Rachio - I don’t want to walk around my house opening apps on my phone to do things like turn on a sprinkler. I went through a lot of trouble to turn my entire house into a smart house with home assistant. I don’t want to use your app, ever.
With that being said…I returned my “smart timer” this morning, got credited back almost immediately by amazon and ordered a b-hyve with next day delivery with the difference in $. Can’t wait to integrate it into home assistant!
massive disappointment, would return if I could but I’m stuck with it now. Suppose its on me for not searching beforehand, I assumed rachio’s stuff would be available to Home Assistant based on the sprinkler integration. Others, be warned!
+1 but I am purchasing the competitors product. I’ve used Rachio controller since V1 (you know, the one without any manual controls), and currently have the latest controller. I’m buying a smart hose controller but I’m going to have to buy that B* product since Rachio does not have API access. (Home Assistant). Sorry, but this is
a required feature for “smart” products in 2023.
It is great to see everybody’s passion for API support. We are working to improve and add new features to the Rachio Smart Hose Timer this season and beyond. We are watching how our customers are using the Smart Hose Timer and collecting valuable feedback from threads like this, customer support interactions, among others. We’re evaluating all feedback to determine the enhancements and features that we will release. Stay tuned for our future updates and keep that feedback coming!
I recently purchased a smart hose timer and created a post looking for assistance since the API could not find the device. Someone pointed me to this post, which is a huge disappointment. It looks like I will be returning the device and swapping over to B-hyve as well due to the API and compatibility with Home Assistant.
@jplandry, @cvanover7, @gravymaker, others, if you hang tight we’ll give you all an update on upcoming features. API and integrations support is one of them. Yes we plan to do it. No it wasn’t an oversight. Yes we wanted to get the product out this Spring for customers. This has been on the roadmap for a fast follow on feature.
We’re releasing Shared Access and Push Notifications in the next few weeks and will then be working on integrations and api access, released shortly after.
I’m sure we all don’t mind the wait as long as it is not in vain and I for one will hang on to my timers as the hardware seems very well designed / thought through and software can always be updated, so…
Really good to hear. Thanks! When you develop the API, would it be possible to allow turning the valve on, without having to specify a run time duration? That would serve my use case of the hose timer controlling my deer sprinklers
@lnjustin are you looking to just not have to pass the open duration as a required attribute, or do you want to actually have it so the valve is open indefinitely? We’re working on some requirements now.
For my use case to control motion-activated deer sprinklers, the valve would actually be open indefinitely. The deer sprinkler regulates the flow of water in response to motion. The rachio hose timer however will cut off the water when a human is detected by my cameras, to prevent the human from being sprayed.
If it won’t work to allow indefinite running, perhaps you could at least allow a long runtime, on the order of 12 hours. That would at least allow me to turn the deer sprinklers on for long periods of time, like from dusk to dawn, without having to repeatedly send ‘open’ commands to the hose timer and reduce battery life.
I would +1 this for API use it is sad to see Rachio losing customers, I have been waiting for a API and will be looking to make a switch as well next year for gardening since this doesn’t tend to be a top priority