VisibleTesla

[jpasqua]

I went dark for about 12 to 15 hours and did not make any requests and I seem to be back. Then again I could have been re-IP'ed by my ISP as I don't have statics. So I can't really say what is a cause vs. symptom are. I also tried an email to ownership which seems to have gone unanswered. :-( At least now it's working again! Cheers,

I'm glad you're back online. The next version (sometime this weekend) will have more comprehensive rate-limiting so hopefully we can keep from future banishments.

- - - Updated - - -

Sure. I'm more than happy to beta test this function for you. In the iPhone app, access to the other vehicle is done through the "Account" button on the upper right of the home screen. From there, all the cars will be displayed. It is then a simple matter to choosing the car you want and it will proceed to login to that car. I have not seen the Tesla app on the Android system, but I would think that the procedure should be the same.

Thanks Madartist. I've added in the experimental support and will release it sometime this weekend. When you login, even an auto-login. VisibleTesla checks to see if there is more than one car on your account. If so, it pops up a dialog asking which car you'd like to associate with. It describes the car as:

<Last six digits of VIN>: Color, Battery size

So for my car it would list it as:

Vehicle: P08714, Dolphin Grey 60kWh

Hopefully this information is good enough to allow people to select one car from within their "fleet" of Teslas

 

[jpasqua]

VisibleTesla 0.20.01

You can download VisibleTesla 0.20.01 here.

This version is a refresh to version 0.20.00 and continues some new features as well. As you'll see in the release notes, there have been a number of changes to ensure that we don't overtax Tesla's servers. There have also been changes to the Graphs tab to address some user requests. As always, please save your old version and your data files.

[Developers: The git repos for both TeslaClient and VisibleTesla have been updated]

VisibleTesla 0.20.01 [10-05-13]

• User-Visible Changes
  • General
    • Added experimental support for multiple vehicles on the same account. When you log in, VisbleTesla will determine whether there are multiple vehicles on your account. If there are, you're a lucky devil! In this case you will be prompted to select which vehicle you want to use. There is currently no way to change the selection without restarting the app. Since I don't have more than one Tesla, I have not been able to test this. Please consider it experimental. Users with one vehicle shouldn't notice any change in behavior.
    • The auto-refresh time is now 30 seconds instead of 20 seconds.
    • Pressing the refresh button repeatedly in rapid succession will not invoke the refresh function over and over. Rapidly repeated presses will be ignored so a backlog of requests won't build up. This is true for all tabs.
    • The Menu structure has been modified. The 3 top level menus are:
      • File: contains "Export Graph Data..." and "Close".
      • Options: contains two submenus - "Inactivity Mode" and "Simulate".
      • Help: contains "About", "Documentation", and "What's new".
    • The "Allow Sleeping" menu item is now part of the Inactivity submenu of the options menu. The Inactivity submenu contians three mutually exclusive options - if you select one option, the previously selected option will be deselected. The options are "Allow Sleeping", "Allow Daydreaming", and "Stay Awake". "Allow Sleeping" acts just as before. When "Allow Daydreaming" is selected it tells the app to stop auto-refreshing after 15 minutes of inactivity. The scheduler will continue to run and the Graphs Tab will continue to collect data. Your vehicle will not be able to go to sleep in this mode, but the load on Tesla's servers is reduced. By default, this menu item is selected. When "Stay Awake" is selected the app will not sleep or daydream. VisibleTesla remembers which of these three choices you have selected even if you quit and restart.
    • Fixed: A new type of seat has been added to the list. This only shows up in the "Details" display from the Overview tab. The seat type hadn't been seen before. It is "Perf Leather with Grey Piping, White". The code that Tesla uses for this is IZZW.
  • Login
  • Overview
    • The odometer reading is only available through the streaming API. In some cases this can require several requests to Tesla's servers to retreive. Since even at 60 mph the reading doesn't change much every minute, the app no longer updates the reading on every refresh. If the user presses the refresh button, it will force a new reading. Otherwise it is updated on every third auto-refresh.
    • At the very bottom of the details dialog (presented when you press the Details button), there is a new item called "Low level information". It is one very long line of detailed information that is only of use for debugging or for the technically curious. This same line of information is written to the tesla.log file when the application starts.
  • HVAC
  • Location
  • Charge
  • Graphs
    • Based on user feedback, I have modified the way lines are displayed in the graph. If you have chosen to display both lines and markers, the lines will display as thin and semi-transparent. This is the same as version 0.20.00. If you choose to display only the lines (no markers) then the lines will be displayed thicker and solid.
    • Loading a graph with many data points and a display mode that includes Markers (not just lines) can take a long time. The progress spinner is now displayed during this period as well as a "Loading" message.
  • Scheduler
    • There are three new commands available to the scheduler: "Awake", "Sleep", and "Daydream". When one of these is executed, it is equivalent to the user selecting "Stay Awake", "Allow Sleeping", or "Allow Daydreaming" from the "Options->Inactivity Mode" menu. This can be used, for example, to tell the app to sleep at night and daydream during the day. Note that executing one of these commands simply causes the app to enter the associated inactivity mode. The app must still be idle for 15 minutes before it will sleep or daydream.
• Under-the-covers
  • Closed several loopholes that could cause more requests than desired to Tesla's servers. A new, more comprehensive, mechanism was added to the underlying TeslaClient library to do this.
• Known problems
  • When loading data for the Graphs tab the interface can become unresponsive for a few seconds if you are loading lots of data and have selected to display markers. This is a problem with JavaFX and I don't yet have a workaround.

