ESPHome Builder 2026.1 update breaks ratgdo openers?

ESPHome
1

I had to re-setup my ratgdo door openers and I got three of them working just fine but when I went to setup the 4th it would basically shut down the WiFi while installing the ESPHomeBuilder pieces. While I was futzing with that 4th ratgdo I saw updates available (2025.6 to 2026.1, I believe) for the others, so I arbitrarily updated 1 of the other 3 and it failed in the same manner. I’m down 2 openers!

I noticed in the logs that it seems to shutdown the wifi kinda late in the install and the logs show that it can’t connect. There were all kinds of other warnings early in the process related to WPA, WPA2 and WPA3 and warnings later about it connecting in plain text.

It created all the keys and the config looks OK…but I’m not sure what the config is supposed to look like so I’m kinda flying blind. :slight_smile:

2

NOTE: I re-initialitzed one device and tried the install again. It found the device, compiled a bunch of stuff, uploaded it and then froze here (lost Wifi connection too):

archiving .pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/libFrameworkArduino.a
Indexing .pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/libFrameworkArduino.a
Linking .pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.elf
RAM:   [====      ]  42.6% (used 34884 bytes from 81920 bytes)
Flash: [======    ]  58.2% (used 607789 bytes from 1044464 bytes)
Building .pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.bin
esp8266_copy_factory_bin([".pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.bin"], [".pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.elf"])
esp8266_copy_ota_bin([".pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.bin"], [".pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.elf"])
======================== [SUCCESS] Took 151.26 seconds ========================
INFO Build Info: config_hash=0x336df28f build_time_str=2026-01-24 07:40:42 -0500
INFO Successfully compiled program.
INFO Connecting to 192.168.1.200 port 8266...
INFO Connected to 192.168.1.200
INFO Uploading /data/build/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/.pioenvs/ratgdov25i-c4e98c/firmware.bin (611936 bytes)
INFO Compressed to 424059 bytes
Uploading: [============================================================] 100% Done...

INFO Upload took 5.59 seconds, waiting for result...
INFO OTA successful
INFO Successfully uploaded program.
INFO Starting log output from 192.168.1.200 using esphome API
INFO Successfully resolved ratgdov25i-c4e98c @ 192.168.1.200 in 0.000s
WARNING Can't connect to ESPHome API for ratgdov25i-c4e98c @ 192.168.1.200: Timeout while connecting to [AddrInfo(family=<AddressFamily.AF_INET: 2>, type=<SocketKind.SOCK_STREAM: 1>, proto=6, sockaddr=IPv4Sockaddr(address='192.168.1.200', port=6053))] (TimeoutAPIError)
INFO Trying to connect to ratgdov25i-c4e98c @ 192.168.1.200 in the background

(the device itself froze at the “INFO Successfully resolved ratgdov25i-c4e98c…”)

3

From the error it look like your api password is not correct or properly set

You should ensure it is set in your yaml file. Likely you need to change it then update in HA

I use same api password for all devices. I define this in the secrets file located in esphome device builder on front page at upper right

in yaml

api:
  encryption:
    key: !secret api_key

wifi:
  ssid: !secret wifi_secure
  password: !secret wifipass_secure
  domain: !secret domain
  use_address: ${use_address}

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: !secret ota_password

in secrets

wifi_secure: "myssid"
wifipass_secure: "mywifipassword"

ota_password: "SomeLongPassword"
api_key: "SomeLongStringOfCharacters"
4

I will check, but everything connects just fine and it starts the install, but during that install it shuts down and locks up the ratgdo. I can ping it just fine until it gets to that one point in the install process, but it communicates with the device satisfactorily until then. I’m guessing that you are thinking it does every that I type in during the install just fine, but once it goes back to the config things go bad? Lemme give this a whirl.

5

Hmmm…my secrets.yaml is empty?

# Use this file to store secrets like usernames and passwords.


# Learn more at https://www.home-assistant.io/docs/configuration/secrets/
some_password: welcome

Also…3 of them were working fine before I started on the 4th. While putzing with the 4th I updated one of the first 3 to 2026.1 and now that is failing in a similar manner as the 4th.

#1: 2025.6, works fine
#2, 2025.6, works fine
#3, 2025.6, worked fine until I updated to 2026.1
#4, 2026.1, fails consistently.

I just noted there is now a 2026.1.1…I did not see that earlier…I will try #4 again.

6

You must create and add the details in the Yaml file

The Ratgdo Yaml does not have this info by default and it seems that with latest update api password is required and it forces you to add

7

My bad…it was located in the esphome directory.

One thing of note; I am moving all my devices to a 2.4g network and the secrets.yaml was pointing to my other network. This may have confused things…I am adapting…

8

Methinks you are on to something…#3 is operational again. If I’m feeling gutsy, it indicates that #1 wants an update to 2026.1.1…but I’m gonna see if I can get #4 going before I do that.

9

I landed here from google searches. I used Claude all day to work around the ESPHome issue. I ended up moving it to my MQTT broker with no choice. Even after it was working in MQTT, I switched back and tried ESPHome one last time. It is not working.

Paul states this is a Home Assistant issue and not a RATGDO issue in the Github. I am up to date on everything as of today including the latest ESPHome Builder. I did not try the ESPHome Device beta or dev versions.

  • ESPHome 2026.1 and 2026.2.0 has a broken API handshake with ratgdo firmware
  • MQTT firmware is the reliable alternative and what I will have to remain on until ESP is fixed.
10

You really need to get into the habit of reading release notes before doing upgrades. ESPHome 2026.1.x fully depreciated API passwords. To connect, you must set an API key now. That is listed as a breaking change in the 2026.1 release notes.