Great! Looking forward to it. Thank you for the fresh update.
Good to hear, my controller is on firmware C4.38, will that make the cut to get updated?
Hey @lampshade29 Unfortunately, no. In my first post I mentioned this:
This plan will only include newer valves that have the C6.00 series firmware. Earlier versions are essentially feature locked, meaning that they will no longer receive new features. The C4.00 series firmware will only be updated now if there is a bug that has been reported. The C2.00 and C3.00 series firmware are not slated to receive any updates at all. Just wanted to throw that out there.
All of the older valves (C1.00, C2.00, C3.00 and C4.00) were written on smaller microchips that didn’t have much memory. The C4.00 is in a “bug fixes only” mode right now because it literally has only a few bytes of memory left. It has no room to store the code for this update. That’s why we created the new C6.00 board. It used a nRF52840 SoC, which has a lot more memory.
With that being said, let me talk to the owner and see if there is a C4.00 => C6.00 upgrade available for you.
Hey @lampshade29 I talked to the owner and he said you can call in and talk to Jeff Steiner. I’ll email Jeff and give him a heads up in case you call.
Following because I just got a water softener installed and would love this data. Also, the first thing I checked was to see if I have the latest firmware and I am on 6.12 so looking forward to 6.13. I suspect others might also be looking for an upgrade path to 6.xx firmware. Thanks James for jumping in and helping out.
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Thank you very much for doing that, I will call and ask for Jeff !
Hi James, where can I check the implemented firmware version? Thanks, Ernesto
Hey @lampshade29 - You’re more than welcome!
Hey @ejespinosa - You can check it one of three ways:
- Fully depower the valve (source power and battery) and power it back up. The valve will display the firmware version for a few seconds.
- You can connect to the valve using Legacy View and it should show you the firmware version on the dashboard. This was just added a few versions back, so make sure you have the latest app.
- I never recommend this way, but since you guys like tech, I’ll show it here for fun. You can also see the firmware version in the advertising data. You can use Nordic’s nRF Connect mobile app to easily see the data. Open the app and you should see something like “C2_01” if it’s a metered softener, “C2_04” for a backwashing filter, etc. (it should at least start with a “C2_” for C6.00 series firmware). Click on it to expand the details (don’t click connect, just tap on the name). Once the details are expanded, you should see a “RAW” link at the bottom, click that to see the raw advertisement data. You should see 2 0xFF manufacturer data entries. On the shorter one, the response data, just look at the last two bytes and that’s the firmware version.
Further explanation on #3. You should see something like 0x3A07060C. These are in hexadecimal, so 0x06 = 6 and 0x0C = 12, so the firmware version for this example would be C6.12. If you see 0x3A070609, then the firmware version would be C6.09, as another example.
@ JamesDougherty Just talked to Jeff, and with all the benefits and improvements since I have to swap hardware either way, I am going with the Drop system!
The upgraded BLE board was gonna run a little over 100$, vs the DROP upgrade at 500$ ± tax of course. That seemed a better long term solution, and the DROP system included a water shutoff in it. Which is on my list of things to do to my house with leak detector in HA to monitor for leaks.
Thank you for you information and work on this, this is how a business should support their customers!
Hey @lampshade29, that’s awesome to hear! The nice thing about DROP is it natively supports HA (https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/drop_connect/) and there are a lot of things you can add on to it (i.e., pump controller, dozens of leak detectors, R.O. Filter, etc.). We’re continually adding new components too. You got a steal on that.
There’s a lot of other benefits too, like the DROP web app (DROP Web App), if you’re having an issue our tech support can provide remote assistance, etc. If you have any questions when you get it, then let me know!
Hello everyone,
Great news! I was able to squeeze this functionality into C6.13. I released the updated firmware and apps to both Apple and Google yesterday afternoon, so they should be available this weekend.
Here is a guide that I wrote that explains how the Bluetooth communication works and I outlined the API:
If you have any issues with the app or the guide, then please create an issue on the GitHub page and I can assist there.
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Hi James, I finally checked my software version in my water filter system and it is C4.38. Can you explain how do I get update to 6.13 and talk to your boss please. Thank you,
Ernesto
Hey @ejespinosa - I would call in and talk to Jeff Steiner. You can reach him through our toll-free line: 1-888-363-9434, I made him aware he may receive a call from you. He can give you the options and help you through the upgrade process.
Hi James, I ordered the update for the new circuit board. Jeff told me the board comes already programmed with the updated software. Once I get the board and replace it in the equipment, what would be the next step?
I’ve been really excited to see progress on tracking water volume and flow rates for automations — this is something I’ve wanted for a long time, and it’s awesome to see it finally moving forward!
Both my metered softener and aeration filter are reporting firmware version C4.38, according to the Springwell app, they’re up to date. What’s this talk about needing to order new boards with updated software to make this work?
Can someone clarify what the actual requirements are? Are my current boards running the C4.38 sufficient be upgradable to the C6.13 firmware for water volume tracking in Home Assistant, or is new hardware really necessary?
Hey @ejespinosa Glad to hear you got a new board on the way! Jeff may be a little mistaken because I believe the boards are going out with an earlier version (like C6.10 - C6.12). C6.13 isn’t in the app yet that production uses to program and test the valves with. It’s no biggie though because as soon as you try to connect it will prompt you to update to C6.13.
If I were you I would:
A) Take note of your settings (water hardness, regen time, position cycle times, reserve capacity, etc.) That way when you get the new board you know what to set those values to.
B) I would start reviewing the API guide (GitHub - ChandlerSystems/Signature-API-Guide: Guide to cover the Signature API functionality). This will give you an idea of how the communication works, how the packets are structured, etc.
Let me know if you have a specific question when you’re working on it and I can help you out. I can add a FAQ section to the guide if needed as well.
Hey @jbell2344! Here is an excerpt from an earlier post:
This plan will only include newer valves that have the C6.00 series firmware. Earlier versions are essentially feature locked, meaning that they will no longer receive new features. The C4.00 series firmware will only be updated now if there is a bug that has been reported. The C2.00 and C3.00 series firmware are not slated to receive any updates at all. Just wanted to throw that out there.
All of the previous boards use a different SoC / CPU. For instance, the C4.38 boards you have use a Microchip SoC / CPU. Those boards were written years ago in ASM so they don’t have that much memory. That’s why it’s in “bug fixes only” mode. This is also one of the main reasons we created the new C6.00 series boards. The new C6.00 series boards use a Nordic nRF52840 SoC / CPU that have a lot more power and a lot more memory. They also have a Nordic FEM (Front-End Module) to boost the range. The code required to add the API functionality would never be able to fit on the C4.00 series boards as there’s literally almost no memory left on them. That’s why a C6.00 series board is required.
@JamesDougherty So awesome! Thank you so much 
— I just upgraded my valve to C6.13 last week, so I’ll start reading through the docs and seeing if I can cobble something together!
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Guys, please share the programs with me since programming is not my forte. Anyways, another question. I heard Home Assistant in the June version is now capable of Bluetooth. How would that work with our Chandler equipment? Do I need to buy an ESP32 board, or how would I go about doing that?
By the way, I just heard the Home Assistant release of the June update, and see they are deprecating 32 bits. Is there an ESP 64, or will HA be able to handle bluetooth directly?