jfh Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Trying to understand current Rachio driver options. Looks like the Houselogix Rachio driver is broken due to recent Rachio API changes. It looks like Blackwire has a Rachio driver that has been updated to support the API changes. Are these related in any way? (i.e. Is the new BW driver an updated version of the HL driver). I don't know if I'm going to continue using Rachio integration, but I'm very annoyed to have purchased the (relatively expensive) HL driver to see it bricked so soon. Does the BW driver (or any other Rachio driver) provide more function than just putting the system in/out of standby and turning zones on/off? I'm specifically interested in being able to see usage info in C4 and/or being able to see other usage data that is available in the Rachio ap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Trying to understand current Rachio driver options. Looks like the Houselogix Rachio driver is broken due to recent Rachio API changes. It looks like Blackwire has a Rachio driver that has been updated to support the API changes. Are these related in any way? (i.e. Is the new BW driver an updated version of the HL driver). I don't know if I'm going to continue using Rachio integration, but I'm very annoyed to have purchased the (relatively expensive) HL driver to see it bricked so soon. Does the BW driver (or any other Rachio driver) provide more function than just putting the system in/out of standby and turning zones on/off? I'm specifically interested in being able to see usage info in C4 and/or being able to see other usage data that is available in the Rachio ap.They are totally unrelated Sent from my Pixel 2 XL using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 2 hours ago, msgreenf said: They are totally unrelated Thanks. I suspected as much, but was never sure which HL drivers were written by them and which were third party. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 interesting - when did HL break? I have the HL driver. I rarely use it - basically my sprinkler tech use it when they shut the system on/off for the season. I have them coming over in ~2 weeks, do I need to get the Blackwire driver? I have the original Rachio hardware. the HL one never worked great re: updating the last time the zone was activated, but it simply acted as on/off buttons on the touch screen for the sprinkler tech's since the original Rachio does not have buttons on the device itself and I was not always available to walk around with my cell/app to turn the zones on for the techs. Very disappointed with HL, this will be the 2nd or 3rd driver from them that became unsupported and withered away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 interesting - when did HL break? I have the HL driver. I rarely use it - basically my sprinkler tech use it when they shut the system on/off for the season. I have them coming over in ~2 weeks, do I need to get the Blackwire driver? I have the original Rachio hardware. the HL one never worked great re: updating the last time the zone was activated, but it simply acted as on/off buttons on the touch screen for the sprinkler tech's since the original Rachio does not have buttons on the device itself and I was not always available to walk around with my cell/app to turn the zones on for the techs. Very disappointed with HL, this will be the 2nd or 3rd driver from them that became unsupported and withered away.It broke in March. Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggzlot Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 1 hour ago, msgreenf said: It broke in March. Sent from my BBB100-1 using Tapatalk ah thanks - makes sense, have not used the system since November. still had 3 Nor'Easters in March! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
THE L1ZARD KING Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Currently I am using the HL Rachio driver for only manually turning on zones for a preset amount of time. As of this morning this appears to be working still with my gen2 Rachio. I would have to defer to @eddy.trochez regarding any specifics regarding it's configuration. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 28 minutes ago, THE L1ZARD KING said: Currently I am using the HL Rachio driver for only manually turning on zones for a preset amount of time. As of this morning this appears to be working still with my gen2 Rachio. I would have to defer to @eddy.trochez regarding any specifics regarding it's configuration. it will stop working at some random points. they changed the way API rate limits occur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 Thanks HL driver is no longer 2 way and lacks things like supporting the timer experience buttons. The BW driver uses instant events so you can program some nice stuff with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 The HL driver cost a considerable amount more and is not 2 way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 4 minutes ago, Kevin L said: insane events wow! That is awesome @Kevin L - What makes them insane? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unsocialtoaster Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 5 minutes ago, msgreenf said: wow! That is awesome @Kevin L - What makes them insane? The straight jacket and dribbling! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 It appears SnapAV has had multiple reports of failure and have sent the issue to support. At least that's better than "Sorry, it's no longer supported" FWIW - Rachio links the Blackwire driver from their Control4 support page Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 25 minutes ago, msgreenf said: wow! That is awesome @Kevin L - What makes them insane? Haha whoops. Instant Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 20 minutes ago, Kevin L said: The HL driver is also substantially more money for less features and zero support. Do we actually know that there is zero support? I did not get that impression from SnapAV. I'm probably more annoyed that the HL driver cost $200, which is now sunk $ if the driver isn't updated. Had the BW driver been available at the time I probably would have bought that instead. I still might, just to support Blackwire. However, it's unclear whether either is worth the effort. For the few things I was doing with the driver it might be enough to use the Alan's IFTTT driver to turn zones on/off. @Kevin L Can you expand more on the features of the Blackwire Rachio driver? What function does it provide other than turning zones on/off or putting the system into standby? (That's essentially what the HL driver did) Does it support retrieving watering data or schedule data from Rachio to C4? Does it have events for when the Rachio goes offline or when a scheduled Rachio event fire? