Anyone knows if there's something for this device?
It uses a ESP32-S2-SOLO chip. https://iflo.com/
Their refill bottles have a QRcode that is scanned on their app to "authorize" a bottle. Each bottle has about 6 shots and when they are done the bottle gets unauthorized.
I'd like to maybe reuse one of those bottle with white vinegar or some ther solution to dispense from HomeAssistant.
Interesting approach. I wonder how they handle the situation if someone is ordering refills from amazon, taking photo of the qr-code and returning the item...
Anyway, if you open the device, you likely find simple circuit allowing either flashing the Esp or substituting it with another.
But considering it's powered from few AA batteries, the device has to be mostly offline.
Please note that most of this info has been me fiddling around with the device and asking ClaudeAI questions about what I'm seeing. It could be totally incorrect, please don't risk devices based on my "research".
To answer your question it should work. From what I understand once you "activate" the bottle validity trough the app the device gets a variable set indicating that the bottle is valid and the amount of dispenses it has left. (There's some with 3 and others with 6). Once the dispense counter reaches 0 the bottle becomes invalid until a new one is scanned. Once the system has a valid bottle set you could switch it to dispense anything you want but just for the number of dispenses valid for that bottle.
Getting bottles from Amazon just to get the code, although unethical, should allow you to keep activating the device for whatever amount of dispenses and I guess it's something that happens cause I've read about people getting "new" bottles that won't validate.
Another thread was collecting used codes to try and find an algorithm to generate codes but I don't think that has gone anywhere, nor is something I'm too interested in doing.
Here's a couple pics of the board. Not the best pics but should give an idea.
Hardware:
MCU: ESP32-S2-SOLO, 4MB
Power: 4x AA batteries (two pairs of series cells in parallel) monitored via ADC on IO27
GPIO Map (take this with a grain of salt, I tried mapping this to the best of my limited ability):
| GPIO | Function | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| IO18 | LED 3 | Output |
| IO19 | LED 2 | Output |
| IO21 | LED 1 | Output |
| IO25 | Daughterboard KEY button | Input, not sure what the button does, maybe reset |
| IO27 | Battery ADC | 2S2P pack, ~3V nominal |
| IO32 | Valve OPEN INB | assuming open but could be close |
| IO33 | Valve OPEN INA | assuming open but could be closed |
| IO34 | Front button | Wake / dispense |
| IO35 | Float switch | Daughterboard PIP, Input |
| GPIO6 (SD0) | Bottle switch | can wake device when opened or closed |
| GPIO9 (SD2) | Valve CLOSE INA | assuming close but could be wrong |
| GPIO10 (SD3) | Valve CLOSE INB | assuming close but could be wrong |
I'm still missing one LED. I was pretty sure I found it but turns out is an NC pad on the esp32
And I believe the actuator uses one set of pins to open and another set to close. I'm pretty sure the valve will remain in position if not fully open or closed and power removed.
I don't know exactly how the actuator works but there's a separate area with a circuit were the actuator leads go to. I'm assuming kind of a relay to drive the actuator.
A summary on how I think it works:
There's a Local Web UI (device must be on your network)
Hit http:///settings.html while connected.
Available endpoints that I could find)
GET /dev_info — JSON status (battery, signal, doses, bottle status, mode)
POST /dev_actions — reboot, factory reset, manual dispense, toggle NAM mode, toggle demo mode, set device type, enable float
GET /ota.html — local OTA firmware upload (max 1572KB, minimum accepted version 2.20.5)
GET /offline_settings / GET /offline_data — offline mode data handlers
GET /scan_wifi — WiFi scan
GET /fwver — firmware version
You should investigate the other end of those two white connectors (OUTA/B/A1/B1) . To open and close single solenoid valve four gpio pins is not needed.
Yeah. There's also a barrel connector which I'm assuming is for using an ac adapter and those INA and INB could be the ones handling that but not 100% sure.
Only you know what is connected and where...
One pair OUTA/B should be enough to drive one latching solenoid. Those 8-pin ICs are likely taking care of the polarity swap according to INA/B signal.
