I have an extra charge on my electricity bill, when I have a high peak consumption. I noticed that the Gecko intouch2 starts the circulation pump at random moments, which causes peak consumption when cooking, using the oven etc.
Is it possible to switch off the circulation pump with this integration?
I could then measure the power consumption and switch off the circulation pump if necessary.
I don’t think there’s a way to do that. The controller needs to run the circulation pump for a minute to measure the temperature periodically.
The connection to my spa has become unavailable. Unfortunately, I am away for the week to be able to reset the wifi modules (turn off/on). I can VPN to my router still see the itouch2 module and ping it as well. What I don’t understand is that my gecko integration will not start either nor the gecko app can see the spa. Typically if the connection becomes unavailable, the gecko integration is still available and I can press the “reconnect” button. Is there another way around to reset the wifi module remotely (web interface perhaps)?
Anyone know whether this integration works without an internet connection?
It does not. Everything is actioned via Gecko’s server.
In fact, I had to open an inbound port on my router to the device. Hated doing it. Very old-school; the house end of the two radio devices connects to my Ethernet at 10 Mbps.
I know there was some discussion a while back about using the wiring connection on spa main board that is used by inTouch2, to go to some ESP32 or whatever device. Sounds like the connection might be RS485. Not sure how obtuse the protocol might be over that connection. Definitely wishing for such device to imitate inTouch2 completely locally, but not equipped to do it myself
I think the rs485 was established right back at the start of the thread. Gecko in.touch2 integration (Spa wireless remote control module) - #8 by marcoboutch
But yes, I am not prepared to potentially break mine. No WAF in that.
I dunno. Mine has never reached WAF. Hasn’t ever been reliable enough to let it loose to family members to depend on it. Still very random as to when the integration will come online or not. Sometimes weeks with no conn Then month or more with solid conn., or very few dropouts. It’s been frustrating.
So is your problem with connecting to the server, or the connection between the spa and the IP network.
I have been using this integration for about a year with the Intouch 2 blocked from internet access and it works correctly. The Android app also works correctly providing you are connected to the same network ie you are at home or connected to home by a VPN if away.
@IanQ - what do you do about setting time with internet access blocked? Is it sufficient to set it via the spa’s control panel?
See my post above – my gecko unit unintentionally wound up not communicating with their servers, so no time updates. I didn’t wind up going that far but I think I could have cobbled together something that would send the right packets to the gecko unit to keep it somewhat sync’d and deal with daylight savings time changes.
I’m not sure about provisioning, or firmware upgrades, but the basic communication doesn’t appear to be encrypted or authenticated. So If it were needed one could put something together to emulate the gecko servers.
@exciton - Regarding whether the integration works without an internet connection, as others have indicated the communication between Home Assistant and the gecko module is local. Things ran mostly fine for me (other than time) when my gecko unit couldn’t reach their servers. However, I suspect, but have not tested in any way, that access to the Gecko servers is likely needed during initial setup. The integration used to require downloading a file spapackstruct.xml that gives the device configuration of each model of spa supported. I think the integration does something different now. If it isn’t hardcoded some internet access will likely be required during set up.
Hope this helps.
@jigsaw - This sounds more like a name or address resolution issue. I don’t recall at this point how gecko devices are discovered on the local network for mobile apps (mDNS? broadcast?) or how it is configured in the Hass integration (mine is shut down for winter, so the integration is disabled). I’m assuming you’ve assigned a static IP and when you ping it, you are still using the static IP to verify it hasn’t changed?
When this happens, I would try exec’ing a shell into the Home Assistant container and checking the connectivity to the gecko lan module from there so you’ll be seeing what the integration sees.
Also there is a low level CLI utility GeckoShell that is part of Geckolib that was used during early development and testing. See GitHub - gazoodle/geckolib: Library to interface with Gecko Alliance spa pack systems via in.touch2 module. You can run the discovery process from that which might help you narrow things down.
You can either set the time using the spa’s controls or allow the Intouch2 to connect to the internet for a very short time to sync the time. After the spa has been powered off I usually allow the Intouch2 internet access for a minute or two to sync the time, then block it again.
I don’t know if the Intouch2 has the ability to do OTA firmware updates. I couldn’t find anything on their website about it. After reading the various Gecko manuals I don’t think the controller has OTA firmware updates either, although I could be wrong. The manuals only mention plugging in a USB stick to the controller. Hopefully I’m wrong as it would be nice if the firmware can be updated OTA. I have occasionally allowed the Intouch2 internet access and checked the firmware versions shown in the Android app, but the versions have never changed and it doesn’t show anything about updates being available or have a “Check For Updates” option.
