Tasker emulating OwnTracks with MQTT (without OwnTracks)

MattP · January 10, 2018, 12:30pm

Hi all.

I just wanted to pass on, that the combination of Tasker and OwnTracks is largely unnecessary (to make the OwnTracks reporting more reliable) - you can configure Tasker to send the same payload as OwnTracks.

I’m not sure what MQTT server options there are - I just have my own private instance running on the same box as HASS

I still left the OwnTracks configuration within Home Assistant configuration.yaml, and just uninstalled OwnTracks and got Tasker to provide the same MQTT payload that OwnTracks was. Works perfectly - the profile fires every ten minutes when not within 50m of home.

Here is my Tasker task config, I hope the import makes sense for someone…

<TaskerData sr="" dvi="1" tv="5.0u7m">
	<Task sr="task61">
		<cdate>1515562308016</cdate>
		<edate>1515586767693</edate>
		<id>61</id>
		<nme>Owntracks</nme>
		<pri>100</pri>
		<Action sr="act0" ve="7">
			<code>37</code>
			<ConditionList sr="if">
				<Condition sr="c0" ve="3">
					<lhs>%HOME</lhs>
					<op>0</op>
					<rhs>0</rhs>
				</Condition>
			</ConditionList>
		</Action>
		<Action sr="act1" ve="7">
			<code>902</code>
			<Int sr="arg0" val="2"/>
			<Int sr="arg1" val="61"/>
			<Int sr="arg2" val="0"/>
			<Int sr="arg3" val="0"/>
		</Action>
		<Action sr="act2" ve="7">
			<code>590</code>
			<Str sr="arg0" ve="3">%LOC</Str>
			<Str sr="arg1" ve="3">,</Str>
			<Int sr="arg2" val="0"/>
		</Action>
		<Action sr="act3" ve="7">
			<code>547</code>
			<Str sr="arg0" ve="3">%Payload</Str>
			<Str sr="arg1" ve="3">{"_type":"location","tid":"s7","acc":30,"batt":16,"lat":%LOC1,"lon":%LOC2,"tst":%TIMES,"_cp":true}</Str>
			<Int sr="arg2" val="0"/>
			<Int sr="arg3" val="0"/>
			<Int sr="arg4" val="0"/>
		</Action>
		<Action sr="act4" ve="7">
			<code>163134030</code>
			<Bundle sr="arg0">
				<Vals sr="val">
					<ClientID>S7</ClientID>
					<ClientID-type>java.lang.String</ClientID-type>
					<Password>#######</Password>
					<Password-type>java.lang.String</Password-type>
					<Payload>%Payload</Payload>
					<Payload-type>java.lang.String</Payload-type>
					<Port>1883</Port>
					<Port-type>java.lang.String</Port-type>
					<QoS>-1</QoS>
					<QoS-type>java.lang.Integer</QoS-type>
					<Retain>true</Retain>
					<Retain-type>java.lang.Boolean</Retain-type>
					<SSL>false</SSL>
					<SSL-type>java.lang.Boolean</SSL-type>
					<Server>mqtt.server.address</Server>
					<Server-type>java.lang.String</Server-type>
					<Topic>owntracks/user/s7</Topic>
					<Topic-type>java.lang.String</Topic-type>
					<Username>matt</Username>
					<Username-type>java.lang.String</Username-type>
					<com.twofortyfouram.locale.intent.extra.BLURB>MQTT.server.address:1883 =&gt; owntracks/matt/s7 QoS:0</com.twofortyfouram.locale.intent.extra.BLURB>
					<com.twofortyfouram.locale.intent.extra.BLURB-type>java.lang.String</com.twofortyfouram.locale.intent.extra.BLURB-type>
					<net.dinglisch.android.tasker.extras.VARIABLE_REPLACE_KEYS>Topic Payload ClientID Password Username Port Server</net.dinglisch.android.tasker.extras.VARIABLE_REPLACE_KEYS>
					<net.dinglisch.android.tasker.extras.VARIABLE_REPLACE_KEYS-type>java.lang.String</net.dinglisch.android.tasker.extras.VARIABLE_REPLACE_KEYS-type>
					<net.dinglisch.android.tasker.subbundled>true</net.dinglisch.android.tasker.subbundled>
					<net.dinglisch.android.tasker.subbundled-type>java.lang.Boolean</net.dinglisch.android.tasker.subbundled-type>
				</Vals>
			</Bundle>
			<Str sr="arg1" ve="3">net.nosybore.mqttpublishplugin</Str>
			<Str sr="arg2" ve="3">net.nosybore.mqttpublishplugin.EditActivity</Str>
			<Int sr="arg3" val="0"/>
		</Action>
	</Task>
</TaskerData>

RobDYI · January 10, 2018, 8:05pm

Nice work., For the iphone, i used Find my iphone to do the same.

