.
I do have it unlock for me when the wife is home and I just get home tho.
[quote=“BillFulton, post:13, topic:190053”]How does Vera determine when both you and your wife are away?
I think this is where I need to focus my learning now. I’ve been hesitant to use too many plug ins with the Vera but maybe it’s time to expand.[/quote]
PLEG is where all my logic is. Multiswitch plugin, and Ping Sensor plugin are also involved.
Me And my wife both have Android phones.
Using “VERA Proximity” app on andriod it flips a multi switch (one for each of us)
“Blueiris” Andriod App also has Geofencing and sends Http to also flip another virtual switch.
And I have the “ping sensor” plugin in vera.
I tell PLEG to when 2 of the 3 are true then flip another Virtual MASTER switch for me to be home. When 2 of the 3 are off Flip the master switch for me to be away.
PLEG can then use those master switches for other things like “Anyone home” “No one Home” “One Person still home” or what ever.
At Vacation home I do this but with more then just me and the wife. I have my Parents Iphones added to the mix. The Iphones don’t do so well with ping sensor and I had to use different apps for the geofence. Results were not as good as what I’m used to on the Andriod.
Anyways I use 2 out of 3 incase one options fails, wifi drops, geofence bounces me out or anything like that. I have gotten it to be really reliable vs. a year ago. I know trust it to base alot of things off of it. 1 Geofence alone only worked good for me if the fence was really big so I would bounce out randomly when I was at home. And ping has same issues. If network down, phone reboots or anything even while I’m home my home would go into lock down while I’m inside resulting in me tripping the alarm and shutting all lights off on me.
So having several options and taking the average of the 3 has been the best for me.
[quote=“integlikewhoa, post:14, topic:190053”]PLEG is where all my logic is. Multiswitch plugin, and Ping Sensor plugin are also involved.
Me And my wife both have Android phones.
Using “VERA Proximity” app on andriod it flips a multi switch (one for each of us)
“Blueiris” Andriod App also has Geofencing and sends Http to also flip another virtual switch.
And I have the “ping sensor” plugin in vera.
I tell PLEG to when 2 of the 3 are true then flip another Virtual MASTER switch for me to be home. When 2 of the 3 are off Flip the master switch for me to be away.
PLEG can then use those master switches for other things like “Anyone home” “No one Home” “One Person still home” or what ever.
At Vacation home I do this but with more then just me and the wife. I have my Parents Iphones added to the mix. The Iphones don’t do so well with ping sensor and I had to use different apps for the geofence. Results were not as good as what I’m used to on the Andriod.
Anyways I use 2 out of 3 incase one options fails, wifi drops, geofence bounces me out or anything like that. I have gotten it to be really reliable vs. a year ago. I know trust it to base alot of things off of it. 1 Geofence alone only worked good for me if the fence was really big so I would bounce out randomly when I was at home. And ping has same issues. If network down, phone reboots or anything even while I’m home my home would go into lock down while I’m inside resulting in me tripping the alarm and shutting all lights off on me.
So having several options and taking the average of the 3 has been the best for me.[/quote]
That is genius. I got the lock installed today. I took your advice on the keypad and used the one I ordered on the back door. I ordered one with a keypad for the front door.
Everyone in my household uses an iPhone. Would your setup work with ping and the beta Vera app? The geofencing seems to work reliably but I like the redundancy you developed. I could also use a third party app for the third switch if needed but really haven’t used VeraMate or Homewave since I’ve tried the new beta Vera app.
Rather than using a ping sensor, I have a presence script running on my DD-WRT router that checked for the MAC address of my phone. As soon as it connects to the router, it means I am home. If it disconnects and stays disconnected for more than 2 minutes, it means I have left (2 mins to avoid any short loss of WiFi signal) I combine this with Vera 7’s Geofance option and it is working very well for me. I do not unlock any of the outside doors but I do unlock the door from the garage to the house (in case I have my hands full. All I have to do is use my elbow for the lever lock and push it open) and lock it again 15 minutes later. Also when I leave, it will close the garage door if I forget to do so and lock all doors.
Check these forums for DD-WRT presence thread. As it runs on the router, it doesn’t use any battery on your phone.
[quote=“BOFH, post:16, topic:190053”]Rather than using a ping sensor, I have a presence script running on my DD-WRT router that checked for the MAC address of my phone. As soon as it connects to the router, it means I am home. If it disconnects and stays disconnected for more than 2 minutes, it means I have left (2 mins to avoid any short loss of WiFi signal) I combine this with Vera 7’s Geofance option and it is working very well for me. I do not unlock any of the outside doors but I do unlock the door from the garage to the house (in case I have my hands full. All I have to do is use my elbow for the lever lock and push it open) and lock it again 15 minutes later. Also when I leave, it will close the garage door if I forget to do so and lock all doors.
Check these forums for DD-WRT presence thread. As it runs on the router, it doesn’t use any battery on your phone.[/quote]
Thanks for the tip. I’m using an Apple Airport as a router and doubt that option is available for me but I will look for something similar.
[quote=“BillFulton, post:15, topic:190053”]That is genius. I got the lock installed today. I took your advice on the keypad and used the one I ordered on the back door. I ordered one with a keypad for the front door.
Everyone in my household uses an iPhone. Would your setup work with ping and the beta Vera app? The geofencing seems to work reliably but I like the redundancy you developed. I could also use a third party app for the third switch if needed but really haven’t used VeraMate or Homewave since I’ve tried the new beta Vera app.[/quote]
I don’t use the Stock vera app, to limited and list like. I also know the stock vera app that does geofencing was only working for one device per vera, unless that changes that would not work for me.
Ping sensor on an iphone was nearly useless for me as it drops wifi every-time the phone sits unused so i could never use it to say I left, but it could be used to say your home.
Iphone Locator plugin I like better but it’s not updated as fast. But thrown in the bundle it’s a good fail safe to know your home 100%.
The custom script on the router should have the same problem the ping sensor has on an iPhone (once iphone goes to sleep… No Ping or IP response), plus with an Airport that further says that’s out for you.
Perosnally for an Iphone I would use Ping sensor, Veramate and Iphone Locator plugin as my three and write the logic in a way using each to it’s strengths.
[quote=“BOFH, post:16, topic:190053”]Rather than using a ping sensor, I have a presence script running on my DD-WRT router that checked for the MAC address of my phone. As soon as it connects to the router, it means I am home. If it disconnects and stays disconnected for more than 2 minutes, it means I have left (2 mins to avoid any short loss of WiFi signal) I combine this with Vera 7’s Geofance option and it is working very well for me. I do not unlock any of the outside doors but I do unlock the door from the garage to the house (in case I have my hands full. All I have to do is use my elbow for the lever lock and push it open) and lock it again 15 minutes later. Also when I leave, it will close the garage door if I forget to do so and lock all doors.
Check these forums for DD-WRT presence thread. As it runs on the router, it doesn’t use any battery on your phone.[/quote]
I used this for some time when I had one router… Then I ended up with multiple AP’s and it didn;t work, then we found away but then I had issue with Atheros processors holding on to my MAC after I was clearly disconnected from the router. Then I went to a NetGear R8000 and there was no DDWRT that worked at the time it came out. Now I moved on to Ubiquiti Unifi Ap’s.
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