What is the default "talking" interval for Twine?

Andy Simmons · January 2013

Once I let my Twine go into its default updating schedule (i.e., not "talking faster"), the frequency from which I see updates from the device seems inconsistent. Does anybody know what the interval is? At this exact moment, my Twine is showing that it hasn't updated in 21 minutes. I've seen this before, and it often seems to resolve itself, but sometimes it seems to update every few minutes, and other times it has gone for far longer without updating (13 hours in one case). Note that this is all without a rule having been triggered. I'm just trying to figure out how long I should let it go before I start being concerned that the batteries have died without warning me, or that it's fallen off of the wireless network.

YoYo Pete · January 2013

I used AC power and it's working much faster and more constantly with my network and updates.

YoYo Pete · January 2013

This thread shows how you can use a browser or JSON client to query your latest stats and also force the server to poll your twine.

http://community.supermechanical.com/index.php?p=/discussion/255/howto-accessing-your-twine-status-programmatically-from-your-android-phone#Item_7

Andy Simmons · January 2013

Thanks, YoYo Pete. I'd still really like to know what the actual interval between updates is, if anybody has that info. That is to say, if it's supposed to be a consistent interval (e.g., every 5 minutes) between updates, or if there's some more advanced logic going on there (e.g., every 5 minutes for the first two hours after an event, every 15 minutes after that, etc.).

David Albert · January 2013

It is supposed to be every 45 seconds. However, I'm getting the same behavior you are. I've been told that it's because I have an airport and airport express network and they are still working on finding a solution. They've been working on it for a couple of months, and I have no idea where they are in the process. I sure hope they find a solution soon.

Andy Simmons · January 2013

David, that might explain it, then. I use an Airport Extreme as my router and WAP, and the Twine is connected to that. I wonder if I'd have better luck if I added a non-Apple wireless extender into the mix and connected the Twine to that?

David Albert · January 2013

I haven't got one to try that with, but that was one thing Twine Support suggested. If you've got one, by all means give it a try.

David Albert · January 2013

By the way, I was able to get it to stay alive a lot longer by hooking it up to AC power. It still often has hours or even half-days when it doesn't connect at all, but it also often has whole days when it connects every 45 seconds to 3 minutes (at least for the times I've checked it). Before I hooked it up to AC power it would never connect reliably for more than a few minutes at a time before going offline for hours.

David Pfeffer · January 2013

I'm also experiencing long delays between updates. Currently, the site shows 100+ minutes. My access point is a Cisco AP541N, not Apple AirPort; so, this appears to impact other hardware as well. Fast mode seems to work properly... actually impressively quick response. Updates to twine start promptly so I doubt it is a network issue. Rather, it seems like something in the Twine is causing the delay.

Ryan Clark · January 2013

Just wanted to chime in that I'm also using Apple AirPort and I see the same behaviour as those above.

Steve Makofsky · January 2013

For the first few hours, mine was talking over (battery power since it's velcro'd to my garage door), but now has gone "offline" for 14 hours... TimeCapsule (so, airport) here too..

Philipp Eierund · January 2013

Same problem here. I have an airport express in bridge mode connected to my airport extreme. The twine is connected to the express which is in my garage. There's just no way I can get Wifi signal all the way down there without bridging. I think this is a pretty common problem so there should be a solution to make this work, no?

The Belkin Wemo works over a bridged network so why shouldn't this?

David Albert · January 2013

It just doesn't. Last I heard from Christina, they are aware of the problem but don't know when they'll start working on it because they want to work on other things first. Continues very frustrating.

I hoped that now that they've got vibration working they might consider working on the networking issues, but it wasn't on their latest list of "In The Works" priorities on the twine welcome page, nor is it listed under "Common Issues". Why not? It is clearly a common issue.

Sean McPherson · January 2013

It's very likely going to be something specific to Apple's radio implementation and might be tough to troubleshoot. While a lot of us (myself included, BTW) use airport extremes and expresses (I have both), he # of Apple airports is much smaller than Linksys/Cisco, Belkin, Netgear, etc. They're just going to have to play the game of #s on items. Also, since our units 'mostly work' I can understand why it's being triaged as an issue to be dealt with. My twine was updating on an irregular schedule when on my Apple base stations, but worked fine on my Linksys WRT54G-L (running stock firmware or Tomato). I put it back on the Apple an the slight irregularity didn't really bother me much. I will say I had more reliable sustained network access and updates when I had the Twine on a static IP on the Apple WiFi; putting it on the LinkSys (on the same fixed IP, just via the different WiFi SID) also worked fine.

(I know, this is just my opinion, but I'm explaining my reasoning - I definitely understand if you disagree and want it to work 100% on your Apple Network devices)

Sean McPherson

David Albert · January 2013

Apple devices is all I have. I don't want to have to set up a whole subnet just for this one device.

And I still think it should be considered defective until they fix this issue.

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What is the default "talking" interval for Twine?

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