Rachio, PWS & WU

It seems to me that WU appears to be the most integrated site for PWS manufacturers.

I understand Rachio servers can’t pull data directly from WU due to the free API call limits. But I’m thinking I have 2 viable options.

If the data from the local PWS to WU is not encrypted:

  1. The data sent from my local network to WU is a known set of values. How about we select local PWS in the settings, select the site our data is being uploaded to, and the Rachio listens to the local network for that known data? No API calls at all.

If the data from the local PWS to WU is encrypted:

  1. How about the end user enters their WU login info into their Rachio unit and the local unit calls for their personal data from WU. No mass API calls from a single Rachio server IP, no API limits reached “per user”.

Please keep in mind, any reference to WU should be construed as WU or other known site that could be set.

I look forward to any feedback to these ideas.

Thanks,
Bill

I’ll put my 2 cents where I can.

  1. Sniffing data on the network, especially over wifi, is not an easy proposition. Ever since the industry has switched from network hubs to routers, data stream is distributed on the need to know basis. In addition wifi protocol would further complicate things and filter any traffic not intended for one of the connected clients. Meteobridge gets around this by requiring a direct physical connection with the data hub, something Rachio is not designed to even attempt. Keep in mind that as more and more data providers switch over to SSL encryption, solutions such as Meteobridge will someday fail, should the data providers actively start validating the destination certificates.

  2. Login information, by itself, cannot take place of the API key (at least for WU). WU interface uses the same keys to display the data, no matter if you are logged in or not. Use of these keys may expose you to legal trouble in case you decide to use them for commercial purposes.

Gene

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I think it is a lot easy for Rachio Controller pulling data from WU with User API key, then send it to Rachio server periodically, since Rachio controller is capable of Wifi access.

PWSs capture data in many different formats. Rachio uses an data aggregator so they don’t have to develop an interface for every possible PWS to hit the market.

So @Gene , as long as the Rachio unit uses the API key, non commercially, you think this sounds like a viable (#2) option? Seems like they could code this easily for multiple sites. Just add a disclaimer and agreement in the set up process that it’s for “non commercial use only”.

A declaimer may not be enough, as soon as the key makes it’s way to the product for sale (such as Rachio controller), it is being used for commercial purposes. WU would be in a position to claim that a number of customers have bought a Rachio controller due to the WU support and seek compensation.

Gene

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