Bay Automation

Teebly accommodates golf simulator venues that operate on a staffed, unstaffed or hybrid model. This guide covers how to automate your bays, fully configurable to your venue.

Teebly offers bay automation through two approaches:

1. Teebly Bay Tools — our native automation system installed on the simulator PC
2. IFTTT Integration — connect to 1,000+ third-party services

Both approaches can be used together or independently, depending on your needs and existing hardware.

In this guide, we'll cover how to use both approaches together to create a fully automated bay experience, but you can choose to implement either one on its own if it suits your needs better.

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Overview

When this guide is complete, an automation pattern can look like this:

1. Booking starts, IFTTT will turn on the bay lights, while the Bay Tools application unlocks the bay, allowing the golfer to access the simulator software and play.
2. Booking ends, IFTTT will turn off the bay lights, while the Bay Tools application locks the bay, preventing further access to the software while encouraging the golfer to book more time.
3. Period of inactivity, your PC displays enter sleep mode, allowing your projector and other hardware to power down, saving energy and reducing wear and tear.
4. New booking starts, IFTTT will turn on the bay lights, while the Bay Tools application wakes the PC displays, unlocks the bay, and allows the golfer to play.

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Prerequisites

• Windows-based golf simulator system
• Teebly Bay Tools installed on the simulator PC with auto screen lock enabled (see Bay Tools Reference for installation instructions)
• Physical access to the simulator PC, projectors and computer monitors
• (Optional) IFTTT-compatible smart devices for additional automation (lights, audio, etc.) See the IFTTT Integration for more details on setting up IFTTT with Teebly.

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Step 1: Configure PC Sleep Settings

To enable energy-saving automation, we need to configure the PC's sleep settings. This allows the monitors and projector to power down during periods of inactivity, while keeping the PC itself awake to run the Bay Tools application.

1. Open Settings on the simulator PC.
2. Navigate to System > Power.
3. Under Turn my screen off after, select a suitable time (e.g., 10 minutes).
4. Ensure the other sleep settings are set to Never to prevent the PC from fully sleeping, which would disable the Bay Tools application.

See the image below for an overview of these settings:

Your PC displays will now sleep after 10 minutes of inactivity, which allows the projector and other displays to power down gracefully, saving energy and reducing wear and tear.

The Bay Tools application will continue running in the background, allowing it to wake the displays when a new booking starts or when manual input is detected.

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Step 2: Configure your Displays to sleep when idle and wake on input

Next, we need to configure the displays to wake when the PC detects input, such as a mouse movement or keyboard press. This allows the displays to power on when a new booking starts and to remain off during periods of inactivity.

The steps vary based on the hardware manufacturer, but the general steps are as follows:

Projector

1. Access the projector's on-screen menu using the remote or projector buttons.
2. Navigate to the Power Management or Energy Saving settings.
3. Enable the Auto Power Off or similar setting. This timer starts when the Windows PC puts the displays to sleep, so it can be set differently from the PC sleep timer.
4. Enable the Wake on Input or similar setting to allow the projector to power on when it detects input from the PC.
5. Enable the Auto Source Search or similar setting to allow the projector to automatically switch to the correct input when it powers on or wakes from sleep.
6. (Optional) Enable direct power on or similar setting to allow the projector to power on immediately when it receives AC power. This setting also enables projectors to automatically recover in the event of a power loss.

Monitors

1. Access the monitor's on-screen menu using the buttons on the monitor.
2. Navigate to the Power Management or Energy Saving settings.
3. Enable the Auto Power Off or similar setting. This timer will start when the Windows PC puts the displays to sleep, so the timer can be set differently from the PC sleep timer
4. Enable the Wake on Input or similar setting to allow the monitor to power on when it detects input from the PC.
5. (Optional) Enable direct power on or similar setting to allow the monitor to power on immediately when it receives AC power. This setting also enables monitors to automatically recover in the event of a power loss.

Testing

We recommend testing these settings to ensure they work as expected before moving on to the next steps. To test:

1. Lock the bay from the Teebly Dashboard by heading to Operations > Bay Tools and locking the corresponding bay.
2. Wait for the PC sleep timer to elapse and ensure the displays power down as expected.
3. Wait for the projector's auto power off timer to elapse and ensure it powers down as expected.

4. Unlock the bay from the Teebly Dashboard and ensure the displays power on as expected.

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(Optional) Step 3: Configure IFTTT applet to automate auxiliary devices

Next, we can set up an IFTTT applet to turn on the bay lights when a booking starts to add a nice visual cue that the bay is ready for use.

Create a Teebly Trigger

1. Create a new IFTTT Applet
2. Click on If This to add a trigger and search for "Teebly For Business"
3. Select the Bay Active trigger and connect your Teebly account if you haven't already
4. Select the bay you want to automate and click Create trigger

Example of the trigger configuration:

Create an Action

1. Click on Then That to add an action and search for your smart device (e.g., Philips Hue)
2. Select the appropriate action (e.g., "Turn on lights") and connect your smart device account if you haven't already
3. Configure the action as desired (e.g., select the specific lights to turn on)
4. Click Create action to finish setting up the applet

Example of the action configuration:

Now, when a bay becomes active, the corresponding IFTTT applet will trigger, turning the bay lights on and creating a welcoming atmosphere for your customers. You can create additional applets to automate other devices or actions as needed, such as turning on music or adjusting the thermostat.

If you have multiple bays, you can create separate applets for each bay to control your devices.

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Testing the Full Bay Automation Flow

Now that everything is set up, we recommend testing the full automation flow to ensure all components work together as expected. To test:

1. Process a live booking for the bay you set up automation for through your booking page.
2. Ensure the following happens:
   • The bay lights turn on when the booking starts.
   • The Bay Tools application wakes the PC displays and unlocks the bay, allowing access to the simulator software.
3. Wait for the booking to end and ensure the following happens:
   • The bay lights turn off when the booking ends.
   • The Bay Tools application locks the bay, preventing access to the simulator software.
4. Wait for the PC sleep timer to elapse and ensure the displays power down as expected.

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FAQ

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