I can confirm that sure catflap is a bit sensitive for the right voltage. I added a diode between the catflap and battery compartment and added a 5v power supply with a small step-up converter to adjes the voltage to 6v. This way, the normal batteries act as power backup in case of power outage. Because the diode cuts apprx 0,5 volt off, the power will be just enough to work with batteries (5,5v) but my home assistant will see a low power (that normally never should occur, so I can send an alert). Below 5,5v it seems to work but the RFID does’nt get reliable results
Folks, just a head up regarding the external power supply: Both, the cat flap and even the feeders are working with 6V Pb and 4s LiFePo Batteries. The highest Voltage i´ve tried was 7V from the LiFePo´s. So, the devices were not “grilled” and are working fine. There was no Interference or noticable “QRM”. If there´s time left, i´ll start a new thread with this feature and will post a few photos with the feeding points on the PCB, a starting help for all sureflap/feeder owners, that want to try this. greez
Another huge SurePet outage. This is horribly frustrating. My cats were locked outside by this.
Same here, I’ve asked them for a local api once more…
1 Like
Same here, I replaced the battery twice before giving up, I don´t understand what SurePet gets by forcing us to use their servers instead of providing a local API, is it so important for them to know when my pet enters or leave the house? if so, just keep both options! I would happily let my catflap send data to SurePet servers as long as I can control it locally
I consider completely unacceptable that our pets can get locked every time the server of a company totally out of our control has some issues, and considering we have already tried to contact SurePet in multiple occasions and they have never replied I am propossing a new method of action, which is all of us providing negative feedback in every platform we have access to (google reviews, trustpilot, etc.) letting them know we are really unhappy with the fact that they don´t provide a local API to control our devices. I think if we all write negatives reviews explaining the reason we will get their attention, and hopefully some day get a local API to control the devices we have already paid for.
1 Like
can I ask where in the world are you ?
myself I’m in New Zealand and have had no server issues, I’m assuming there use different server locals for different parts of the world
Thanks for writing a review I posted one also.
One year ago Sure Petcare replied:
We are currently in the process of updating our products range and services, and we feel that in the future we may have an open API, but currently this is not something we can offer to you or support.
Please do keep an eye on our website and social media feeds for any further updates on open API and other product integration.
The Netherlands
@fugley I am in the UK, but the point is that no matter where you are, you cannot trust your catflap or your automations as they depend on the cloud and could leave your pet locked outside or inside your house without you noticing, and we need to make companies understand that is completely unacceptable for Home Assistant and other home automation users, as we have an alternative available as long as they provide a local API, it would even make their app faster and more reliable!
@Jasperbom thanks for writting a review, I found 2 different trustpilot links for them so I wrote a 1 star review in both of them (I have eddited my comment to include both links), I really believe if we all write negative reviews they will listen to us and develop a local API.
EDIT: trustpilot has merged both links into one (I have updated my previous comment): Sure Petcare Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of surepetcare.com
In the US it was down for over 24 hours. INSANE
wow that is insane … would also open up a can of worms for me on how the hell can a company lock you out from something you own and have the right to use
I’ve been poised to buy one of these products when our kitten gets older, and have been following this thread in the hope a local API would become available, or at least some promise of one… or an alternative product. I really want the functionality this offers, but very concerned to hear of server outages locking pets in or outside. I wouldn’t feel comfortable leaving a bad review having not owned the product, but seems to me like an ideal opportunity for owners to put some pressure on the company. Shocking behaviour.
@fugley welcome to the future where some companies believe it is ok to sell you a product that become useless if their servers stop responding (or even worse if the company goes bust and your £200+ items become some of the most expensive paperweights you have a home).
@fenty17 even if you don´t own the product you can leave a negative review indicating this lack of a local API as the main reason to avoid this company
Yes, be very careful. I got a case of the perfect storm of shit. We were showing our house and needed to lock the cats out. When I tried locking the doors, it just spun in the app and HA couldn’t do it either. It seems that my timing was impeccable, as that must have been about the start of the outage.
While I couldn’t see it, the doors HAD locked. And then thanks to the outage, I had no way to unlock them for over 24 hours.
I’ve left a 1* review on Trustpilot now. Not sure how much confidence I have in the marketing bod who checks this platform actually doing anything with the feedback to pass it up the chain. I live in hope though that these guys and other companies start leading a trend of more focus on local home control and less on corporate data control.
Thanks @fenty17, I really believe we as a community of unhappy users can make these companies understand that making their devices dependant 100% on their servers is NOT OK, and the negative reviews is the last resource we have after we have tried every other potencial method of communication. They have not listen or replied to any of our other tries, but reviews should affect their sales, so let´s see if this time is different.
2 Likes
Austria - had this issue over the whole time too.
Well done guys, it is working! We already have 13% of one star reviews and almost all of the recent ones mention the lack of local API. Keep going as I am sure they will listen to us soon. This is the link to write a review for them in trustpilot: Sure Petcare Reviews | Read Customer Service Reviews of surepetcare.com
Does anyone have an idea of where we can publish this request so more people from Home Assistat using the Sure Petcare integration receive this message?
1 Like
Reddit perhaps?
1 Like