NFC in action

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Having just upgraded my mobile to one with NFC I’m keen to see what options it’s brings for vera. I was interested to see what real life uses people were putting NFC to. I’m thinking it could trigger a home scene when I get in (turn on some lights) but would need to ad some programming so it only does it if it’s night ( currently I only activate the scene when I get in if it’s dark).

Is it worth playing with NFC or is it just a distraction that does not really deliver ?

2

[quote=“mzpost, post:1, topic:180485”]Having just upgraded my mobile to one with NFC I’m keen to see what options it’s brings for vera. I was interested to see what real life uses people were putting NFC to. I’m thinking it could trigger a home scene when I get in (turn on some lights) but would need to ad some programming so it only does it if it’s night ( currently I only activate the scene when I get in if it’s dark).

Is it worth playing with NFC or is it just a distraction that does not really deliver ?[/quote]

Meh.

I played with NFC about a year ago and found I personally have no use for it. I prefer automation to take care of that kind of thing.

YMMV

3

NFC is really cool and you can create some really interesting triggers (i.e. unlock deadbolt via NFC, run scenes, etc), but there are couple limitations that could be deal-breakers. It’s important to be aware and decide if they matter to you. For instance:

[ul][li]Stock android NFC apps require the screen to be unlocked as a security measure such as if your phone were lost (although this can be bypassed for certain rooted models if a custom rom is available and if you’re ok with lesser security)[/li]
[li]The usable distance is really short. Only a few centimeters.[/li]
[li]NFC is trigger, not state-based. For instance, this means if you want a constant action to occur such as “leave lights on while phone is on NFC tag,” you’d have to find a way to hack it to work.[/li][/ul]

Those are the major ones I can think of for now. I like the concept, but overall, I agree with S-F. A well-designed automation system should ideally require as little interaction from users as possible.

4

That’s useful information thank you. I did not know the lock screen had to be open as that rules out anything “automated”. As suggested I Should just focus on other options and get the house doing more stuff by itself. Looks like I might need to venture into the worlds of programming and pleg.

5

I use NFC for a few things. Here are the major ones -

  • My phone charging stand on my nightstand has an NFC tag that activates a Goodnight scene (lock all doors, turn off all lights, turn on bedroom ceiling fan, and arm alarm)

  • My wife has has the same stand that activates our pedestal fan in our bedroom

  • Tag on clothes dryer to set a 60 minute timer

  • Tag in my wife’s car to toggle leaving/arriving home (arm/disarm alarm, close/open garage door, lock/unlcock kitchen door into house, and turn off/turn on (if dark) front lights)

  • Tag outside of garage to toggle same scenes as wife’s tag in her car above - for when I go running

  • Tag on back of my daughters’ iPad to toggle wifi tethering on mine and my wife’s phones - the girls love to watch Netflix while grocery shopping!

I do have my Android phones setup so NFC is active on the lock screen, though. It was a pain to have to unlock it. Now, we just press the power button to wake it up and tap to the tag. They have worked well so far.

6

I am looking into this as well for example opening my garage door. Can you explain me what to do with an android phone, for just pressing the wake up button to have it working?

7

You either need a custom ROM which allows this or you need to root and find a patch someone has made for your specific phone. There is no patch like this for my phone. One more reason I have NFC tags all over which I don’t use.

Actually, there is one thing I do use NFC for. We have a few Bluetooth receivers connected to our whole house audio get up which pair via NFC. On a really slick tip from Signal15 I cloned the NFC tags on the devices to sticker tags and then placed them on the plates surrounding the keypads, so all you need to do to pair your phone is tap the keypad. Pretty slick.

HomeSpot NFC-enabled Bluetooth Audio Receiver

8

Interesting to see the use of tags in the car, I was thinking about doing something like that and putting a tag on the back of a phone holder. Looks like as with all things automation it’s horses for courses, the need to unlock the phone though Is the killer if there was an app that allowed it just to tap that would be good, otherwise I may as well just use my wall tablets and have a button for a scene.

Some interesting food for thought though, thank you.

I’ve just ordered the new fibaro sensor so going to see what options that gives me (I hoping it will play nice with vera) as might try a few of those for things like activating lights on the stairs etc (a zwave break beam would be an ideal addition to the range).

I really like the things my automation system does for me, just now thinking about taking the next step which will almost certainly need some deeper programming.

9

I am looking into this as well for example opening my garage door. Can you explain me what to do with an android phone, for just pressing the wake up button to have it working?[/quote]

I use the Xposed Installer Framework
http://repo.xposed.info/module/de.robv.android.xposed.installer

and the NFC LockScreenOff Enabler (it’s a module that requires the above framework)
http://repo.xposed.info/module/pk.qwerty12.nfclockscreenoffenabler

Your phone does have to be rooted though. No custom ROM needed. I do recommend hitting up the XDA-Developers forum for your device first though if you’re not familiar with rooting.

http://www.xda-developers.com/

10

I had an NFC tag on my phone mount for a while. I had it trigger my “Goodbye” scene, turn on bluetooth, and start Pandora. I haven’t used it in a while though.

11

If you use the MoDaCo Toolkit module in xposed you can enable NFC with the screen off so you don’t even have to turn on the screen. I know there is another way but I can’t remember if it was ROM specific.