FlameBoss Integration into HA (manual setup)

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22

Going direct to the device would enable you to get more real-time updated info. I use the flameboss connected to their cloud service which updates fairly quickly. Not sure if you have yours set to local or cloud. I went cloud because I control everything through the app and want control no matter where I am. My flameboss doesn’t allow you to do both (stops sending messages to the cloud when a local client connects to it) so I choose cloud integration.

The HA integration was only for me to automate a wake-up routine if the smoker somehow lost heat on long cooks. Outside of that I have found not much additional calls besides having it on my dashboard on my travels throughout the home.

23

Great guide. Works perfectly.

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24

works wonderfully on Flame Boss 500. Thanks!

As a tiny improvement, I made the following addition:

configuration.yaml

  - name: "BGE Raw Status"
    state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/xxxxxx/send/data"
    force_update: true
    value_template: '{{ value_json["name"] }}'

This creates a sensor which reports the raw values parsed out of the periodic status. You get values such as unknown, disconnected, pit temp, etc.

Based on this sensor, I created a proxy switch to easily report if the Flame Boss is online and trigger other automations

#flameboss online
  - name: "BGE Status"
    state: >-
      {% if is_state("sensor.bge_raw_status", "disconnected") or is_state("sensor.bge_raw_status", "unknown") %}
      {{"offline"}}
      {% else %}
      {{"online"}}       
      {%- endif %}
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26

So I have a Flameboss BGE as well as a 4 probe temperature sensor. I have the BGE Setup, but cannot get the 4 probe temperature sensor to report.

I would expect to change the configuration.yaml file which is below:

- platform: mqtt
    state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/111182/send/open"
    name: "Fan Speed"
    unit_of_measurement: "%"
    force_update: true
    value_template: "{{(float(value_json.blower)/100) | round(0)}}"
  - platform: mqtt
    state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/136192/send/open"
    name: "Pizza Oven"
    unit_of_measurement: "°F"
    device_class: "temperature"
    force_update: true
    value_template: "{{(float(value_json.temps[0]) * (9/50) +32) | round(0)}}"  
    icon: mdi:thermometer

I also would expect to have to update the flameboss.conf to account for the new device

connection myflameboss.com
address s7.myflameboss.com:1883
topic flameboss/111182/send/open in 1 homeassistant/sensor/
topic flameboss/111182/send/data in 1 homeassistant/sensor/
topic flameboss/136192/send/open in 1 homeassistant/sensor/
topic flameboss/136192/send/data in 1 homeassistant/sensor/
bridge_attempt_unsubscribe true
bridge_protocol_version mqttv31
cleansession true
remote_username T-XXXX
remote_password 8XY-XXX

Anyone have any thoughts as to what I may be doing wrong?

27

There are examples above to get all four probes into HA. Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a move and my HA is down until we buy a home and start the whole smarting up the home. So I have no way to help at this point. I did invest in the newer FlameBoss due to a Labor Day sale. So I am looking forward to getting that going with HA in the future.

Sorry I am not able to assist currently. Look at the troubleshooting with MQTT Explorer. It really isn’t too hard to figure out where you may have an issue in your configuration.

28

I’m stuck trying to get my userID authentication token. I just get responses saying no matches found:
session[login]=MYEMAILADDRESS

Here’s my command:

curl -X POST https://myflameboss.com/api/v4/sessions -d session[login]=MYEMAIL -d session[password]=MYPASSWORD

Any ideas what I may be doing wrong?

29

I have had issues trying to cut/paste from these forums. You may want to type it out exactly. I just did this in a cmd prompt in Windows and had no issues. Also, ensure you have the email address you used to create the account for your flameboss.

30

Thanks for the quick reply. I couldn’t get the curl command to work with my MAC but was able to get a response using a windows machine, so i’m making progress.

Not I’m getting the following messages in the mosquitto broker logs:

Screen Shot 2022-10-02 at 2.15.10 PM
Screen Shot 2022-10-02 at 2.15.10 PM782×70 5.34 KB

Any ideas? It seems to attempt to connect every couple of minutes but always closes the connection.

31

Make sure you followed each step and took note of the servers your flameboss account is associated with. My guess is you are not on the s7 servers.

32

i’ll go back and double check all the steps. it responded with the s7 server, but i’ll redo the steps.

33

I run HA in a docker container and this took a while to get up and running. For anyone in that situation:

  • added include_dir /mosquitto at the end of mosquito.conf
  • drop the load balancing from the server address in flameboss.conf address myflameboss.com:1883
  • flameboss.conf goes in /mosquitto (can’t be in the same directory as mosquitto.conf)
  • mount /mosquitto and /mosquitto/config in your docker-compose
  • Set uid and gid to 1883 in your docker-compose if your using eclipse
34

Very detailed. Great Post! I accomplished the same by using NodeRed.

Have you ever seen the Flameboss MQTT host change? My config originally used s7, it shows s8 now but still works using the s7 endpoint. Kinda weird…

35

Yeah this is why the “solution” I made really needs to be made into an integration. That is one of my goals to accomplish this year. That way the integration can query the end-point every so often and update accordingly when Flameboss changes your device’s connection point.

36

Since the beginning of June my integration stopped and I have the following message:

The mqtt platform for the sensor integration does not support platform setup.

Please remove it from your configuration and restart Home Assistant to fix this issue.

Any thoughts?

37

Need to change your configuration.yaml file to be similar to this:

mqtt:
  sensor:
    - state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/#####/send/open"
      name: "Pit Temp"
      unit_of_measurement: "°F"
      device_class: "temperature"
      force_update: true
      value_template: "{{(float(value_json.temps[0]) * (9/50) +32) | round(0)}}"
    - state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/#####/send/open"
      name: "Probe Temp"
      unit_of_measurement: "°F"
      device_class: "temperature"
      force_update: true
      value_template: "{{(float(value_json.temps[1]) * (9/50) +32) | round(0)}}"
    - state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/######/send/open"
      name: "Pit Desired Temp"
      unit_of_measurement: "°F"
      device_class: "temperature"
      force_update: true
      value_template: "{{(float(value_json.set_temp) * (9/50) +32) | round(0)}}"  
      icon: mdi:thermometer 
    - state_topic: "homeassistant/sensor/flameboss/######/send/open"
      name: "Fan Speed"
      unit_of_measurement: "%"
      force_update: true
      value_template: "{{(float(value_json.blower)/100) | round(0)}}"
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38

I’m pretty sure they are IP banning folks that are using this integration. I can’t get in from my phone app from home network unless I use my mobile data IP address. Maybe someone got tired of all the MQTT requests? I’ll give them a call I guess. Anyone with similar experience?

39

Not sure how you can come up with that narrative. I have zero issues and run (3) flameboss’s on my HA. No issues. Are you sure you know how to setup your flame boss for cloud connectivity and not just local connectivity?

40

Yep it’s worked in the past with cloud. Let me call em and see what they say … will post what happens.

41

I’m seeing the same behavior here. Works on mobile data or via VPN using other devices, but not on the cable modem IP that HA uses. Can ping myflameboss.com, but don’t get a response on HTTPS or MQTT. Any word on them throttling/banning IPs?

42

I haven’t called them yet. It may be that @PrayerfulDrop’s MQTT instance is pinging them less frequently than ours is and so he hasn’t been banned yet. Or my theory could be totally wrong…