VisibleTesla

[efusco]

Joe,
I try not to bring up issues too often, but I've upgraded religiously and prior to the server change issues VT worked fine for me. Now, however, it doesn't record trips, rarely sends the email notifications (got 2 in the past 2 days when there should have been multiple and one came hours after it should have. it still connects to the car and I can monitor the battery and do climate control and locate function, but it just doesn't seem to be tracking the vehicle's movements and such. I know you like some sort of data things sent when there are issues, but I don't know how to obtain that or how to send it to you.

 

[mda]

HI @jpasqua - would it be possible to add the ability for VT to call a URL when entering the geofence and another URL when exiting the geofence? That would make it easy to integrate with home automation systems (e.g.: to open the garage when approaching the house). Thanks!

Hi mda,

I believe user @musterion is doing this with IFTTT integration. He asked that I implement the ability to send each notification to a different email address and optionally specify the subject line so that the receiving service could easily tell what to do with the notification. I haven't looked into this myself, but VT does support this. Let me know if this will work for you.

Thanks Joe, IFTTT and email do not really work for my use case (and perhaps others? ) for the following reasons: (a) i am looking for something near real time so it can open the gate/garage as i approach and IFTTT has latency (up to 15 min i thing), (b) even processing emails myself has a minute or two of latency, (c) IFTTT does not work with the home automation system i use (Vera) even if it were latency free, and (d) i would not want the http call to open my gate/garage going across the cloud, i would like it to happen internal to my LAN for security reasons.

So i think i am stuck unless i can put a url into VT to call for each of then enter and exit geofence events. It would be really great if you could add it if you have time. I completely understand if not. Thanks!

 

[ACDriveMotor]

Having VT call a URL is safer because the URL will be accessible only within your LAN, is that the scenario? So both the requestor (VT) and executor (home automation system) live inside your firewall? I am asking because I am working on my own home automation system and have been reluctant to enable garage door open/close for security reasons.

 

[mda]

Yes that is my thinking..., both the Mac running VT and the Home Automation controller are on my LAN so that gives me one added later of protection (the firewall at my router) around the pair, and I do not have to pass credentials for my Automation system around the internet. Of course that does not make it "safe", just "safer"

 

[mda]

@jpasqua

Today i made 5 trips, the first was a little over 30 min, the second about 7 minutes, the 3rd about 15 min, the 4th over 30 min and the 5th was 16 min. (started 11 minutes after the end of the 4th trip). But, only the 2nd and 3rd trips appear in "Trips"-- while the 4th and 5th tips did correctly generate geofence notifications and charge state notifications (i plugged and unplugged the car in between trips 4 and 5). Running VT .27 on Mac (OS 10.9.2. I rebooted the mac after the first trip in case VT was just in a bad state, but i am stumped as to two trip 4 and 5 are not in the Trips list (VT must have been getting location data for those tips since geofence notifications were sent). Is there a log i can send you that might be helpful? Thanks !

Edit: trips 4 and 5 did show up in the Trips list (as 1 trip probably because they were so close to each other) after a while, so it was just a delay in the trip being displayed. Nothing to see here

 

[RCH1708]

Hi Joe,

I'm running (constantly) 26.03 at the moment. Since Wednesday it has not logged any trips, though it is logging charging information. You want the logs? (What was your email again?)

Cheers,

Rob.

 

[zax123]

Having VT call a URL is safer because the URL will be accessible only within your LAN, is that the scenario? So both the requestor (VT) and executor (home automation system) live inside your firewall? I am asking because I am working on my own home automation system and have been reluctant to enable garage door open/close for security reasons.

One question though. What if you are simply driving by your house but not stopping? Could that inadvertently cause your garage door to open? Does the VT geo fencing feature make sure you are actually stopped?

 

[mda]

One question though. What if you are simply driving by your house but not stopping? Could that inadvertently cause your garage door to open?

Not sure... I live at the top of a hill, thus I don't get anywhere near the house unless I am going to it.

Does the VT geo fencing feature make sure you are actually stopped?

Good question, I'm afraid I don't know.

