Are you still working on this. It would be great to schedule heating via Smartthings. I am a retired software engineer and have time to help.
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I just want the ability to receive the tub data (i.e. current water temp) into ST so I can react to it.
I kind of stopped working on it, as i had the primary controls i wanted. Which is to control the jets / lights and read the temp. I have the commands for altering the heating setpoint, but have not implemented it yet.
After working with @kurtsanders, we realised that the hex data coming back was slightly different for our two models. The main difference being the number of speeds our two pumps have in our tubs. So unless I can code up something which is easy for members to run, and we get a lot of interest, it’s pretty difficult to gather that much info to make it work across the board.
@iBeech and @ferguson_michael_a: Thanks to the excellent HTTP detective work by @iBeech, I have used @iBeech’s Windows based .Net Visual Studio C# programming logic for his specific Hot Tub cloud controller which was a totally different Balboa cloud control WiFi model than my Bullfrog A7L hot tub uses.
It took several weeks, but I developed a Unix/Mac Python based code for my WiFi enabled Balboa BP20 series Bullfrog A7L hot tub with cloud control and connected this same code to an Alexa Skill (AWS Lamda function) for voice activated status and selective control. This programming effort required that I decode my controllers specific cloud based HTTP response string that was being returned from the web for the status of my hot tub’s heater status, LED lights, (2) two speed pumps, operating mode, temperature set, F/C scale and current reading, etc. It was quite a game of decode battleship not having the hex offsets and corresponding values that represent each of the hot tub’s current settings.
If either of you have the same Balboa cloud control model that I have specified above and are familiar with Python programming and creating an Alexa Skill, I would be happy to share some rough (not production ready with all error traps) code.
I might warn one that Balboa uses a cloud service provider that is not very robust (returns 409 HTTP timeout message, The request could not be completed due to a conflict with the current state of the target resource). It takes some repeated HTTP calls in the code to get a valid response (HTTP 200) from the website that interfaces with the cloud control unit on the hot tub. This response delay sometimes causes Alexa to “default timeout” waiting more than 10 seconds (hard limit) for the AWS lamda code to complete. I would imagine that a SmartThings SmartApp might also timeout reaching same runtime limits imposed by the SmartThings platform. I guess this is the best that we consumers writing unsupported API’s can expect.
BTW: here are examples of the Alexa Skill cards after asking for “status” and to “turn on the lights”…
Nice one man. My solution was to bake resiliency into the proxy app, and host up a REST service. So you can call http://machinename/HotTubStatus, and the code behind would keep contacting the balboa servers until it worked, and then return the appropraite data. In a similar way, you can request actions, so http://machinename/SetJet1?speed=1
This allowed me to eaisly write a smartthings device type, without having to put any of that logic into the devicetype code.
I also wrote an alexa smartapp in lambda, and was very happy with the result 
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I could not have done any of this integration and control without your work @iBeech, Hats off to you!
I am happy to have contributed
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Has any of the code been published so I can try this out? Expecting my tub any day now
The code is on git hub, but not compiled there. pM me when you have your tub installed and your iPhone / android app connected
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Let me know if your Balboa WiFi Spa Controller stays connected to your home WiFi.
I have a very strong Home WiFi signal at the spa location and at least once a week, the Balboa WiFi Spa Control module randomly disconnects from our home WiFi. It does not automatically reconnect to the Home WiFi unless I power off/on the tub. This power reboot, as you can imagine, is very aggravating. Many other WiFi spa owners of the Balboa WiFi Spa Control have reported this same random WiFi disconnect issue and Balboa Tech support only suggests placing the home access point closer to the Spa. I have an access point 10’ from the Spa and it still disconnects randomly.
I am planning to work on using my Raspberry Pi server with an ethernet connection to my home router and a second NIC USB WiFi dongle to “BRIDGE” to the local Balboa Spa Control access point. The Balboa Spa Control broadcasts it’s own WiFi signal (SSID BPASpa_xxxx) and that WiFi signal stays available before you bridge it to your home network using the Balboa WiFi Spa Control App. Once I learn how to bridge and route the Balboa Spa Controller to/from the internet through the Raspberry Pi, I will have solved the “Spa disconnect” issue.
https://www.raspberrypi.org/forums/download/file.php?id=17158&sid=3b67b7b92aebb456b510fd92042077dc
Never had any disconnect issues with my wifi module!
You must have the “Luck of the Irish” @iBeech. Here is one of several long threads on the issue.
Topic: Balboa Water Group Wifi module disconnecting (Read 4023 times)
Here is another thread.
http://www.similarplay.com/reviews/balboa_worldwide_spa_control/apps/com.balboawatergroup.BalboaSpa
Hmm, yeah- it does seem to be a pretty common issue. Could it be specific wifi network settings used? I’ll dig out my wifi configuration and post it later so you can compare it to see if there is any big difference which could highlight a weakness in their wifi module…
Had disconnect problems since Day 1 (2013??) Complained so much Balboa got me involved in their “beta” tests and sent me new modules to try. All failed. Balboa then went silent and has since all but disappeared.
I removed the module from the hot tub and spiced a 25’ cable on the existing cable. Plugged that back into the tub and installed the module inside my garage, 6 feet from the router… Still failed on a regular basis. Spliced a z-wave relay switch into the wire, created a smart app to turn it off and back on after 20 seconds every hour and now my module is always available. A bit overkill but it works. Initially I pinged the module once every 4 hours and if no response I reset the relay switch. Problem with that was a ping was successful but the module without fail would go offline sometime thereafter and usually just before we fired up the app to check on the tub.
@cdikland Great solution!
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Please advise where you ordered the 25’ 4 wire pair extension cable, ideally? I would like to have the prefabricated matching 4 prong connectors on the ends so I can just plug n play as depicted in the link SpaGuts Balboa Topside Extension Cord, BP Series, 4 Cond., 25ft, 25662-1 $39.95
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Please elaborate more details on the Z-wave relay switch model name/number and what color wire in the 4 pair is the power feed to splice into for the Z-Wave relay.
I am seriously thinking of pursuing your “Quick n Easy” method for having the Balboa Spa WiFi Module reboot every hour and get the SPA back online to the cloud while I play/learn with trying to bridge the local Balboa’s WiFi SSID network to my home connected Raspberry PI ethernet connected device.
I chose a cheap route. The 4 wire cable is identical (gauge) to round telephone wire available at my local hardware store. It wasn’t called telephone wire but its the same wire they use outside for a telephone. I cannot for the likes of me remember how I determined which of the 4 was power, however, I am 99% certain it was the yellow wire. Cant confirm without removing the switch from the box.
For the Relay Switch I used Remotec ZFM-80. The hookup was pretty simple. I actually found the instruction within Amazon comments for this product. If the instructions provided are insufficient, search this forum for this relay.
Sorry I cant be more descriptive. It has been a while since I hooked it up and it currently is not that accessible for me to remove from the box
@cdikland, thanks for the feedback!
For those that have had issues with connectivity, I dealt with this for over a year (ran an outdoor wifi AP, etc…). It was super painful and I called Bullfrog support, which pointed me to Balboa. Finally, I found out they were coming out with a new module. The technicality here is that the model number hasn’t changed, but the code on it has. Once the module was changed out with the new code, I have never had a problem again!
@kurtsanders - are you able to share your code with me? I have the A8L, and would love to integrate this into a few different things in my house!
I will PM you with the details.
I’m all wired up and ready to rock. Would appreciate whatever I need to get ST/Alexa to play nice with my tub!