MattP · January 10, 2018, 10:18pm

That seems to be a great way to get it done with minimal battery usage.

I used Tasker because a lot of my automations are driven from my phone - like voice commands, connecting to my car Bluetooth, leaving work etc

Jokerigno · February 22, 2018, 6:16pm

Hi,

How can I setup the variable %HOME?

Sorry but I am a total noon on Tasker.

Right now I’m using zanzito as device tracker and I want to test something else.

Thank you

MattP · February 22, 2018, 8:16pm

Oh - you don’t need the %HOME part - you can remove that line

I had it set up so that tasker set a HOME variable when I arrived at or left the house; triggered by creating a “Location” profile. You don’t need this bit at all though.

Jokerigno · February 27, 2018, 3:29pm

Ok perfect. But this will be intresting. Can you teach me who to let this task start only when I’m NOT at home or at work?

Thank you in advance!

dshokouhi · February 27, 2018, 4:51pm

You can use AutoLocation to create geofences or if you always connect to wifi you can say when you are not connected to home/work wifi. check out the profile’s section so you can get a better idea of what will work for you. You can even have it do it when your phone is connected to your car’s bluetooth. Lots of ways to do it

I am fairly new to tasker as well but starting to love it the more I get a hang of it.

Jokerigno · March 4, 2018, 11:39am

Hey, I have a strange issue.

The Tasker profile send information correctly but HA doesn’t update the sensor status.

I have to delete info in mosquitto container.
There’s a way to force update?

MattP · March 4, 2018, 12:40pm

Did you ever have Owntracks installed?

Jokerigno · March 4, 2018, 12:44pm

No. I only have setup Tasker as you suggested me.

And the the component in device.tracker.yaml

MattP · March 4, 2018, 7:18pm

Can you please paste your Home Assistant ‘Owntracks’ configuration? I might then see what could be wrong

Do you have a software that allows you to confirm that Tasker is sending the MQTT data?

Jokerigno · March 4, 2018, 9:28pm

Here’s the export of the task:

Owntracks
A1: Get Location [ Source:Any Timeout (Seconds):60 Continue Task Immediately:On Keep Tracking:Off ] 
A2: Variable Split [ Name:%LOC Splitter:, Delete Base:Off ] 
A3: Variable Set [ Name:%Payload To:{"_type":"location","tid":"Xiaomimi6","acc":%LOCACC,"batt":%BATT,"lat":%LOC1,"lon":%LOC2,"tst":%TIMES,"_cp":true} Recurse Variables:Off Do Maths:Off Append:Off ] 
A4: MQTT Publisher [ Configuration:mosquitto.domain.it:1883 => owntracks/Marco/xiaomimi6 QoS:2 Timeout (Seconds):0 ]

MattP · March 5, 2018, 1:14am

What’s your Home Assistant config?

Jokerigno · March 6, 2018, 7:06am

Here it is:

platform: owntracks
max_gps_accuracy: 200

Sorry for the delay but I noticed that if I play around with Qos and retain flag setting the data are updated in HA. May it be related?

MattP · March 6, 2018, 7:02pm

If your problem was to do with an MQTT message being dropped somewhere - then QOS was your fix What is MQTT Quality of Service (QoS) 0,1, & 2? – MQTT Essentials: Part 6

If you set “retain” then that becomes effectively the default setting for your MQTT sensor (Owntracks) until another ‘retain’ is sent afterward; so HASS will get multiple chances of reading it. This might not be ideal, as restarting your Home Assistant could revert to an old, inaccurate reading - resulting in unpredicatable automations on restart, and make troubleshooting hard.

Jokerigno · March 6, 2018, 9:34pm

Ok. I unflagged retain message and selected QoS 0.

Let’s see.

MattP · March 6, 2018, 11:39pm

QOS 1 or 2 is fine - seemed to have fixed your issue? - I simply left it at 0 as that was default

Jokerigno · April 22, 2018, 8:46pm

Nothing changed.

I also tried another mqtt publisher in Tasker called MQTT Client (found on play store).

I can see the payload variable with the correct values. But nothing change in HA.

I don’t know what to do…

MattP · April 23, 2018, 12:01am

OK a few theories.

I am wondering whether it is being picked up, but is not related to the user object you expect. Have you enabled your Map? (in configuration.yaml, you just add simply: ‘map:’
Once you have your Map available on the left, maybe you might see some additional devices. If you look in config/known_devices.yaml, do you see any extra devices there?

Also, I am wondering about your MQTT broker. Where is it? Is it a cloud offering? Or are you running it on the same box as your Home Assistant?

Jokerigno · April 23, 2018, 6:27am

Thank you for your support.
I restarted the configuration from scratch and I saw a first update with location and battery.

But then again I can’t spend updates on the same topic.

If I connect to my local hosted mosquitto broker I can see the messages. But ha can’t handle it.