I just discovered TeamViewer. Pretty cool.
My motive was that I recently got a couple of Bluetti AC180 "solar generators", that only connect with Bluetooth, not WiFi as do the more expensive models.
TeamViewer allows me to remotely control an old smartphone within Bluetooth range of the units and use the Bluetti app as if I was home.
Pretty neat.
Perhaps some application for Hubitat people? Maybe do stuff you couldn't normally do away from home, without a premium subscription?
Secure? I haven't the foggiest. But cool.
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That's a creative use for TeamViewer. I used to use it for remote desktop access and was accused twice of using free version for business purposes and blocked until I appealed and got reinstated. Other than that, it worked well. I never went from computer-to-phone; only computer-to-computer or computer-to-raspberry pi.
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Phone to phone is working. I just tried computer to phone, and that seems to work as well.
I heard that too, since. Maybe it's a bait and switch kind of deal.
I’ve been using it for years to help friends and family. Very useful when helping elderly parents!
I did also get a used on a few occasions of using it for business purposes. The appeals process use to be a nightmare, but now is pretty straight forward.
I didn’t realize you could now remote control a phone! Android or Apple?
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I'm using a Motorola Moto Android phone.
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Ah, okay. I’m on iPhone, so may not be the same…
I never heard of TeamViewer until this year.
I've used it to help out a friend get his klipper setup working.
Pretty cool to remote into his laptop and then SSH from his laptop into his klipper machine.
Now I know what klipper is, lol.
Its been around a long time. We had a few licenses at work 15 years ago. It was expensive back then for a corp license but they have always had a good non-commercial use policy.
It seems to be working.
The novelty of the battery/solar generator is already wearing off, so I probably won't use TM that much, lol.
Maybe every once in a while to see if it still works.
Here are two I use .. both are free and work well ..
#1 RustDesk > https://rustdesk.com
#2 HopToDesk > https://www.hoptodesk.com
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Thanks. Brave new world for me.
@velvetfoot Can you please share how you are keeping the old smartphone powered? I've read that keeping it plugged in at all times is dangerous because the battery can swell and cause a fire. The old phones I have either won't work with the battery removed or have sealed in batteries that can't be removed. I've thought of putting one on a smart plug that powers it for 2 hours/day, or whatever it takes, but wondering if you or anyone else has a better setup for using something like this.
Also, would love to be able to control an Android phone via Hubitat - ie send a notification to open an app, etc.
Hi. I've since decommissioned my setup, since I don't really go anywhere and I want to keep it simple, lol.
As I recall, I plugged it into the same ZEN04 plug that I use to keep my TalentCell backup battery charged. (If you do a search on my name and TalentCell, you'd find the thread.)
What that setup does is monitor the power drawn by the charger, until it gets to a certain level, that I hope is 80%, or whatever, then, using the ZEN04's auto on/off feature, shuts it off for a certain amount of time (12 hours? I forget), to let it discharge.
If you had some timetable that you wanted to use, you wouldn't even have to get as fancy as that. Just set the AutoOn and AutoOff on a ZEN04 to the charge/discharge cycle you want. Be aware, as seen in that thread I mentioned, that the minutes could be off somewhat. For me it was off, but as I recall, pretty consistently off.
I don't know about controlling an Android phone via Hubitat.....I'd be happy with sending texts, lol.
If you are willing to pay $4ish for the Tasker App, its very easy to setup one automation that turns off a smart plug when your old smartphone's battery gets to 95% (or whatever you select) and turns on smart plug when battery gets to 30% (or whatever you select). I have that exact automation running on multiple devices. If that might be an interest, I can give you more details. The $4 purchase allows you to install Tasker on all of your Androids.
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If you aren't already using Maker API, install an instance of it and add the plug that you will be using. Then, in the Maker API, copy the Send Command URL that should look like this:
http://192.168.1.211/apps/api/1655/devices/[Device ID]/[Command]/[Secondary value]?access_token=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx. Next, open the device you want to control in your browser and look at the URL to get the device number.
After installing Tasker on your phone, create a Profile --> State --> Battery Level and select the range that you want the plug to turn on. Back out and it will ask you to create a new task.
Once in the New Task, add an Action --> HTTP Request.
When the Action Edit screen opens, scroll down to the URL line and past the Command URL from Maker API. Replace "[Device ID]" with the device number from above.
Replace "[Command]" with "on".
Delete the following "/[Secondary value]".
That should leave you with something like http://192.168.1.211/apps/api/1655/devices/2372/on?access_token=xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx.
Back out of Action Edit. At the bottom left corner of screen is a PLAY button. Push that and it should turn on your switch.
Now, just do the same process starting with creating a Profile --> State --> Battery Level for when you want the plug to turn off.
If you might need this for when your device is not on your home network, turn on Allow Cloud Access for Maker API and use the URL for Cloud Access instead.
I have a couple that may or may not be local so I have a boolean that is 0 or 1 depending on whether I am connected to my home wifi. Then, in my task, it checks that boolean and either sends the local or cloud HTTP request. Most of them are for on-the-wall dashboards that never leave their spot in house though.
That should do it. Let me know if I led you astray. Installing Tasker is going down an AWESOME Rabbit Hole and there are a lot of other awesome things it can do!
