I would try the latest VeraMate GeoFencing first , as a lot of work has been put into rewriting the algorithm to handle situations with low signal strength - although you may need to put in a larger fence size, which may not be viable. This still depends highly on whether/if the iPhone can get a signal, but might work better now.
I have tried VeraMate geofencing’s newest version, due to my locations poor cell service it’s just not reliable enough to count on. I hopeful iBeacons can fit the bill.
I would try the latest VeraMate GeoFencing first , as a lot of work has been put into rewriting the algorithm to handle situations with low signal strength - although you may need to put in a larger fence size, which may not be viable. This still depends highly on whether/if the iPhone can get a signal, but might work better now.[/quote]
Hey VeraMate - You indicated that you have tested the Estimote iBeacons, can you tell me what kind of range (distances) your testing showed as possible. I got my Estimotes yesterday and the little testing that I did last night would suggest the maximum distance that my iPhone would hear the beacon was <10-12 feet, far from the 230 feet they claim as the max. I have them set to full power and even with the Estimote just 2 feet away from my iPhone VerMate thinks the beacon is “near”, I have to put the Estimote right on my iPhone to get the “close” indication in VeraMate. This is not a VeraMate issue however as the Estimote app also shows very limited range.
UPDATE - Estimote sent me another set of beacon’s as they thought my first set may have been defective, nope. These too have wicked short range. Not sure if all beacon manufactures would be the same but I can comfortably say that the Estimote beacon’s are not going to be a good choice for typical proximity use such as would be logical with a Vera (HA) application. Too bad as I had high hopes for these.
VeraMate - Are you even watching posts here any longer…? In any event, in my continued testing of my Estimote beacons it has become very apparent that VeraMate is not very successful at keeping track of beacons in the proximity. Using the Estimote app on the iPhone I can see that the iPhone itself is finding the beacons and the Estimote app is reporting them faithfully. But VeraMate under the same scenario does not always see them even when they are within 1m away. VeraMate will report “??” as far as the distance of a beacon where the Estimote app reports 1m away. I want to use VeraMate to trigger a scene when a beacon is within a certain distance from the iPhone but it’s not looking like reliable beacon localization will allow this.
Can some summarize iBeacon current standing with veramate?
I’ve read this full thread but I don’t really see:
Are people using iBeacons?
What brands are the most popular, and why?
Is Geofencing more popular than iBeacon?
My takeaway from this thread is that iBeacon doesn’t work well, at least with veramate. If that is the case, why is it still part of veramate.
I’m also interested in the current status of this and how people are liking it.
So I guess I will chime in here. I was very hot on getting beacons to work for me as any version of geofencing didn’t work well for me as I live in a rather spotty cell area and they all rely on location of your cell phone. The beacon code within Veramate uses the Apple built in frame work and as a result it’s (in my opinion) not very good. Had many issues with reliable operation and gave up. I now use Beecon on our iPhones and find it to be far more reliable. When I say “reliable” what I mean is the ability to see and determine the distance of a beacon on a very consistent basis. Often Veramate was not able to even see beacons even when they were within 2-3 of them, and it could not keep a lock on how far the beacon was from the phone. The Beecon app does all of this much better. It then has the ability to trigger (via URL push) things with Vera, scenes, PLEG anything. I now use several beacons around the house to trigger actions based proximity, works great.
Richard,
Who’s beacons are you using? What kind of range are you seeing in real life? How bad is the lag?
I’m using Estimote’s beacons. I really don’t see any lag now that I’m using the Beecon iPhone application. Range however is still FAR from what all these beacon companies claim. They say over 200 feet but there is no way it comes even close to that. I set the Beecon application to only trigger when it sees the ibeacon as “near” which is real world is within 2-3 feet. Your able to trigger within Beecon based on when the iPhone is in any of the 3 ranges (Far, Near and Immediate) and then there is a custom range. Playing with these will likely get you what you’re looking for. The only down side of Beecon that I have found is that it does not have the same granular distance setting on leaving the proximity of an ibeacon. You can trigger but only when the iPhone is completely out of range. In this case the limited range works in my favor.
[quote=“WhyMe, post:28, topic:182092”]Richard,
Who’s beacons are you using? What kind of range are you seeing in real life? How bad is the lag?[/quote]
Thanks for the info Richard. On Beecon’s site, they talk about if the app is not running (ie on the screen active), it can take up to a few minutes to find the beacon since iOS does not poll very frequently. Are you experiencing this?
Not at all, but I allow it to run in the background, takes up no resources at all.