Octopus Home Mini

FreeBear

masonic said:

FreeBear said:

masonic said:

FreeBear said:

masonic said:

FreeBear said:

masonic said:

FreeBear said:

Spoonie_Turtle said:

Is your phone on the same wifi network as the mini will be connecting to?  (Including any range extenders.)

The tablet is on the 2.4GHz WiFi, but that is not the problem. The issue is with the app refusing to access Location (even although it has permission).

Location services are working yes? Sometimes a restart is needed if there are issues.

Other apps (e.g. Chrome) can access location.

Have done a reboot. No change.

Android Settings tells me Location is enabled for the Octopus app, yet the app claims it isn't.

I wonder if the error is a red herring. It also needs Bluetooth, could that be what's missing?

Have a bluetooth app that I've used for serial debugging (supports standard BT and BLE). Connects fine to some BLE sensors (Xiaomi Mi), so I know BT works. Going in to Android settings, I can see the Home Mini and can trigger a pairing, although that fails (probably due to needing a key).

That's normal about not being able to pair over BT. Coming back to location, what happens if you set it to 'Ask every time'? Do you get a prompt to allow it? I gave my app access to precise location, although I don't know if that's necessary.

Permission to access location is an all or nothing. No option to set "ask every time". Been through every system option I can think of.

So Android 9 or below. It might be worth trying on a newer device if you have one. Just for the initial set up. In any case, trying a different device was probably the next logical step.

Running Android 8.1 - I'm leaning towards a bug in the app. Will wait until next week and see if I can get through to the technical team responsible rather than the bot at hello@octopus.

Mugging Sis for her iPhone is next on the list. Will just have to wait for her to pay a visit.

Bendo

The only bug will be not having a minimum supported version. Probably the Api has changed with the more granular permissions in newer android versions so it shouldn't advertise support for older versions.

masonic

Location permission has been changed at least twice since Android 8. The Octopus App probably just doesn't have the backwards compatibility built in.

danco

Hmm, I'm now wondering if my current problems with the Home Mini are due to a bug in the Mini. It used to work fine, but recently has been showing "no data available" when I try to look at live usage.

I tried resetting, and it did report that it had connected to wifi but since then has just been flashing blue. I am sure that the Mini is connected to wifi, as I can enter the admin page for my router where it shows up, and I can ping it ok.

The  app itself seems fine, flashing blue should mean that the Mini can't connect to the meter, even though it is witin a couple of feet.

masonic

danco said:

Hmm, I'm now wondering if my current problems with the Home Mini are due to a bug in the Mini. It used to work fine, but recently has been showing "no data available" when I try to look at live usage.

I tried resetting, and it did report that it had connected to wifi but since then has just been flashing blue. I am sure that the Mini is connected to wifi, as I can enter the admin page for my router where it shows up, and I can ping it ok.

The  app itself seems fine, flashing blue should mean that the Mini can't connect to the meter, even though it is witin a couple of feet.

Flashing blue means it has not been set up. You would need to run through the set up process again. It would be a solid green light if it was set up but can't connect to the meter.

I had lots of problems with mine and had to keep resetting it. Eventually I found the problem was that my ISP was using wifi optimisation on my router, which caused it to hop between channels, and my home mini would sometimes fail to pick up the new channel. No issues after I got my ISP to turn that off and I locked to a fixed channel.

danco

Once I went to Add Another Device in the My Devices section, all went well, and I now have live data again.

chrisw

I've ordered a Home Mini about 3 times over the last 4 years but never received one. Mind you, I also ordered the free cuddly Octopus a couple of years ago and never got that either.

zxzxzx

chrisw said:

I've ordered a Home Mini about 3 times over the last 4 years but never received one. Mind you, I also ordered the free cuddly Octopus a couple of years ago and never got that either.

Ordered mine just under a year ago, got an email today saying ‘be with you in a week or so’!

Alnat1

Asked 4 times for one, still waiting.

FreeBear

masonic said:

Location permission has been changed at least twice since Android 8. The Octopus App probably just doesn't have the backwards compatibility built in.

Tried some older versions of the Octopus app. Ver.3.6 doesn't have a "Devices" menu option. Ver.3.7 & Ver.3.8 fall over with location permission, despite it being set.

Opened up the Mini just to see what is inside. Not really surprised to see an ESP32 module, but am surprised to see JTAG ports for both the ESP32 and Zigbee modules. Got a JTAG<->USB lead around here somewhere, so I might plug it in and go rooting around inside.