 

[Gizmotoy]

Joe,

I upgraded a few days back and wanted to note that 0.27 seems to be working really well for me. The once-per-launch streaming limitation I was having previously seems to be completely eliminated. Sometimes I miss the first part of the trip, which I think from the documentation means VT was daydreaming. I also occasionally have gaps in the stream where I know I didn't stop. I'm going to check to see if these correspond to cellular dead zones. Otherwise, everything else is great.

I also love the preference to stream, if possible, even when not on the location tab. Sometimes I forget, but want this data logged to file anyway.

Great update. Thanks again.

 

[jpasqua]

Hi All,

It's been even busier than usual at work so I've had no time to check the forums. I know there are pending questions/bug reports. I'll be on the road for a couple of weeks starting Monday, but I'll try to catch up over the weekend.

Joe

 

[ZBB]

So where's the OS X app for .27? I did an upgrade tonight, but just get the "traditional" VT zip file / folder -- with just the .jar file (and bat for Windows...). No OS X app. The release notes suggest its an option from the "check for updates" link -- but clicking the link just downloads the zip file...

 

[jpasqua]

So where's the OS X app for .27? I did an upgrade tonight, but just get the "traditional" VT zip file / folder -- with just the .jar file (and bat for Windows...). No OS X app. The release notes suggest its an option from the "check for updates" link -- but clicking the link just downloads the zip file...

Hi zbb,

Take a look at the release announcement here: VisibleTesla - Page 110

There is a separate link for the bundled Mac app because it is not relevant for Windows/Linux users and is a much larger download.

Joe

 

[ZBB]

Thanks Joe... I missed the link -- was looking in the bullet point list instead (and being very tired last night didn't help)... Thanks!

 

[jpasqua]

- - - Reply to user cairnz - - -

I saw you added information about the "unplugged?" scheduler event, can you do the same with the "Charge State becomes" - it'd be nice to know the SOC when it becomes anything.

(Oh, and if you add remaining range, remember km/mi)

OK, when a charge state notification is sent it will include the standard message followed by the SOC (battery percent charged) and the estimated range in the appropriate units.

- - - Reply to user Alain13 - - -

After upgrade from 0.26 to 0.27, the notifications emails do not work anymore when VT is in sleepmode. Only when actively using, it suddenly sends all the missed notifications.

Hi Alain13,

In general notifications will not be sent when VT is in sleep mode. For VT to send a notification, it must have read some information from the car. For example, in order for it to send a notification saying that the SOC has dropped below a certain level, it must ask the car for the current SOC. If it does that, it will wake up the car and defeat the purpose of sleep mode. Here's the relevant line from the documentation for the Notify Tab:

Note that in order to receive a notification, VisibleTesla must be running. If the app is sleeping, notifications may be missed or delayed. For more details, consult the Understanding Sleep Mode section.
​

I will double check the code anyway to make sure I didn't break any of the special cases, but in general VT needs to be awake or daydreaming to send notifications.

Joe

- - - Reply to user efusco - - -

Joe,
I try not to bring up issues too often, but I've upgraded religiously and prior to the server change issues VT worked fine for me. Now, however, it doesn't record trips, rarely sends the email notifications (got 2 in the past 2 days when there should have been multiple and one came hours after it should have. it still connects to the car and I can monitor the battery and do climate control and locate function, but it just doesn't seem to be tracking the vehicle's movements and such. I know you like some sort of data things sent when there are issues, but I don't know how to obtain that or how to send it to you.

Hi Evan,

You can send log files to my email account: joe AT NoRoomAtTheInn DOT org

In terms of the kind of info I'd like, you can check the troubleshooting section of the FAQ. It tells you where to find log files and what sorts of other info might be helpful.

Joe

- - - Reply to users mda and ACDriveMotor - - -

Yes that is my thinking..., both the Mac running VT and the Home Automation controller are on my LAN so that gives me one added later of protection (the firewall at my router) around the pair, and I do not have to pass credentials for my Automation system around the internet. Of course that does not make it "safe", just "safer"

I've spoken to mda via PM and I will prototype a basic mechanism to support this. If possible, I'd like to get mda and ACDriveMotor to test it out a bit before I unleash on the rest of the world.

