piBeacon: 7- tested Beacons

[andarv]

This is what I understand an iBeacon sensor tag?
Is it possible to integrate it into piBeacon?

http://www.ti.com/ww/en/wireless_connec ... =sensortag

[kw123]

this is not an iBeacon. It might be detected by the rPis though, when they send a message.
iBeacons normally have only the UUID as payload, no other info. some models add Battery level to the message.
BUT iBeacons send a SHORT message every 0.1 .. 5 seconds at a very low enegery level.

Other BLE devices might send something once a minute or when ever needed. Hence it might take a while to detect them.
The Ti sensor tag is a complete new dev environment. And as i understand it the IDE is only available for Windows not yet for any Unix.
But it looks promising.

Karl

[norcoscia]

Good morning Karl I have been looking at your piBeacon but I have not tried it out - I noticed these today and if you buy 10 they are about 12 dollars each (and have a replaceable battery) - do you know if they would work with piBeacon?

https://www.thetrackr.com

As always, thanks in advance for your time and great plug-ins....

[Woetjes]

I have one and can confirm it works!

[norcoscia]

Thanks Woetjes!!!!

[Woetjes]

Make sure you take a print screen from your existing discovered ibeacons before you plug in the battery so you can easily find your TrackR...

[kw123]

What I do: create a new folder (eg pi-beacons-good) and move all known identified beacons into that folder. Then you can quickly see new ones in the default folder.


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[kw123]

added XY-3 to the tested iBeacons (first post)

works but it creates 2 iBeacons with 2 different, but very similar MAC numbers
UUID :
08885dd0111b11e491910800200c9a66
MAC numbers:
00:EA:24:02:EC:04 and
00:EA:24:02:EC:07

BUT it turns itself off after 3 minutes. Need to press the logo for 3 seconds to switch back on ==> not ok for piBEACON
{EDIT} you need to properly activate the XY3 beacon then they work {EDIT}

from a functionality point of view: speaker (beep) is louder

Karl

[polycron]

I've been successfully been using the XY-3 beacons since they were released. I had the same issues you have seen. In my case it created 3 beacons, each with a different MAC address. One is always down and the other two seem to go up/down as you would expect. I just created a "piBeaconDupe folder and stuck the extra ones in there so they are out of sight.

As for the 3 minute timer, I had to download the latest XY application on my Android tablet and then "register" each of my beacons in the software. Once I did that, they no longer go into sleep mode. I had a slightly older version of the application on my tablet and while it would register them, it didn't solve the timeout issue. The new version did. I don't have an iPad but I'm assuming the latest version on that platform should work the same way. I can only guess that this is a done on purpose by the manufacturer since the devices come with the batteries active and the push buttons could be easily pressed in the blister packs. By registering in the software the devices must have a two way communication and "program" them to be active.

I've been very happy with the version 3's. The only thing I highly recommend is buying new batteries. The Chinese batteries they use are pretty bad. Some had to be replaced in just days. Opening them up to replace the batteries is much nicer in the 3's compared to the 2's.

Jeff

[roquej]

Karl,

I just replace one of my old Tiles, with a dead battery, with a new slim Tile. ( https://www.thetileapp.com/store/tiles/ ... hgodyzINIg ). However, piBeacon can't seem to see it. Any suggestions? Accept new beacons is on.

Using plugin version 1.22.5

Thank you in advance.

JP

[kw123]

First thought: Power save mode has to be off - in the tile app
Are these new types of tiles?


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[roquej]

Karl,

Yes, they are relatively new but suppose to be the same, just with a slimmer profile. How do you turn Power save mode? I looked everywhere in the Tile application and couldn't find anything related to power for tiles. Only found "iPhone Battery Savings", which is on and all my other Tiles work flawlessly.

JP

[kw123]

The other tiles as I recall only work consistently if power save model off. And I guess the new ones have a smaller battery and hence they switch if ibeacon signals quickly ... Just a guess
have one ordered.

I have so many ibeacons now don't know where to attach them.



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[kw123]

I got one of the "tileSlim" and they do not show up with piBeacon or any other iBeacon scanner(*) I tried.
Must be highly non standard BLE implementation.

===> do NOT recommend to use this beacon with piBeacon

Karl

(*) eBeacon, BLE finder, LightBlue, ...

[roquej]

Karl,

Thank you for checking. Could be that even their new ones are non-standard? I also replace an old Tile with a dead battery, which only lasts a year, and I can't seem to find it either.

Wondering if all new version, slim or not, are using a non-standard implementation of BLE?

JP