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msgreenf Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 https://www.blackwiredesigns.com/store/c4-rachio/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 1, 2018 Author Share Posted May 1, 2018 11 minutes ago, msgreenf said: https://www.blackwiredesigns.com/store/c4-rachio/ Thanks. Been there, read that. That doesn't really say much. Automatic bindings and zone renaming is good for set up, but isn't very useful when you want to program against the device. I want to know if it does more than turn zones on and off or put the system into standby. The marketing bullets don't give any indication of how the BW driver is any better. Kevin says it supports instant (insane!) events. What does that mean? How is that different than what HL does/did? I wish developers would give end users a bit more detail about their drivers in general before purchase. While ease of driver set up and auto update functionality is important, what matters to me is what actions I can perform in programming and what Control4 event triggers are available. More often than not, a developer forgets to note the C4 trigger events, which are the difference between having basic function and being able to exploit automation and control. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 1, 2018 Share Posted May 1, 2018 I updated the site to list more features The BlackWire driver is 2 way. The Houselogix driver is 1 way. The polling function can no longer be used due to the API call limit Rachio has added. If any HL driver poll time is set to 1 min or even 2 you run the risk of the driver unable to control or talk to the rachio account for 24 hours. Current triggers are the all zones being off and any single zone turning on. You can also do events based on the temp and status of the actual unit. What other functions would you like? I have a keypad that has the sprinkler zones on it and its nice to see which zone is running with LED feedback and also to be able to run a zone for a few extra minutes. msgreenf and turls 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 3 hours ago, Kevin L said: Current triggers are the all zones being off and any single zone turning on. You can also do events based on the temp and status of the actual unit. What other functions would you like? I would like a) to be able to retrieve the date/time of the next scheduled run and ability to skip it b ) have events for schedule started, stopped, paused, resumed c) event fired for irrigation event, preferably with a variable that has the Rachio status indicating what type of event d) event for device power cycled (possibly exists?) e) any weather intelligence event (e.g. Schedule not run because of rain) (essentially an event for anything that appears in Rachio history) f) pull month to date stats Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jfh Posted May 2, 2018 Author Share Posted May 2, 2018 P.S. Nice looking keypad. Never thought of using contrasting buttons and faceplates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 20 minutes ago, jfh said: I would like a) to be able to retrieve the date/time of the next scheduled run and ability to skip it b ) have events for schedule started, stopped, paused, resumed c) event fired for irrigation event, preferably with a variable that has the Rachio status indicating what type of event d) event for device power cycled (possibly exists?) e) any weather intelligence event (e.g. Schedule not run because of rain) (essentially an event for anything that appears in Rachio history) f) pull month to date stats Many of these things are not possible due to how the Rachio API works. I will look into them all again just to make sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin L Posted May 2, 2018 Share Posted May 2, 2018 15 minutes ago, jfh said: P.S. Nice looking keypad. Never thought of using contrasting buttons and faceplates. thank you. I really dig the combos available from C4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 I just need the Rachio driver from Houselogix to be able to tell my Flologic (water leak sensor) that I don't have a leak while the sprinklers are running. My sprinklers are not tapped in before my water leak sensor, and they shouldn't need to be. First sprinkler session of the season was a fail last night and turned off the water. But, I've fought that driver for years and it was never 100%. I have terrible luck with Houselogix support. Is anybody in active contact with them about things that broke because of the API change? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
turls Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 Ok, besides Houselogix (which I already bought), there are at least four other Rachio drivers: Alan's (no longer available, but wasn't a true driver), Epic, Annex4, and Blackwire. @Kevin L I only see you mention Houselogix, but since you are the only one mentioned officially on Rachio's page, should I assume you have a step up on any other competitors? Do you have any type of official relationship with Rachio so they will work with you on any API changes? Honestly, it was crazy I had to buy this driver once because of the limited functionality that is necessary for me. If I have to buy it again, I want it to be the last time. Thanks... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
South Africa C4 user Posted May 25, 2018 Share Posted May 25, 2018 On 5/2/2018 at 4:53 AM, jfh said: P.S. Nice looking keypad. Never thought of using contrasting buttons and faceplates. The brushed steel and black combination is by far the best. This is what I have and what I’ll be putting in at my beach house. Nothing else compares. Sheer class! rea 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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