Mobilinc/Tasker integration issue...

[jmed999]

The goal is to arm my Elk security system when my android phone and my wife’s android phone are not at “Homeâ€. For Tasker, “Home†is a location at our home with a 1km range. Once Tasker realizes I’m not at “homeâ€, it tells mobilinc to run a program’s then statement. The then statement changes var s.my.phone to 1. Tasker also does this for my wife’s phone. I then have a program in the ISY to arm the security system when both s.my.phone =1 and s.wifes.phone =1.

When each of us return to “home†it sets our respective phone var back to 0. It does not unarm the alarm, as this could be a security weakness but it does set the var = 0.

 

This worked great yesterday when I tested it. I simply grabbed both phones and drove down the road. The alarm armed perfectly once phone phones were out of the “Home†range.

 

Since then this process has failed twice.

 

When it failed, Tasker correctly realized we were not at home (our phone tells us this) so it’s not Tasker failing to realize we are not at home. The problem is the variables do not change to 1. I can open mobilinc and run the programs then statement and the variable will change to 1. This tells me the issue is the Tasker/Mobilinc integration. Tasker tells mobilinc to activate an event (the program’s then statement which changes the var to 1) but mobilinc doesn’t “hear†the command. I’m pretty sure that is the problem.

 

How can I get mobilinc to "hear" the Tasker event command? If I remember correctly when I tested this yesterday I had the mobilinc app open on my phone. Not sure if this is important but I’m not running mobilinc connect.

 

How can I get this to work? Any ideas/thoughts?

 

Thanks for your help!

[InsteonNut]

jmed999,

 

Tasker has a way to execute the tasks within Tasker to simulate the event firing. To show Taker/MobiLinc integration working properly, simply open Tasker and fire your MobiLinc tasks to test. This simulates what happens when Tasker sends the requests to MobiLinc.

 

What I'd do next is turn Wi-Fi off on your phones and perform the same Tasker tests to test that MobiLinc (while on cellular) can still reach your ISY ok when Tasker tell MobiLinc

 

Using MobiLinc Connect will eliminate the internal/external concern if you have issues with the network routing firewall rules preventing external connections to your ISY.

 

Wes

[jmed999]

Wes,

 

Thanks for the speedy reply!

 

"Tasker has a way to execute the tasks within Tasker to simulate the event firing. To show Taker/MobiLinc integration working properly, simply open Tasker and fire your MobiLinc tasks to test. This simulates what happens when Tasker sends the requests to MobiLinc."

 

I did this when I realized the process failed this morning. I was at work and we were both outside the home range (miles and miles away). I went into Tasker and ran the task with mobilinc closed on my phone. This did not toggle the variables. I have 2 tasks on that profile, the 1st tells mobilinc to run the program's then statement and the other is a tasker notification. When I realized the process failed and went to tasker and ran the task, I know Tasker worked because I got the notification but the variables did not change.

 

I then closed Tasker and opened Mobilinc and ran the then statement and the variable changed to 1.

 

So I know the following works...

 

-Mobilinc works by itself. When I open mobilinc and tell it to run the then statement the var changes to 1. So Mobilinc is working away from my home wifi.

-Tasker is correctly firing the event to tell mobilinc to run the then statement. I know this because I'm getting the Tasker notification.

 

The breakdown is between the two. Tasker is sending an event to mobilinc but mobilinc doesn't "hear" the command or I know it would work since I can go into mobilinc and get it to run the then statement of the program.

 

I hope this makes sense.

 

How can I get Mobilinc to "hear" the Tasker task firing an event to Mobilinc?

[InsteonNut]

jmed999,

 

It's possible that the tasker program then path you have setup no longer points to the actual program ID of the program. For example, if you setup Tasker to run a program Then statement, and then go into the ISY and make several program changes, it's possible that the program you *thought* you were controlling actually got a new ID number in the ISY leaving Tasking trying to run the old program ID.

 

Here's what I would recommend:

Create a test program in the ISY and save it.

Open MobiLinc and allow it to fully connect to your ISY.

Confirm you see the new test program in MobiLinc and can run both paths (then/else).

Open Tasker and create a task to run the "Then" part of the new program.

Run the Tasker task and confirm your ISY is hearing and running the "then" path.

 

If that works, then I'd recreate the actual program you want to use and follow the above steps to get it hooked back into Tasker.

 

Wes

[jmed999]

Wes, before I read you last post, I tested the process by running the task in Tasker and it worked several times in a row. It seems to work some then it wont work for a while. I'll let you know what happens next. Thanks for your support!

[jmed999]

My wife came home today and I got the tasker notification task that she was in the "Home" range. The variable did not change to zero like it should have. She then left a little later and the variable "last changed" in the ISY did not have the correct time meaning the tasker/mobilinc process failed again.

 

So this is not working about half the time.

 

Any ideas on how to fix this?

[jmed999]

jmed999,

 

It's possible that the tasker program then path you have setup no longer points to the actual program ID of the program. For example, if you setup Tasker to run a program Then statement, and then go into the ISY and make several program changes, it's possible that the program you *thought* you were controlling actually got a new ID number in the ISY leaving Tasking trying to run the old program ID.

 

Here's what I would recommend:

Create a test program in the ISY and save it.

Open MobiLinc and allow it to fully connect to your ISY.

Confirm you see the new test program in MobiLinc and can run both paths (then/else).

Open Tasker and create a task to run the "Then" part of the new program.

Run the Tasker task and confirm your ISY is hearing and running the "then" path.

 

If that works, then I'd recreate the actual program you want to use and follow the above steps to get it hooked back into Tasker.

 

Wes

 

Wes, since it works about half the time I think the tasker program then path does points to the actual program ID of the program. Do you agree?

 

I still think mobilinc is only "hearing" the Tasker task command about half the time.

[jmed999]

My wife returned home and the variable didn't change so the process failed again.

[InsteonNut]

I'm not sure how MobiLinc would be selectively listening for Tasker events. Either it works or it doesn't. I can't think of a reason why it would be selective.

 

Is there a fixed scenario that you can outline where it fails 100% of the time that we can use to reproduce?

 

Wes

[jmed999]

It seems like if I've had mobilinc open and connected recently it works. My wife never opens it.

 

I must admit I don't really want to pay for Connect as I usually don't have connection problems without it and it's fairly expensive (no offense). When I do have connection issues I can usually get it resolved easily. With that said, I'm thinking it has something to do with the connection. I have already used the Connect month trial. I would love to try Connect with Tasker to see if it helps. I have a hunch that it will I just don't want to pay for a whole year to find out it didn't help. Do you think it would help?

[InsteonNut]

It's very possible. External connections by managing all the related network equipment is tricky to get working reliably. That's exactly why we set out to solve local/external access with the MobiLinc Connect service.

 

Shoot me an email with your UUID to support@mobilinc.com and I'll re-enable your account for a week to see how it does.

 

Anyone else reading this, is welcome to do the same to try out Tasker with our MobiLinc Connect service if your free trial has expired. Send us your UUID and we'll get you set back up with a another week.

 

Wes