Easiest way to detect specific vehicle in garage?

[telljcl]

Want to be able to know if a specific vehicle is there or not.

Seems like a wireless (zw or insteon?) Device in the vehicle where I could check "is responding " in a program, (since if car is gone it would be out of range) would work but zw devices I have don't seem to work with the "is responding" function. 

I'm sure there must be something easy I'm missing?

Thanks for any help.

 

[KeviNH]

If you're willing to have some delay in the detection, could put a Z-Wave multi-sensor in each car and have a program for each vehicle, with conditions that will ensure the program runs every time an update arrives from the sensor.

If no updates in recent history (you'd have to play with how long to wait), can assume vehicle is gone.

Saw Lambo sensor reading recently - [ID 00DF][Parent 0064]

If
        From    Last Run Time for 'Lambo Sensor'
        To      Last Run Time for 'Lambo Sensor' +  30 minutes (same day)
 
Then
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action') 
Else
   - No Actions - (To add one, press 'Action')

Lambo is Gone - [ID 00D6][Parent 0064]

If
        Program 'Saw Lambo sensor reading recently' is False
 
Then

        Do Something

Personally, I would do the same thing, but have a little ESP32 module in each vehicle which connects to the home WiFi and makes a REST call to run the program every X minutes.   Same detection -- if program wasn't called recently, assume the vehicle is gone (or battery is dead).

[larryllix]

I use CAO Tags but they can be detected over 1 km away sometimes and sometimes you will get a delay before they are detected.

A couple of I/OLincs and magnetic sensors could tell you which garage door was opened and closed.

[bpwwer]

A quick search found these https://www.amazon.com/Wal-front-Vehicle-Detector-Inductive/dp/B07K1BNL59/ref=psdc_7459508011_t1_B07H3N41H4

Not much info, but for ~$20 it might be worth playing with.

[larryllix]

6 hours ago, bpwwer said:

A quick search found these https://www.amazon.com/Wal-front-Vehicle-Detector-Inductive/dp/B07K1BNL59/ref=psdc_7459508011_t1_B07H3N41H4

Not much info, but for ~$20 it might be worth playing with.

He would need to cut loops into his garage floor for those. I wonder if anybody makes floor mats with loops built in to them instead?

[bpwwer]

6 hours ago, larryllix said:

He would need to cut loops into his garage floor for those. I wonder if anybody makes floor mats with loops built in to them instead?

I'm sure there must be some way to have the loops on top of the floor and covered well enough to survive being driven over.  My cars that are in the garage, rarely leave the garage, otherwise I'd think about experimenting with this.

[larryllix]

1 hour ago, bpwwer said:

I'm sure there must be some way to have the loops on top of the floor and covered well enough to survive being driven over.  My cars that are in the garage, rarely leave the garage, otherwise I'd think about experimenting with this.

I was wondering about a home made? loop-frame/mat mounted on the nearest wall or ceiling.

Another thoughts was a centre post with  beam detector shining each way and sensors on each wall. Or possibly a centre postwith both ends and a mirror on each wall. Drop a bracket down from the ceiling and you would have power available from the GDO receptacles.

[MrBill]

21 hours ago, telljcl said:

 wireless (zw or insteon)

Since no one else said it directly, an insteon battery sensor will NOT work,  since it can't be woken remotely with a query.  I don't speak z-wave, so unsure there.

personally I think @KeviNH has the best idea...

 

18 hours ago, KeviNH said:

Personally, I would do the same thing, but have a little ESP32 module in each vehicle which connects to the home WiFi and makes a REST call to run the program every X minutes.   Same detection -- if program wasn't called recently, assume the vehicle is gone (or battery is dead).

 

[palayman]

22 hours ago, telljcl said:

Want to be able to know if a specific vehicle is there or not.

Seems like a wireless (zw or insteon?) Device in the vehicle where I could check "is responding " in a program, (since if car is gone it would be out of range) would work but zw devices I have don't seem to work with the "is responding" function. 

I'm sure there must be something easy I'm missing?

Thanks for any help.

 

You could put some kind of bluetooth device in the car and use the presence polyglot.  It provides some range (signal strength) info and I there was talk about be able use more than one Rpi to triangulate the signal.

 

[Goose66]

How about a couple of these connected to an Arduino with a wi-fi shield (or ethernet port):

https://www.amazon.com/WMYCONGCONG-HC-SR04-Ultrasonic-Distance-Measuring/dp/B07JJHCVRG/

If mounted on the ceiling pointed down, you could have power from the GDO outlets and it could fairly accurately (~ 3mm) read the height of the vehicle below, allowing identification of the car.

[Goose66]

On 2/2/2021 at 6:00 PM, Goose66 said:

How about a couple of these connected to an Arduino with a wi-fi shield (or ethernet port):

https://www.amazon.com/WMYCONGCONG-HC-SR04-Ultrasonic-Distance-Measuring/dp/B07JJHCVRG/

There's lots of info online about interfacing an Arduino Uno Wifi with the sonar sensor. There's also code available online to install a REST server on the Arduino. You could have the Arduino constantly reading the garage bay(s) and storing the height of the car in each, and then make that info available through a REST call that the ISY could poll on a regular basis for determination of which vehicle is in which bay. Eventually, it could be a nodeserver in the nodeserver store along with instructions for building the unit.

[telljcl]

Great ideas! Thanks for the varied approach solutions.

I haven't gotten into Arduino (too many boxes, servers, interfaces, adapters, bridges... already - just can't get excited about learning another one), so that is above my pay grade at the moment.

The @KeviNH suggestion looks close to what I was thinking. I have an Aeotec multisensor but it seems to pretend it is there even when I unplug it, WRT queries from the ISY. Maybe I need to experiment further with it. I have Zooz relay ZW box that does report as "gone" if I unplug it, but that is a larger more power hungry box for this purpose.

I'll try the syntax used in the example.

Regarding @larryllix's I/O lincs and garage doors, I already have ELK sensors on each door, so I know when they open and close etc... so predictively I can be fairly certain of what's going on using the timing of opening and closing of a particular one, but for various reasons I want to be more sure.

 

[KeviNH]

On 2/5/2021 at 9:02 AM, telljcl said:

The @KeviNH suggestion looks close to what I was thinking. I have an Aeotec multisensor but it seems to pretend it is there even when I unplug it, WRT queries from the ISY. Maybe I need to experiment further with it. I have Zooz relay ZW box that does report as "gone" if I unplug it, but that is a larger more power hungry box for this purpose.

I'll try the syntax used in the example.

The trick to using the MultiSensor for presence is not to rely on queries, but rather to use a program with with conditions such that it ensures the program runs every time an update arrives from the sensor (you can set the Aeotec to update anytime temperature varies by a fraction of a degree, etc).

If the MultiSensor goes out of range,  values for temperature/light/motion/vibration stop receiving any updates at all, so the program using those as conditions no longer runs.