Monitoring mother by remote means?

[ericmark]

I have carelink installed which monitors if smoke, if mother has pressed pendent button, and if mother in bed. However I have had numerous calls from the monitoring station which have been false alarms and also lack of calls where mother has forgot to wear her pendent. Plus problems when the phone line has been unavailable i.e. phone off the rest.

As a result I installed broad band and bought an IP camera Motorola with uses the Hubble web site for monitoring.

The idea was if and when I get a phone call I can view the living room to see how she is and reduce the visits. However all too often I find the pet cam as it’s called can’t be viewed. As which of the three sites are over loaded I don’t know but seems likely it’s the Hubble site.

My mother has basically four locations bed, wheel chair, easy chair, and toilet if not in one of those four then likely she has fallen and needs assistance. So I want to monitor four locations and have a 5 minute delay between the four. If not in one of four then I want to know. So bed and easy chair easy just a switch activated by weight. The wheel chair a little more of a problem but a wi-fi® magnetic switch should be able to detect if the chair is in use. The toilet would need a beam but again no real problem.

The real problem is bringing these items together and relaying the information to me. I would think there are alarm panels which will do the job and android™ apps which can relay the info to me but exactly what panel and what app I don’t know.

I have already made a mistake with the camera it works but not reliable don’t want to make same mistake twice. So any ideas please.

 

[endecotp]

I used to know someone who was involved in a startup called "Alert Me", who did exactly this sort of thing. It was part of a "smart home" platform which latterly was dominated by energy monitoring, but started with what they called "peace of mind" i.e. monitoring elderly people.

But googling tells me that they have been bought by British Gas. Which might not make them too popular on this forum!

Anyway you might find that googling what they did in this area will give you some useful ideas about what does and doesn't work.

I've just found https://www.canarycare.co.uk/ which looks quite interesting.

 

[ericmark]

I had social services at my mothers today. They seem to think something like the link above will be fitted for a short time to monitor what is required. I will wait and see how it works.

There is a problem using phone line as if phone knocked off the rest it fails. This has already happened so using internet broad band is better. As to if it sends an email or SMS or voice or even displayed on a web page does not really matter. Using phone as well is OK of course but not as the only link and also since care link already installed having anything take over the phone line would likely mess up the care link.

My son keeps going on about "hive" and "nest" both it seems do more than just central heating. But as with the canarycare it seems no one wants to say how it does it so one is really in the dark as to if it will work when required. It says "There is no need for aerials, wi-fi or internet connection of any sort in your parents home." so one assumes it is all hard wired to the telephone since I want at least one sensor to show if my mother is in the wheel chair there has to be some wi-fi, bluetooth, or other wireless system.

I have found cheap wireless door contacts

and these at around £3 each will clearly allow connection to a wheel chair but what do I required to receive the signal? This alarm kit would seem to do most of what I want in that I want however what I don't know can I configure it the way I want. At just £31.38 maybe it's worth a try. However no point re-inventing the wheel. I am sure some one has done it all before and found what will and will not work.

Had my mother not been an amputee then it would be harder to work out when she has fallen. It would need impact detectors which are made but from the wheel chair they will likely not work as not enough impact as she hits the ground. So since she can't stand for more than 2 minutes if every place where she sits or lies has a detector then unless one is active then she must have fallen.

Again hard wired easy instead of in series like most alarms what in parallel to the door entry system which has a delay. But clearly she does not want to have to punch in a code every time she moves so even a problem with that.

Hence my question. I just don't believe this is unique, I am sure it has come up many times before. I am also sure existing systems can be modified to do what I want. To date Arduino seems most likely whoever my programming skills with Java Script are not that good simple errors can stop the whole thing working.

When I set up the camera I sat there for hours trying to work out what I had done wrong. It was so simple I had used a 6 digit code where it needed an 8 digit code. Same with my web pages a single } missed and whole page fails. So ready made is better if it exists.

 

[ban-all-sheds]

In traditional tribal societies it would be the grandchildren's job....

Does anybody make a wi-fi or bluetooth wearable device which detects the wearer's upper body not being upright?