 

[MichaelS]

Thank you Joe.
A great program just keeps getting better!

 

[dsmith2189]

VisibleTesla 0.20.01 [10-05-13]

• Graphs
  • Based on user feedback, I have modified the way lines are displayed in the graph. If you have chosen to display both lines and markers, the lines will display as thin and semi-transparent. This is the same as version 0.20.00. If you choose to display only the lines (no markers) then the lines will be displayed thicker and solid.
  • Loading a graph with many data points and a display mode that includes Markers (not just lines) can take a long time. The progress spinner is now displayed during this period as well as a "Loading" message.
• Known problems
  • When loading data for the Graphs tab the interface can become unresponsive for a few seconds if you are loading lots of data and have selected to display markers. This is a problem with JavaFX and I don't yet have a workaround.

Not sure if it is related to your known problem, but when I try to display my graphs tab I get the "Loading" message the spinners stop spinning and my Java locks (and I have to close the application). (displaying both markers and line or displaying only markers)
OK... back to 0.20.00 to change the display to lines only and then to 0.20.01...

 

[Puyallup Bill]

Thank you for your efforts - neat. Oh, and it runs just fine on Windows XP. XP? Yep, still using it.

 

[jpasqua]

Not sure if it is related to your known problem, but when I try to display my graphs tab I get the "Loading" message the spinners stop spinning and my Java locks (and I have to close the application). (displaying both markers and line or displaying only markers)
OK... back to 0.20.00 to change the display to lines only and then to 0.20.01...

On my system I've seen it take up to 20 seconds with no response before it finally finishes. The more series that you have visible, the longer it takes. There is also a delay if you are in line-only mode and then switch to markers in the app.

I'm experimenting now with loading the last fews days of data, making the graph available, then loading the rest of the data slowly in the background. I'll let you know how it goes. JavaFX has a lot of nice aspects, but the charting is weak and it is difficult to use a richer package like JFreeCharts.

 

[jpasqua]

As mentioned in the release notes, loading the Graphs Tab when you have lots of data and you're displaying markers can be unbearably slow. I'm looking for better solutions but in the mean time I've uploaded a slightly modified version that helps. It loads the last couple of days worth of data and then makes the chart available. It slowly loads the rest of the data in the background. This makes loading the Graphs Tab more tolerable, but it is still slow to turn series on using the "Show Items" drop down.

You can avoid this all together by using "Display Only Lines". This only happens when markers are being displayed.

