OpenGarage Forums OpenGarage Firmware OpenThings Cloud (OTC) Beta Test Call for Help

Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)
  • Author
    Posts
  • #2284

    Ray
    Keymaster

    Hi All,

    We are excited to announce that the OpenThings Cloud (OTC) first version is done, and we are now calling for help to beta test this version. Thanks to the wonderful work by Matt Oslan, OTC is an open-source cloud-based proxy that allows remote access of IoT devices. It will replace Blynk, which OpenGarage firmware currently uses for remote access. With OTC, we will be able to make the OpenGarage mobile app consistent with the built-in UI, so the interface is the same whether you access it remotely or locally. OTC is a proxy, which means the cloud server blindly passes data between the UI and firmware, and never stores data on the server. If you don’t like cloud connection at all, simply leave the OTC token empty, the device is still accessible locally.

    If you are interested, please follow the beta test instructions below. Please make sure to read the precautions on the first page before proceeding. Leave your feedback or comments in this thread, or open a new thread (if you do, please include ‘OTC beta test’ in the title). Thanks!
    http://tinyurl.com/otcbetadoc

    • This topic was modified 4 years, 5 months ago by Ray.
    #2289

    psmedley
    Participant

    Hi Ray, installed the new firmware today and all seems well. After doing the configuration, I did find the OG had stopped responding and I had to power cycle it, but all seems good now and I’ll monitor stability.

    I’ve confirmed I see the OG via the remote interface; and also that it still works with my OpenHab binding.

    Looks useful – could open up you guys supporting Alexa/Homekit/Google Home as well?

    Cheers,

    Paul

    #2292

    psmedley
    Participant

    Following up – the OG is offline again. I currently have openhab polling the OG for status every minute… I can try and check logs to see when it stopped responding… off to reboot it now.

    #2294

    Ray
    Keymaster

    I can confirm that I also encountered issues with the device losing connection, but in my case, it’s local connection (i.e. using local IP) that’s lost. The cloud connection seems always available. I use the cloud connection to trigger a reboot, and the local connection came back alive after the reboot. But after some time, the local connection seems to get lost again. In any case, these are exactly the feedback we need to get to fix bugs. Thanks!

    #2295

    psmedley
    Participant

    Hi Ray,
    Last night I disabled the cloud connection, and the OG is still responding on the local IP some 14 hours later. Seems the cloud connection is somehow killing the local interface. I didn’t think of trying to reboot via the cloud interface, but I can try that if it helps.

    #2303

    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Ray, all works well up to step 5 and 6, I cant see my Open Garage on these steps. I do see OG locally at its IP address, all works fine there. I have the same OTC token in my OG and have used it on the test site and cloud.test.openthimgs.io without success.

    Otherwise, OG works great.

    #2305

    Ray
    Keymaster

    Thanks for your feedback.

    I’ve been testing OTC on a very old version of OG for a week now. I did experience connection loss a few times, but somehow as I keep trying the cloud connection eventually comes back (though local connection doesn’t always come back). So it looks like when connection is lost it’s not stuck forever. I will have to do some more debugging to check what’s going on. It might also have to do with the fact that I have a very old version of OG. Need to test it on a more recent version of OG as well.

    #2316

    Anonymous
    Inactive

    Ray, I tried the OG on the app.test.openthings.io web link and the https://cloud.test.openthings.io/forward/v1/ web link today and both WORKED. I really like this new update. I have the

    #2383

    sebconn
    Participant

    Does it take time for the OTC key to show up once defined in the settings? It doesn’t appear to be recognizing my key.

    #2434

    Damo
    Participant

    Ray I’ve set one of my devices as per the instructions, it works fine locally using the IP address however it won’t register or be recognised by the method outlined in sections 5 & 6 of the set up. Is there something that I’m doing wrong? I will upload the local page as it seems that there is an issue connecting to the cloud.

    Attachments:
    You must be logged in to view attached files.
    #2437

    Ray
    Keymaster

    We are working on getting this firmware officially released (which will probably happen in another week or two). While the beta test described in the doc should still work (all the servers are still online), you might want to wait for a couple of weeks for the official release.

    #2438

    Damo
    Participant

    Thanks, I look forward to that.

    For further feedback on the beta version. I reset my router and I could then access the device via the cloud, but no longer locally via IP. So I rebooted the device and can now access via both.
    Using the app test it works fine, however trying to add the controller to the app
    1. Using Add by OpenThings Cloud Token it generates two errors “Unable to find device. Please verify the IP/password and try again” and “Invalid Blynk token”.
    2. Using the Add by IP – it adds the controller but it does not connect to the controller.