- - - Reply to users mda and zax123 - - -

Originally Posted by mda

Originally Posted by zax123
One question though. What if you are simply driving by your house but not stopping? Could that inadvertently cause your garage door to open?

Not sure... I live at the top of a hill, thus I don't get anywhere near the house unless I am going to it.

Does the VT geo fencing feature make sure you are actually stopped?

Good question, I'm afraid I don't know.

You do not have to be stopped. All it checks is:

• Enter Area: VT sees your car at a coordinate outside the area and then sees it at a coordinate inside the area
• Exit Area: VT sees your car at a coordinate inside the area and then sees it at a coordinate outside the area

If drive by your house passing from outside of the notification area to inside and then out again, you will receive both an enter and an exit notification.

 

[Alain13]

Hi Alain13,

In general notifications will not be sent when VT is in sleep mode. For VT to send a notification, it must have read some information from the car. For example, in order for it to send a notification saying that the SOC has dropped below a certain level, it must ask the car for the current SOC. If it does that, it will wake up the car and defeat the purpose of sleep mode. Here's the relevant line from the documentation for the Notify Tab:

Note that in order to receive a notification, VisibleTesla must be running. If the app is sleeping, notifications may be missed or delayed. For more details, consult the Understanding Sleep Mode section.
​

I will double check the code anyway to make sure I didn't break any of the special cases, but in general VT needs to be awake or daydreaming to send notifications.

Joe

Hi Joe,

I only have The charge State notifications which always worked correctly before 0.27 even when the program is a sleep (which it is for 99% of the time). After two days without notifications I installed back to 0.26 and have received notifications again. So definitely something is wrong with 0.27 in my case.

Alain

 

[jpasqua]

Hi Joe,

I only have The charge State notifications which always worked correctly before 0.27 even when the program is a sleep (which it is for 99% of the time). After two days without notifications I installed back to 0.26 and have received notifications again. So definitely something is wrong with 0.27 in my case.

Alain

Thanks for the info Alain. One more question, when you say that the app is asleep, do you see the title bar of the program change to say that it is in sleep mode? I'll look into this and may ask for a log from 0.27.

Joe

 

[Alain13]

Thanks for the info Alain. One more question, when you say that the app is asleep, do you see the title bar of the program change to say that it is in sleep mode? I'll look into this and may ask for a log from 0.27.

Joe

Yes the app title bar says sleeping and still I always receive notifications when I (un)plug the car or when it starts/stops charging.

Let me know if you need logs from the 0.27 version.

 

[Jeff Miller]

Hi Joe,
I just downloaded the app and got it working for the first time. I had tried downloading few times in the past, but it never worked - I think there may have been a problem with the version of Java I was running on my mac. Anyway, thanks for bundling the application for the mac with the correct version of java - that's a big help to java illiterates like me. Looking forward to using it to collect data!
Jeff

 

[jpasqua]

Yes the app title bar says sleeping and still I always receive notifications when I (un)plug the car or when it starts/stops charging.

Let me know if you need logs from the 0.27 version.

Logs would be great. Thank you. I did an experiment last night with my car and it is working as expected and consistent with the docs. That is, it's letting the car sleep, but if it happens to notice that the car is awake and charging during one of it's long periodic checks (30 minutes), it will collect data, fire notifications, etc. This means that it is possible to get events, but also possible to miss them during sleep mode.

Ideally, here is what I'd like to see:

• The log file covering the period where where the app was asleep and the events occurred that should have caused immediate notifications
• The timestamps on the email (or text) notifications to show when they were actually sent.
• Any background from you letting me know what events happened when. For example, you set up a charge for 1AM using the car's onboard scheduler, or you manually unplugged the car at 10PM.

I appreciate your help,
Joe

 

[jpasqua]

Hi Joe,
I just downloaded the app and got it working for the first time. I had tried downloading few times in the past, but it never worked - I think there may have been a problem with the version of Java I was running on my mac. Anyway, thanks for bundling the application for the mac with the correct version of java - that's a big help to java illiterates like me. Looking forward to using it to collect data!
Jeff

Glad it's working for you Jeff. Enjoy.