FYI, version 0.20.02 is out in the repository: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7045813/VisibleTesla/VisibleTesla%200.20.02.zip

---

For the technically inclined who may be interested, the reason this is so slow is that the LineChart class uses Node objects for each marker. For my graph that's about 60,000 data points and therefore 60,000 children objects that it is drawing and laying out. I'm trying to find a way to simply draw the markers rather than making them Nodes. I don't use any of the features that the Node objects provide, so it's a waste. An alternative is to get it to lazily evaluate the data and only create Nodes as they are needed (ie don't create Nodes for pieces of the graph that aren't displayed). At any rate, I'll keep looking for a solution. I've posted on the Oracle Technical forums to see if I can get some help there.

 

[Madartist]

Thanks Madartist. I've added in the experimental support and will release it sometime this weekend. When you login, even an auto-login. VisibleTesla checks to see if there is more than one car on your account. If so, it pops up a dialog asking which car you'd like to associate with. It describes the car as:

<Last six digits of VIN>: Color, Battery size

So for my car it would list it as:

Vehicle: P08714, Dolphin Grey 60kWh

Hopefully this information is good enough to allow people to select one car from within their "fleet" of Teslas

Just tried the latest version of VT 0.20.02. It worked exactly as you stated. When I first login, both vehicles come up for me to choose. I am now able to access the second car which I wasn't able before. That's awesome! Do I then logout and login again to get that optional dialog box back? Is there a simpler way?

 

[jpasqua]

Just tried the latest version of VT 0.20.02. It worked exactly as you stated. When I first login, both vehicles come up for me to choose. I am now able to access the second car which I wasn't able before. That's awesome! Do I then logout and login again to get that optional dialog box back? Is there a simpler way?

Thank you for testing. Unfortunately, there isn't a simpler way right now. In fact, the only thing I can guarantee will work is quitting the app and restarting. Logging out and in again *should* work but since I can't test, I don't guarantee it. It sounds simple enough, but there is lots of information about the selected vehicle that gets cached in various places. The code is all in place to clear this out when a new vehicle is selected, but without the ability to test, I can't say how close to being right it is.

I suppose the other option is you can run two copies of VT and have one point at each vehicle. Then just switch between the windows to select the vehicle you're interested in. This has the advantage that if you use the scheduler, you can have two schedules running - one for each vehicle.

I do want to improve this and I've added it to the list of enhancement requests on github. However, it's going to be tough to do until I can find some way to test. Hmm. Maybe my wife needs a Tesla

 

[dlmorgan999]

I do want to improve this and I've added it to the list of enhancement requests on github. However, it's going to be tough to do until I can find some way to test. Hmm. Maybe my wife needs a Tesla

That sounds like a good solution to me!

 

[Madartist]

Thank you for testing. Unfortunately, there isn't a simpler way right now. In fact, the only thing I can guarantee will work is quitting the app and restarting. Logging out and in again *should* work but since I can't test, I don't guarantee it. It sounds simple enough, but there is lots of information about the selected vehicle that gets cached in various places. The code is all in place to clear this out when a new vehicle is selected, but without the ability to test, I can't say how close to being right it is.

I suppose the other option is you can run two copies of VT and have one point at each vehicle. Then just switch between the windows to select the vehicle you're interested in. This has the advantage that if you use the scheduler, you can have two schedules running - one for each vehicle.

I do want to improve this and I've added it to the list of enhancement requests on github. However, it's going to be tough to do until I can find some way to test. Hmm. Maybe my wife needs a Tesla

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about running 2 copies of VT simultaneously. That's a good work around solution. BTW, what does the "safe" button do in the scheduler?

 

[jpasqua]

Thanks for the tip. I hadn't thought about running 2 copies of VT simultaneously. That's a good work around solution. BTW, what does the "safe" button do in the scheduler?

Safe means that if the command uses power, it will only be executed if the battery is at least 25% charged. At the moment that only applies to turning on the HVAC.

If you run two copies, be sure to select different vehicles, otherwise the stats will become jumbled. The safest thing would be to duplicate the VT folder and run one from each. That way each one will have its own auxiliary files. If you accidentally select the same car in both running apps, there won't be contention when writing to those files.

