Email notifier board

[Frunple]

Anybody know why the board needed to have its own network connection? 

The better question would be why is the board needed at all??
The "answer" HAI gives is the onboard network interface of the Omni itself is not a two way connection. Which is BS since ethernet by nature is two way. So basically they limited the network connection of the omni, somehow, and the new board is a bandaid way of trying to fix it.

 

[mariomp]

Sure it is. This is 
 

The better question would be why is the board needed at all??
The "answer" HAI gives is the onboard network interface of the Omni itself is not a two way connection. Which is BS since ethernet by nature is two way. So basically they limited the network connection of the omni, somehow, and the new board is a bandaid way of trying to fix it.

Sure the onboard ethernet is a 2-way interface.
That's why you're able to use things like PCA, Snaplink, etc. 
And it's not limited to OEM interface; Remember the good 'ol days of Pronto? Still have TSU9600.
 
The main panel apparently doesn't have enough memory/power/etc. to incorporate the email functionality, thus the daughterboard. 
I think HAI support commented on it on one of earlier posts.

 

[fcwilt]

The main board not having the required memory/power/etc to handle email makes the most sense.
 
Thanks for the replies.
 
It's kind of interesting that in an industry that seems to have a high rate of new product introductions and old product retirements that HAI (and ELK) have stayed with basically the same "flagship" product for so long.
 

I wonder if I will live long enough to see the "OmniPro 3"?

 

[BobS0327]

I just downloaded the latest version of email notifier firmware, number: Omni_Notifier_1_3.onbf
 
It only took few seconds to download the 130Kb file from the server.
 
It took over 55MINUTES to perform the firmware update on the controller!
 
Is there a setting for speed on the bus that I’m supposed to change?
I have that serial port set up for 9600 baud.
 
Surely a 130Kb file should not take 55minutes to transfer. My 1980s 300 baud modem was faster than this.

I just upgraded my email notifier firmware to  1.3.  FWIW, it took me 46 minutes and 57 seconds to perform the update.  I guess if you're reading the file at 32 bytes a read, it will take a while to perform an upgrade with a file size of 112K.

 

[jcd]

I tossed my Omni Notifier board.
 
Maybe a rash decision, but it was just too flaky and the "benefits" were hardly worth the headache of having such a limited, unreliable component.
 
It was unacceptable to have the low confidence of knowing I would get a notification for a system trouble or other important event... except for those times when I wouldn't! Too much guessing and the lack of reliability made it worthless for its intended purpose.

 

[mariomp]

I'm trying to figure out how or why some have such issue with the notifier.
Once I set it up on my gmail account, I set it up to receive things like front door open notifications. 
After few weeks and literally hundreds of emails, I changed the settings and only get events, failures, etc. notifications.
All the while, I can't remember a single time that the board has failed to notify me.
 
I'm on CableOne, dynamic IP with Mikrotik router. 
While I agree that there should be a better way to log, and track status of the board, if you have proper router/network equipment, you can do traffic analysis, routing and tracing to see if the board is communicating.
With proper router, you can ping the device to see if it's alive and if not, get notified (by router), or other equipment.

 

[mariomp]

 

I wonder if I will live long enough to see the "OmniPro 3"?

 
Oh, she's coming. Was supposed to be previewed at CEDIA. Imagine my disappointment when I finally wheeled (chair) my butt over to the booth and didn't see the new board.
 
We most likely won't see it for Christmas, but CES is not too far out and MFGs love to announce new releases around or at major showtimes.
 
I wished I was on the beta team as I have a very extensive setup at my house, but I'm not. If I was, NDA would preclude me from stating as much as I already did. 

 

[jcd]

I'm trying to figure out how or why some have such issue with the notifier.
Once I set it up on my gmail account, I set it up to receive things like front door open notifications. 
After few weeks and literally hundreds of emails, I changed the settings and only get events, failures, etc. notifications.
All the while, I can't remember a single time that the board has failed to notify me.
 
I'm on CableOne, dynamic IP with Mikrotik router. 
While I agree that there should be a better way to log, and track status of the board, if you have proper router/network equipment, you can do traffic analysis, routing and tracing to see if the board is communicating.
With proper router, you can ping the device to see if it's alive and if not, get notified (by router), or other equipment.

Mariomp, I take your point... Except that WE SHOULDN'T HAVE TO, that's all.

 

[fcwilt]

Has anyone with Verizon FIOS Internet Service used this notifier board?
 
I added the board to my system, did all firmware updates, verified the SMTP settings via Windows Mail (was able to send email), etc.
 
All seems correct. When sending an email the LED on the board changes from slow flashing to fast and then back.
 
But no email is ever received.
 
Is there any diagnostic software tool that I could use to examine the communication between the board and the SMTP server to determine what the problem is?
 
Thanks much.

 

[JonW]

I'm on FIOS, but I use a gmail account for sending notifications from the board.

 

[fcwilt]

I'm on FIOS, but I use a gmail account for sending notifications from the board.

 
So Verizon allows using Gmail. I have a Gmail account - are there any special settings I need to try Gmail?

 

[JonW]

So Verizon allows using Gmail. I have a Gmail account - are there any special settings I need to try Gmail?

The notifier board has built in settings for gmail.  Just choose that and fill in your username/password.

 

[pete_c]

@jcdavis,
 
Toss your email board to me as I never did purchase one cuz I was originally thinking it wouldn't fit inside of my currently somewhat cluttered can. 
 
I have no issues here with automation emails via FIOS or Comcast these days. 
 
Many years ago started to utilize STunnel and still use it today; just works.
 
That said did find out I could just install it in my second can or make it in my current can.
 
Meanwhile here still waiting on a custom daughter board for an RTC clock for my microrouter endeavor. 
 
Geez now thinking a little mini 3D printer could be utilized for a new custom tiny box for it.

 

[fcwilt]

Got it working via Gmail.
 
I had forgotten I had set up 2-step verification and this seems to have required generating a unique "app" password.
 
Maybe not, but it is not working using the generated password, whereas it did not work with my normal Gmail password.
 
Anybody know under what circumstances you need to generate one of these "app" passwords?
 
I first tested the Gmail settings, via Windows Mail on my computer, using a generated password but that password didn't seem to work with the notified board.
 
I generated another password and that one worked.

 

[Fearless]

After updating to the latest firmware I stopped getting emails for every zone trip. It didn't bother me getting those. Now I wish they would add the option to send emails to the email board to control stuff. I think that would make everyone happy.