Air Purifier: Germ Guardian AKA Guardian Technologies

This request is to establish a connection to guardian technology air purifiers: GermGuardian CDAP5500BCA WiFi Smart 4-in-1 Air Purifier, SmartAQM Air Quality Monitor, Compatible with Alexa, True HEPA Filter, UV-C Sanitizer, Allergen & Odor Reduction, 28-inch Germ Guardian Air Purifier

I have 4 of them and they work well. Amazon has this as an integrated skill, but from what I can tell, all they’re doing is sending API calls to the purifiers to ramp them (which is all I need). Unfortunately, there’s sparse API documentation online.

Others have tried, gotten further than those before them, but nobody has a successful integration except Amazon. Here is the most recent info available: GitHub - bassrock/homebridge-germguardian: A homebridge plugin for wifi Germ Guardian.

I tried setting it up through postman but was unsuccessful (I’m certain it’s because I’m not sending the information correctly).

Currently, I have to run a script in HA, which triggers FOUR Alexa routines THAT MUST BE DONE WITH CUSTOM COMMANDS to change the settings of the purifier. And because Amazon only allows 1 custom command per routine, I have 4 routines set up to trigger each of the purifiers to high and 4 routines to trigger each of the purifiers to low.

So I’m using HA to trigger 4 routines in Amazon to make API calls to guardian technologies to make 1 setting change.

I know the reason why it’s setup like this in Amazon (not being an actual device) because alexa is in turn just making API calls to the filters.

+1 for this integration

I made some progress on reverse engineering the protocol at least from the app to the GermGuardian server side. This is not as an ideal of a solution as I’d like, as it still is requiring to use their cloud to activate it, but it does work if you’re willing to accept that an air purifier for some reason needs to be controlled by the cloud.

I can provide a full HTTPS dump.

I am at the point where I am able to replay a specific HTTPS call to their cloud and it will activate the unit.

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Maybe this would be easier as a bluetooth only integration. At least that way it would be local. We “just” need to sniff and decode the BT commands.

I don’t mind the cloud as long as I’ve waited for any sort of control. It still takes one cloud component out of my current setup so I don’t have to slingshot the calls through Amazon.

I would be interested in testing an http call to see if I can gain control.

For some reason in my minds eye I remember Bluetooth “control” wasn’t actually possible even though it kinda eludes to that its possible from the box. There was documentation or somebody’s research I read somewhere that said from what they can tell, Bluetooth is only used to establish the initial connection and can’t actually control the filters. If memory serves me, I think if I try to set the filter up as Bluetooth control, I can’t get it to connect (I’m trying my best to remember the behavior).

Wait a sec, now I seem to be recalling about it being more Bluetooth friendly on Apple. Maybe thats what it is, I’m on Android and it’s notoriously bad with smart home devices made for Apple. I recall it uses some apple technology for connection thats way better than android.

Somebody with more knowledge than me would need to confirm. I’ve never sniffed Bluetooth traffic but I’ve done it for wifi using Wireshark for the TP link effects dump. If there’s something simple like that I can do, I can try.

By my count, 10 commands for on,off,1,2,3,4,5,auto,uv on, uv off. I have no use for timer but it wouldn’t be much more to get those.

See if this helps

It is in Proxyman format.

I can confirm it does work on bt with my ios app just fine and fully offline. i have no experience hacking bt though, only web.