Securifi Community Forum
Sensors and Home Automation => Where can I buy sensors? => Topic started by: fillibar on July 11, 2016, 01:12:36 pm
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Not sure how long this will last, but Amazon Dash Buttons are on sale right now. These work nicely with the Presence Sensor feature of Network Devices. Press the button and it comes on and connects to your network (after initial setup of course). Then it will turn off and time out. Set a rule to detect when it is present. Remember, this feature is when joined or not. It will continue to trigger while the button still shows on the network. That caveat aside, very handy.
You do not even need to complete the entire setup process, so no worries about ordering stuff.
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im not following.
are you using the dash buttons for something other than ordering?
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Very much so. If you do not complete the setup in the Amazon app, but get partway through, the Dash will connect to your network but does not trigger an order.
Once it shows up on your network, your Almond 2015 or Almond+ can detect it as a presence sensor (just a setting in the device's info). From there it can be used in your Rules. When it is joined, do something. When it is not joined, do something.
Quick (and only slightly useful to me at least) example:
1) Set Dash button to be a presence sensor with a timeout of 30min.
2) Create a rule that turns on a light when the Dash is joined (and the light is already of).
3) Create a second rule that turns off the light if the Dash is not on the network.
You now have a button that gives you light for ~30min.
Or use 2 buttons as on/off (but be careful not to have both trying to be joined at the same time, at present, because of the way rules work they would both be trying to work, so turning that light on and off repeatedly).
Cheap and easy.
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ok. im getting it.
so would it work also as a panic trigger to sound my alarm??
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Hmm... I suppose it could, yes.
For example, I created a rule that says:
IF Dash Glad ACTIVE THEN RGB LED SET ON and RGB LED HUE = RED
Dash Glad is a "Glad" product Dash button.
RGB LED is a Dresden FLS-PP lp RGBW LED Strip Controller. Unfortunately I do not have a siren/strobe to give an exact match.
Pressing the Dash button causes my RGB LEDs to go on and turn red. They stay that way if there is not another rule to change them again or you manually tell it.
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Did you see they are going to release a programmable Dash button.
https://www.amazon.com/AWS-IoT-Button-Limited-Programmable/dp/B01C7WE5WM/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1468339061&sr=1-1&keywords=dash+button+iot
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Yes. Much more expensive, but that can be useful for some people.
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I went and bought 6 dashes just in case I decide to do this. The nice thing is they only cost $0.99, and I can use them just the once and get $4.99 of the product the first time.
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Yes I also ordered a handful of them to play with. I figure if I put one in my truck and I push it when I pull into the driveway I can use it to active my "I'm home so turn on the lights etc" scene.
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Or if you have decent enough wireless range and a z-wave Garage Door kit... There is a replacement garage door remote.
I have 3 of these at the moment and was fascinating my youngest with them by letting her press the different buttons and having it change colors on my RGB LEDs. She loved it. Bit of a delay for it to work but unless things are so time sensitive... they are working fine.
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@fillibar after you set up the wifi portion did you stop setting them up or did you set them up fully and then deactivate them? I am awaiting the arrival of the first of mine.
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I did not bother to finish. As soon as it said it was connected (it then shows the list of items to choose from) my Almond+ notified of a new device. I exited the Amazon setup and went into my Almond+'s network devices list to edit it, so I could figure out which one and such.
If you do not finish the Amazon setup, the app (if you leave it on your phone) will notify you that the button did not finish, when the button connects again. I just ignore those until I remove the app. Not sure how it all works after deactivation, since I have never finished activation. :D
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dang sorry I missed this...
Great for turning on/off lights.
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Yeah, it looks like they are back to $4.99 each. Still cheap for a button, but the $0.99 was pretty sweet. I am sure they will have future deals.
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You do get a $4.99 credit on your first purchase on each Dash. So if you buy one for something that you need to purchase anyway, it's free.
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When I was experimenting, trying to activate the buttons on the Almond, I triggered an order to Amazon and it still didn't show up as one of my devices on the Almond. It showed the $4.99 credit, even though I only paid $0.99 for the button; I immediately canceled my order and received confirmation of the cancellation. I was surprised to see that Amazon still applied the $4.99 credit on my subsequent unrelated regular order.
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I have had 3 orders since and all of them have had the $4.99 credit. Not sure why, but not going to complain about that.
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For anybody interested, Hackaday has a bunch of information in one place about hacking the Dash:
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/26/bending-the-new-amazon-dash-button
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For anybody interested, Hackaday has a bunch of information in one place about hacking the Dash:
http://hackaday.com/2016/07/26/bending-the-new-amazon-dash-button
Still not working so I checked out this link, makes sense why they aren't working now. Dunno if there is anything that can be done to make these work.
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I got quite a selection of them though, so I cannot see how I only got old ones and all of mine worked... I will have to check the part numbers when I get home tonight.
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Yeah I will do the same. I am thinking it is because my almond is set up as a wired access point not as my router (mostly because I don't want to go through the process of redoing all my static ip leases and other settings, plus I am unsure if the Almond is still limited in the number of static leases it has) and that is where the missing link is.
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So let me get this straight: I can buy an Amazon Dash button, affix it to my wall where the builders should have put a light switch, then employ a rule to turn on the lights provided I have a Zigbee or Z-wave light switch?!?
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AcidLotus:
In a sense, yes. The rule would look something like:
IF Light OFF and Dash JOINED, Light ON
Then a second one that has:
IF Light ON and Dash JOINED, Light OFF
A limitation is that you need to wait after pressing the button before you press it again. Because it has to disconnect from the network. So it is not a perfect solution or as smooth as an actual switch, but it will do the job.