Who here uses Bluetooth Proximity Detection with HA?

[jwilson56]

I have been toying with using my BT phone to detect if I am home. Being a BT newbie I am not having much luck. Do I need pair the phone with the PC? What is the best BT detection program that works well? Lets hear some ideas.

Thanks

 

[pete_c]

From what I can tell it uses your PC to check to see if your BT is up but doesn't pair with the phone. Which is better than pairing.

Personally don't use BT on my desktop anymore. I just dock my MS Mobile phone and have MS activesync off. When I do turn sync on its only to copy a program, music, etc to the phone and not to sync contacts. I've noticed thru the years phantom devices get left over with BT and sometimes they can cause issues.

I use it (typically off though) more on my laptops & netbooks. Mouse, gps, stereo headsets.

The MSMobile BT works better for me that XP BT relating to stereo headsets.

 

[damage]

you don't want to pair it because then the pc thinks the device is always connected. i wrote a program that does this ( http://bit.ly/8Rhb6B ). it's the best and works well this is the script version of my app that will call functions based on presence or disappearance of a device. you just edit the script to issue shell commands, whatever you need it to do... uses only microsoft bt stack.

 

[Dave X10]

I have been toying with using my BT phone to detect if I am home.

I use a cheap user created software called BlueWatch which works well with my X10 CM15A computer interface, AHP and BVC software.

 

[jwilson56]

I have played with some of the apps I found. The problem seemed that I needed to turn on Discovery Mode to get it to see my LG VX9100. But the phone turns off Discovery in 60 seconds so it would never detect the phone after that. So am I doing something wrong or missing the boat here?

 

[Dave X10]

I have played with some of the apps I found. The problem seemed that I needed to turn on Discovery Mode to get it to see my LG VX9100. But the phone turns off Discovery in 60 seconds so it would never detect the phone after that. So am I doing something wrong or missing the boat here?

I dont know. I've only set up my own... and it was quick and easy. Here is a link to the X10 forum where the creater/progammer posts/replies about BlueWatch: http://forums.x10.com/index.php?topic=19346.0

 

[damage]

I have played with some of the apps I found. The problem seemed that I needed to turn on Discovery Mode to get it to see my LG VX9100. But the phone turns off Discovery in 60 seconds so it would never detect the phone after that. So am I doing something wrong or missing the boat here?

appears that's a limitation of your phone http://www.myvusers.com/forums/lg-env2/249...de-lg-env2.html

 

[jwilson56]

Well I have been told by people that it would not be a good idea to keep Discovery Mode on all the time (security issues and battery drain). So still not sure that all BT detections schemes work that way. I have looked at 5 different phones and they all seem to shut off Discovery between 60-120 seconds (Samsungs, Nokia and LG's).


Damage does your program require you leave Discovery Mode on all the time?

 

[pete_c]

I have an application on my MS Mobile phone which uses cellular triangulation to create location rules/profiles. Its an interesting ap in that you can send out SMS messages based on your physical location. Theoretically you could set up events on HA based on this application. It doesn't use the BT but rather the radio / cell tower you are connected to figure out where you are at.

The name of the program is called "CommMgrPro". I purchased it a couple of years ago. I used it when traveling between the office and home. I would do an autoforward / different rules based on my position.

CommMgrPro

 

[damage]

Well I have been told by people that it would not be a good idea to keep Discovery Mode on all the time (security issues and battery drain). So still not sure that all BT detections schemes work that way. I have looked at 5 different phones and they all seem to shut off Discovery between 60-120 seconds (Samsungs, Nokia and LG's).


Damage does your program require you leave Discovery Mode on all the time?

yup. that's the only way the devices can be seen by the host pc.

 

[Frunple]

I haven't used it yet and I am very anxious to for the possibilities but Johnny9 has a BT proximity driver. Seems like a great RFID alternative.

 

[jwilson56]

Well I have been told by people that it would not be a good idea to keep Discovery Mode on all the time (security issues and battery drain). So still not sure that all BT detections schemes work that way. I have looked at 5 different phones and they all seem to shut off Discovery between 60-120 seconds (Samsungs, Nokia and LG's).


Damage does your program require you leave Discovery Mode on all the time?

yup. that's the only way the devices can be seen by the host pc.

I am beginning to think that the only phones that will allow you to keep Discovery on are smart phones. I have looked at several non smart ones and none will let you leave it on. It is a shame I can't use this.

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

Might be some good info here:

http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t...light=bluetooth

 

[Dave X10]

I am beginning to think that the only phones that will allow you to keep Discovery on are smart phones. I have looked at several non smart ones and none will let you leave it on.

I use an old (over 3 years old) LG150. Far from being a "smart" phone at all. I selected it because it is tiny.

 

[jwilson56]

Maybe they made changes to the newer phones for security reason. Either that or the 6 phones I personally tested that shut off Discovery was a bad streak of luck.