API support for Smart Hose timer?

Smart Home & API
73

@dloftis we’ve begun work on it and will be releasing an Alexa integration, Google Home integration and public API support in the fall (probably October time frame).

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74

This is very disappointing, and changes my opinion about Rachio. I bought the device because I saw there was an integration in Home Assistant. I did not suspect that it did not apply to the hose timer.

I’ll be patient for another month or two, but if API support does not come by then I’ll be trashing the unit and buying something that actually fits into my plans.

1 Like
75

There must be a good reason for this.

@chris, we’re a pretty technical crowd. Mind filling us in with the challenge that your dev team is facing?

77

Time and resourcing. It’s not a technical challenge. We’re on track for the October launch as I mentioned before. Thanks.

3 Likes
78

Still on track for October? Will it be early, mid or late October?

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79

Hey @MechEng! We are better than on track for our late October release date. We are ahead of schedule! I am pleased to announce that we’ve published our beta API documentation for Smart Hose Timer.

You can find it in the same place you find our irrigation controller documentation. Check out the Rachio Smart Hose Timer section. Smart Hose Timer Data Objects is a good place to start

As a reminder Rachio does not officially offer customer support for our open API. This is to say that Rachio’s Customer Support team doesn’t offer specific API information or troubleshooting. With that in mind, if anybody has questions or issues related to Smart Hose Timer API you can ping me in this thread. I’ll reach out to our Engineers, but you should expect a 48 business hours response time.

Please post any feedback or feature requests in this thread, also. Is there something specific that you want to do with the API that isn’t available? I’d love to hear about it.

5 Likes
83

The API is now available.

:cheers:

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84

Wow, that’s great news!

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85

Awesome! Thanks! I’ve ordered my hose timers now. Looking forward to testing and integrating them with my smart home.

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86

Are the existing webhooks also for the hose timer? Or are webhooks for hose timers not implemented (yet)? I am guessing the latter from the documentation but maybe I missed it. Thanks!

87

Hey @lnjustin! The Smart Hose Timer does not use webhooks. Is this something that you are interested in seeing implemented?

88

Yes, since that would provide faster state updates and avoid having to poll your servers regularly :slight_smile: win-win. Still, this is huge having the hose timer API, so much appreciated.

3 Likes
89

typing-fast-typing

1 Like
90

I have a question about the API. Does the API indicate the current status of a hose timer valve being open and/or whether flow is currently detected?

I see in the API docs the valve object is:

{
  "valve": {
    "id": "string",
    "name": "string",
    "connectionId": "string",
    "photo": {
      "id": "string",
      "default": true
    },
    "state": {
      "reportedState": {
        "connected": true,
        "defaultRuntimeSeconds": 0,
        "lastWateringAction": {
          "start": "2023-10-03T10:42:42.663Z",
          "durationSeconds": 0,
          "reason": "QUICK_RUN",
          "programId": "string",
          "flowDetected": true
        },
        "lastSeen": "2023-10-03T10:42:42.663Z",
        "batteryStatus": "GOOD",
        "firmwareVersion": "string",
        "calendarHash": "string"
      },
      "desiredState": {
        "defaultRuntimeSeconds": 0,
        "calendarHash": "string"
      },
      "matches": true
    },
    "color": "LIGHT_BLUE",
    "detectFlow": true,
    "created": "2023-10-03T10:42:42.663Z",
    "updated": "2023-10-03T10:42:42.663Z"
  }
}

(1) I suspect that the “detectFlow” field indicates whether the valve is configured to detect flow, not whether the value is currently detecting flow. Is that right?
(2) The flowDetected field in the reportedState seemingly indicates whether flow was detected the last time the valve watered. But that watering session may have ended already, right? So, the flowDetected field in the reportedState does not seem to indicate whether flow is currently detected.

Am I missing something? That seems like something that the API would provide access to…If the API does not currently provide this information, please consider it a feature request.

It would be great to have the reportedState include:
(1) currentWateringAction; and
(2) nextWateringAction
with the same fields as the lastWateringAction, as applicable.

(1) Is the most important, though, as nextWateringAction can be derived from the dayView part of the API. But I don’t think currentWateringAction could be. In a perfect world, you could check to see if the lastWateringAction is still ongoing accounting for its start time and duration, but there’s no way to know if that is in fact the case, e.g., user could have manually stopped, flow might not be detected, etc.

Thanks!

91

I too would like to see Webhook support or web socket connection for updates.

92

Hey Injustin!

Sorry, I missed this. I’ll answer the questions that I currently know and then work with the team to answer what I don’t know. The “detectFlow” field does indicate that the valve is configured to detect flow while “flowDetected” indicates if the valve’s flow sensor detected water flow.

I will need to get back to you on detecting flow for the current watering. I’ve captured your request to have “currentWateringAction” and “nextWateringAction”.

1 Like
93

Does anyone know if there’s any work on the home assistant side to get this integrated? Thanks.