When I installed the integration I cannot remember if the Intouch2 was already blocked from the internet or not, but I suspect it wasn’t.
Apart from the time being set automatically I haven’t noticed any issues having the Intouch2 blocked from the internet. I use a VPN on my phone to connect to my router when away from home so having the Intouch2 blocked doesn’t effect me using the app or the integration via Home Assistant.
It would be great if someone was able to figure out the connections to the RS485 port on the Controller so the Intouch2 was no longer needed. Unfortunately my programming abilities are fairly minimal so I haven’t attempted it.
The first Intouch2 I had would randomly loose the radio connection between the indoor unit and the outdoor unit, even if they were only about 6’ apart! The radio signal strength would jump from 80% to 50% or 60% or 20% etc, maybe go back to 80% and then suddenly go to 0% and stay there for ages, or go back to 80% in a few minutes. It appeared to be entirely random and not related to time of day or anything else. Powering the indoor and outdoor units off and back on would sometimes restore the signal but not always. Sometimes it would work for 2 or 3 days, other times it would go to 0% 3 or 4 times in a day.
After lots of emails to and from the supplier, who contacted the Gecko technical dept who suggested lots of things to try to trouble shoot the problem, I eventually returned the unit for a full refund and purchased another from a different supplier. That was because, despite all the fault finding, neither Gecko or the supplier actually believed the unit was faulty and the supplier preferred to give a refund to get it sorted. The replacement Intouch2 worked immediately and apart from very occasional signal strength drops has remained connected all the time.
It’s possible if you are having connection issues then you are also suffering from the same loss of radio signal connection. When I was having problems I did a search and there were other users complaining of radio connection problems with the Intouch2.
One thing to note is that the Gecko integration doesn’t appear to update the signal strength figure very often. Also the strength figure shown in the Android app updates when you open the app and then can also take time to do another update. If you close and re-open the app it forces an update of the radio strength. So the strength figures in the app and the integration can often be very different.
Edit this was partly in reply to the post by @Jigsaw
All good now. I think something’s gone weird with the module that plugs into the router. Although the device was pingable, gecko integration cannot connect to it. I had to power down and up again then reloaded the configuration. I was away for a while so was only able to do the power reset over the weekend.
Hi new here. Got a gecko in touch 2 integration.
So is there an official integration yet or still via HACS?
I just look for gecko?
Yes, still on HACS, gecko-home-assistant, not an official integration.
Yes, The Gecko integration and the mobile app (when used locally) both talk to the Gecko unit. State stays in sync between the actual control panel, the app, and Home Assistant. It is basically a local polling style communication.
I’ve used it for a couple of years. No adverse effects. Though since I shut down my hot tub during the winter season I do have to disable the Gecko integration to avoid Home Assistant problems.
Here’s the repo with the docs: GitHub - gazoodle/gecko-home-assistant: Home Assistant integration for spas equipped with Gecko Alliance in.touch2 modules
The In.Touch2 itself can be a bit flaky, but the integration is generally fine. Doesn’t inhibit use of the Gecko app. I’ve been using it for 3 years to control the temperature setpoint profile.
I also pay for Nabu Casa so I can have remote access to HA and integration with Alexa.
Every evening, my wife can be heard saying, “Alexa, pump 2 on!”
Offtopic regarding in.touch2, but may-be helpful in order to achieve the same end goal: “control your spa through HA”.
As many of you, i don’t want to buy the expensive accessory only to still have to hack it a bit and not to be sure of the reliability. I opened the lid of my controller (in.yt) and it seems fairly simplistic which is good on many levels. During that, I determined that it is possible to add your own way of control in non invasive way to gecko-land territory.
Basically I’m going to run parallel power through relays, that will be controlled by the esp32 running esphome. I will have 3 switches and one temp sensor in HA and I’ll mimic the same logic that is built in the original unit:
For temperature sensor (connected to the esp32), it probably is necessary to be intrusive to the existing system, meaning i need to drill a hole somewhere in the pipes.
On the original control panel, i’ll leave the temp to the lowest setting and heating will be automated in HA. That way both options will remain working (although highest setting wins, so if for some reason someone uses control panel to increase heat, it has to be set down after use… but close enough for me).
I am planning to do this in couple of months. For beauty reasons we “sunk” our spa into our terrace, and whenever i need to to something i need to empty the tub and pick it out from the hole…
Edit: I should clarify, that all the modifications could be done inside the in.yt controller box, no need for running extra cables from in.yt to the load.
