Support for Floaty Hydrometer?

[Kyle-Waller13]

Good afternoon,

Is there any possibility of adding Fermentrack support for Floaty hydrometers? It's an ESP32 WiFi-based iSpindel alternative.

The main product page, https://floatyhydrometer.com, has a simple DIY video about soldering and installation. A blog, DIY Homebrewers, has a page going over the software options, build, etc. It's in Spanish: https://www.diyhomebrewers.com/2020/09/floaty-wifi-hydrometer-montaje-y-como.html, but comes out fine through Google Translate.

I built one of these because I had some spare parts after an iSpindel build. It seems like a cool alternative that's a little cheaper and easier to build, and extending Fermentrack support would make it much more useful.

Thanks!

[thorrak]

Unfortunately, they don’t seem to have any information available about either the “integrations” or about the data format it provides. Additionally, it seems like it requires their Android app for both configuration and operation which makes me think that the app acts as a relay for the data coming off the device, but it’s unclear as to if it’s a relay to a cloud server (and then integrations tap into that cloud server) or if it can relay directly to a target on the same WiFi network as the android device.

Do you know anything about how it works or the data that it sends? If it’s cloud based I probably won’t support it, but if it can directly send data I’d be open to supporting it.

[lbussy]

I've been down this road. It needs the app, and cannot easily integrate back into Fermentrack or BPR. They do have webhooks, but making Fermentrack open to a webhook from the Internet is not a great idea. Here are some excerpts from communications I had with them (in no particular order):

I create Floaty for my own usage. The criteria was to be easy to use with a mobile application.

I can't make Floaty code open source because of the communication protocol, it has to be protected and not seen by all people.

Also Floaty code only works with the Floaty app. I think Floaty is between a Ispindel very open source and a Tilt very expensive. It's not for everybody but people who wants a professional services in DIY product Floaty is here. And for people who wants to change the code Ispindel is here.

I see you post on homebrewtalk about the cloud services. To respond to how works Floaty, it's easy.

I'm using a service of Google that is free for the moment. Floaty send data to the cloud then when the phone is online the phone save the data locally. The cloud can store 100 datas before delete it.

So I'm using this service because it's free so Floaty will not become bankrupt and also Google is a strong company with robust datacenter.

Floaty is not open source, for security reasons (also for commercial reason of course.)

I think we have to wait for this integration, my webhook is sent by the phone and the user can be everywhere in the world, he can receive the data.

In the future, I will add the possibility to send data to another URL directly from the Floaty, so it can be used locally.

Perfect, for the moment the JSON is sent by the app every 15 minutes or more depending on the interval of time between two datas.

He did say he might update it to push directly to a different URL, and said he'd let me know if he did. No notice about that yet.

[vanosg]

"I can't make Floaty code open source because of the communication protocol, it has to be protected and not seen by all people."

This right here should make you run from this project. Security through obscurity was cool in the 90s, but I think we've all learned a few things since then. This sounds like I've found my next protocol reversing project :)

But seriously though- that statement should be a red flag for a user.

[thorrak]

Hah, I’d be willing to put money on it using GATT and ibeacon. I’ve got a BLE sniffer around here somewhere - if I didn’t have enough projects at the moment I’d contemplate creating FloatyBridge.

(And yes, I did just buy floatybridge.com just in case)

[uSlackr]

Another red flag: I'm using a service of Google that is free for the moment. Floaty send data to the cloud then when the phone is online the phone save the data locally. The cloud can store 100 datas before delete it. So I'm using this service because it's free so Floaty will not become bankrupt and also Google is a strong company with robust datacenter. As soon as this costs money, he will bail on it. Then Floaty will, um, sink. \\Greg

[Kyle-Waller13]

If anyone else comes across this thread, GravityMon's version of the iSpindel now supports the Floaty hardware setup. So there's no reason to run the Floaty app, rather than an iSpindel, unless you really want to.

https://www.gravitymon.com/docs.html

[lbussy]

If anyone else comes across this thread, GravityMon's version of the iSpindel now supports the Floaty hardware setup. So there's no reason to run the Floaty app, rather than an iSpindel, unless you really want to.

https://www.gravitymon.com/docs.html

Hey that's awesome stuff. Thanks for sharing, Kyle. I use a Tilt but it's good to know that there's yet more hardware platforms, and that there's an alternative to the rather closed (minded?) iSpindel system.

[thorrak]

Has there been any recent movement on open sourcing the Floaty (or at least it’s protocol)? I know that GravityMon supports it - @mp-se did you reverse engineer it or is it open & out there?

[mp-se]

Havent seen any updates on the open source option, but you can install gravitymon and use that with fermentrack as an ispindel device

[thorrak]

Honestly, adding GravityMon support seems like the smart plan here. I’ll start to poke at it.

[mp-se]

Good then you dont need to do anthing, it works today. I have used that combo for 2 years 😁

[thorrak]

… you could have said something - I would have added branding!

[mp-se]

Some advertising is always welcome 🙏