    #2443

    Ray
    Keymaster

    Are you using the OpenGarage app? The latest OpenGarage app does support OTC token but it assumes the official release site (cloud.openthings.io instead of test.cloud.openthings.io), so the cloud server it’s connecting to is not the same as the beta test server. At the moment I suggest you follow the methods in:
    https://tinyurl.com/otcbetadoc
    to do remote access.

    #2444

    Damo
    Participant

    Thanks

    #2458

    4217garage
    Participant

    Hi Ray,

    I uploaded the 2.0 beta firmware, then about 10 minutes later I did the reset on the device. The OG wifi network comes up, but after connecting to it, I can’t connect to the 192.168.4.1 IP. The page does not load on my iphone or Chromebook. Chromebook tried to open an authorization portal page, but is blank. I tried the reset again and also pulling the power. I can ping the IP, but can’t connect at all. What can I do to get back up and running?

    #2470

    sebconn
    Participant

    Hi Ray, if the app connects to cloud.openthings.io where do we go to register our devices to get a key and what do we use for the OTC domain?

    I’ve tried a few educated guesses for these URLs but no luck.

    #2475

    blaser
    Participant

    I followed the instructions and upgraded from version 1.12 to version 2 through wifi, the upgrade was a breeze.
    After the upgrade I just rebooted, connected to the hotspot that was created by the opengarage unit, pointed to my house network and was able to connect, registered with the site and received a new token which worked fine, now I’m connected from remote through the browser.

    The question is, when will you supply us with a new mobile app?
    The current mobile app is useless and using the browser is not really a solution.
    thanks

    #2477

    [email protected]
    Participant

    I’ve uploaded the BETA version to my OG, through the web-interface. The upgrade went through nicely.
    I thought I would be able to configure without the factory reset, but it seemed locked somewhere, so I went ahead and did the factory reset, and configured my home-network.

    I’m glad with the forward construction, since it allows nice access to my door. I’ve replaced the app on my phone with a short-link on my homescreen (I’ve done this on android,my wife on apple (using safari browser)). Using the short-cut from home gives quick and easy access to the door which is great.

    I hope you can put some detection/protection in place (if not already there) to detect malicious systems guessing or trying out many different device-ids to get access to random ones.
    I used the blink notifications to get triggers when the garage opens or stays open for long time. I’ve replaced them with the ifttt construction, which works nicely as well.

    Great job to get this going!

    #2479

    Damo
    Participant

    G’Day
    Is there any intention to move from the test cloud to openthings cloud so that the mobile application can work?
    Regards
    Damian

    #2481

    deerewright
    Participant

    Is the test cloud still up?

    I had this working earlier, but now am now longer able to access either of my OG’s. I can access them locally, by IPADDRESS, but remotely with https://cloud.test.openthings.io/forward/v1/your_OTC_token/

    The error I get is:

    >{“message”:”Specified device does not exist or is not connected.”}

    #2483

    blaser
    Participant

    Did you follow the instructions?
    you need to create a new key, use it in the new firmware, reboot and you should be able to connect

    #2485

    deerewright
    Participant

    yes, I followed the instructions. I had it working at one point, but now it no longer works.

    #2527

    siri
    Participant

    I am in Sydney Australia and bought the kit in Nov 2016, and it worked first time and with Blynk until today and Blynk started to ask for subs for their new App and also told me their old iOS app will be not supported by 31st dec 2022 (cloud servers gone).
    I had old opengarage OS sine it worked but yesterday I updated to 1.2.0 and it went smoothly and I can see the new SSID and after that it got locked to my home wifi.
    I started watching Ray’s youtube instructions and went after getting a cloud key for OTC rather than Blynk since I am happy to pay upfront but not subs.
    After OTC cloud key, it locked into their cloud servers after about 2 mints and I have tested the App remotely with out wifi and it works.
    All we need is update the existing iOS APP and also getting old apple watch app that used to work nicely. Happy to contribute if needed and as a retired R&D director that used to run 2000 people division, always nice to see Ray is doing good public work.
    I like to ask Ray, is it possible to connect new door sensors to the old one I have?

Viewing 23 posts - 1 through 23 (of 23 total)
  • You must be logged in to reply to this topic.

OpenGarage Forums OpenGarage Firmware OpenThings Cloud (OTC) Beta Test Call for Help