Nsnrg In Touch Automation

Configuration
41

Great work, Matt.

Let see if @Jarnsen can help to get it into hacs. I don’t mind waiting a bit more.

The guys at INSNRG will eventually catch up with this. The more we warm this up on their inboxes, the more likely they will bump it up on their priorities (I guess).
I’ve also pinged them a few times and will continue till we get some traction.

I’ve mentioned to them that we are not asking a new feature/product development but rather a collaborative channel where we could help them on expanding their product integration capabilities.

42

Thanks. I’ll report back when I hear from INSNRG.

@Jarnsen has joined the repo, I’ll let you know when it is in HACS, whenever he has time to update the necessary files for us. I told him there was no rush, just when he had time.

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@mattat

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Thank you so much!

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Hey guys @Jarnsen @mattat
Did the HACS integration ever got published? I assume not (I can’t find it when searchin).

Is that still on the radar for soon ish?

Cheers

46

Not yet. It is sitting in the queue waiting to be incorporated into HACS, and has been waiting for about 3 weeks. I’m not sure what is taking so long though.

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You can’t search directly through HACS, of course. The repository must be added first. After that, you can download it normally via HACS.

Follow the instructions.

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Amazing, @Jarnsen ! It’s up and running, mate.

I got a few basic cards up to get started and will give you any feedback as I go.
Even the most basic monitoring is a great step already. Not only a quick dashboard comes handy but also can trigger notifications if chemicals or temperature falls outside the expected and also schedule a proactive monitoring report to be sent to the phone. Something simple like

  • Clorinator stauts (e.g. connected),
  • Last time it was synchronised/read
  • Current chemical and temperature levels.

I’m not sure if I can see much usage for the timers entities, as in my case, it’s a set anf forget.

I will have a poke around over the weekend!

Are you concerned with permissions to change settings on the pooll ? it’s a valid concern as you wouldn’t want the integration to be blamed for changing any pool’s ORP or PH to unhealthy levels (or something like that). But isn’t that the case for allowing it and backing it up with “use at your own risk” disclaimer?

49

Hi,
Yes, the timers were collected because the data was easily available and I’d originally thought I’d request data from the API only during active timer periods, but it added unnecessary complexity. You can use it, though, in automations because you want to do something with a home battery when the pump is running, or whatever, so I left it there.

I’m not keen to turn things on and off because, as you say, the risk of breaking things. A switch for an outlet is simple to flick, but I have no way of knowing what is attached to it or the rest of the system, and without a full API to refer to I don’t know if turning a chlorinator on without, say, knowing there is an automated valve that needs opening first, would be a problem. Their internal API may be very clear about the order they do things, or know what devices are where, and what it means, but all I have is my chlorinator, so I can’t even test anything more complicated.

INSNRG have not responded to a couple of emails I sent Peter Wallace, so I gather they are not keen to help. Unless they took responsibility for ensuring it worked I just don’t think it is a good idea for me to charge ahead with things I know could be damaging. I’d be guessing about how to implement something, and some users would be guessing about how I implemented it. Even if they used it at their risk (if that was even bullet proof), I imagine I’d end up with a lot of criticisim and complaints…

As much as I’d like to turn my chlorinator off when the chemicals are right and the solar panels don’t generate enough power, I know I can create an alert on my phone and use the official app to actually turn things on and off. The chemical trend is what I have found most useful, so I know when the acid is empty, or if I can run the pump on a slower (more efficient) setting for a while. I’ve thought about it a fair bit and I think that, ultimately, I don’t want to risk being the one to blow up someone’s pool equiment by guessing how INSNRG operate it…

I can read more data if it is useful (and people can show me the right information, if it relates to equipment I don’t have connected), or point people to places they can see the INSNRG commands and responses (browser developer console) to extend the code themselves.

See how you go with it anyway, and let me know what you think of what is there.

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:wave: Hi everyone,

I’m Jari Nguyen, an AWS Solution Architect with over 20 years of experience in software engineering. Recently, I led the redevelopment of the Insnrg App, enabling voice control for swimming pool equipment via Alexa and Google Home.

I’ve seen your requests for Home Assistant support for the Insnrg Portal. I’m excited to announce that I am ready to develop and release an open-source Home Assistant plugin to integrate the Insnrg Portal with Home Assistant. Please give me a few weeks to prepare the GitHub project.

In the meantime, feel free to continue posting any requests or suggestions. I’m here to help!

Best regards, Jari

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51

Jari,

That’s great news. Thanks for getting involved.

My wishlist is quite short. Based on chemical levels I’d like to be able to turn my chlorinator/pump, on and off through a HA automation (as I mentioned above, based on solar considerations, etc), which just needs a switch to toggle the right outlet. In addition, the possibility to change the timer so I can extend it if ORP is low would be good.

I don’t have temp or lights or other equipment, but I know others were after the ability to turn lights on and off, presumably a heater (or solar heater pump), etc. Because I couldn’t (work out how to) tell what was attached to each outlet I wasn’t confident in adding those sorts of switches.

I’m sure there isn’t much I can offer someone with your experience (in coding or the INSNRG API), but if you have any questions let me know. One thing I can say is that aioboto3 does not play well with HA (as it has async issues), but if you look at my code you’ll (cringe first, and then) see that aiohttp worked for me. Also, this repo was useful in getting to know HA integration structure.

Thanks again for helping. Feel free to take anything I did if you can knock it into shape, or take over the repo (as I won’t need it once you’re done).

Matthew

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52

Hey Jari
Welcome around!
This is fantastic news!
I’m happy to help testing it out and with the use cases.

But besides what Matt had already done, which is a huge step already ( thank you again, Matt!) here are some commands that would be useful to have on HA:

  • adjust target temperature
  • enable/ disable timers
  • modify start/finish times
  • Change target chlorine and ph levels
  • enable / disable appliances ( heat pump, auxiliar pumps - I think they are just switches like Matt mentioned)

If those ade exposed to HA, there is a wealth of automation to do with solar, batteries, electrify price, weather, rain, etc! The Sky is the limit !

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53

Hi Matthew and Rony,

Thank you for your quick replies.

In Insnrg, we just release a Third Party REST API which allows users to access discovery and turn on/off a switch as an extension to Alexa and Google Home.

I just drafted up a plugin for home assistant to use these APIs to control an Insnrg VI.
Let me test and clean up the code as it will be released under MIT open source license.

Please send us an email to [email protected] to request access to our Third Party API. You may need to accept Insnrg Terms and Conditions.

Kind regards,
Jari

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