 

[JPP]

This is a very far out suggestion, but can one write code so that VisibleTesla can send out push alerts (from your home computer or other system running VT live) to your smartphone? This would really be a great way to know if your charging session is done, etc. Just a thought in advance of any upgrade to TMs official app.

 

[jpasqua]

This is a very far out suggestion, but can one write code so that VisibleTesla can send out push alerts (from your home computer or other system running VT live) to your smartphone? This would really be a great way to know if your charging session is done, etc. Just a thought in advance of any upgrade to TMs official app.

Actually it is not far out at all. It was requested further up this thread. Receiving push alerts on your mobile device would require an app on the device. However, If you consider a text message to be a push alert, then this would be doable. Many of the carriers (in the US anyway) have an email gateway for SMS messages. VT could send an email to the gateway and you would receive a "push alert". For example, if your carrier is AT&T and your mobile number is (

555) 123-4567, then you can send it a text by emailing​

[email protected].

Honestly, sending an email from VT is pretty easy. Setting up all of the user interface for configuring your email server, saving your password securely, choosing the alert parameters, etc. is much more work.


​

 

[TXjak]

Actually it is not far out at all. It was requested further up this thread. Receiving push alerts on your mobile device would require an app on the device. However, If you consider a text message to be a push alert, then this would be doable. Many of the carriers (in the US anyway) have an email gateway for SMS messages. VT could send an email to the gateway and you would receive a "push alert". For example, if your carrier is AT&T and your mobile number is (

555) 123-4567, then you can send it a text by emailing​

[email protected].

Honestly, sending an email from VT is pretty easy. Setting up all of the user interface for configuring your email server, saving your password securely, choosing the alert parameters, etc. is much more work.
​

Sorry if this has already been discussed, but it sounds like VT could send you a txt msg when your car hits a certain SOC, such as 80% on a SuperCharger.

This could be quite handy.

John

 

[FalconNinetyD]

Or a message when your car stops charging...

 

[JPP]

Actually it is not far out at all. It was requested further up this thread. Receiving push alerts on your mobile device would require an app on the device. However, If you consider a text message to be a push alert, then this would be doable. Many of the carriers (in the US anyway) have an email gateway for SMS messages. VT could send an email to the gateway and you would receive a "push alert". For example, if your carrier is AT&T and your mobile number is (

555) 123-4567, then you can send it a text by emailing​

[email protected].

Honestly, sending an email from VT is pretty easy. Setting up all of the user interface for configuring your email server, saving your password securely, choosing the alert parameters, etc. is much more work.


​

SMS would be fine--no need for a custom app. ChargePoint does this now if you are using their chargers. Works great.

 

[Morristhecat]

@jpasqua, I have a question about this app, if you don't mind...

Under the charge tab, when my S is unplugged and parked, it shows in the table a charge rate of -1.60934 km/h. I had always thought this was quite an exact calculation of the vampire loss. However upon closer scrutiny of this number, I notice it is simply a direct conversion of 1 mph = 1.60934 km/h. So I take it that even though the number listed in the table is 6 significant figures, it really isn't such an exact cal, and is actually only 1 significant figure converted more exactly than needs to be into metric? Is this the case?

Thanks in advance...

 

[polyphase]

How does VT handle the auto lock feature? I don't press the lock button on the fob, but just walk away. VT shows the lock icon in the unlocked position but the car is locked and asleep.

 

[jpasqua]

@jpasqua, I have a question about this app, if you don't mind...... So I take it that even though the number listed in the table is 6 significant figures, it really isn't such an exact cal, and is actually only 1 significant figure converted more exactly than needs to be into metric? Is this the case?Thanks in advance...

Yes, that's right. I use only 1 significant digit in the underlying data. This particular item comes through the API as mph. If your GUI settings are metric I do the conversion. Unfortunately I erroneously display more precision than is warranted. My high school physics teacher would be appalled. I'll make a note to do the conversion before the truncating to the proper precision - not the other way around.