Third party sensors
Flair works with Ecobee sensors do you have support for any other third-party sensors or any in the works?
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Flair also works with all Honeywell/Resideo third-party systems including the remote sensors that work with the T9 and T10 models. We are working on a Nest integration but are unclear as to whether Nest/Google are allowing Nest integrations to access remote sensor data. Any other platforms you like to see support for?
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Daniel Myers I'm sure your developers already know this, but I can confirm that as of now the new Nest SDM doesn't support grabbing temp data from remote temp sensors, only from the thermostat itself. Overall the new SDM lacks in a lot of places (no support for Nest Protects, etc). One can only hope they expand the API to include more devices including the remote temp sensors.
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Robert Drinovac - That is our understanding as well however we were hoping maybe we could leverage this program we are about to start to try and get some additional access: https://developers.google.com/community/accelerators/climate/meet-the-startups. It's surprising and disappointing that after Nest rebuilt their entire API that they still can't simply expose temperature sensor readings, a seemingly trivial feature.
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Julian Joseph I'm not affiliated with Flair in any way, but I can tell you that the likelihood of this ever happening is pretty low. This isn't exclusive to Alexa as it also applies to Google Assistant. Alexa/Google Assistant devices have no problem pairing devices to themselves (if they are supported), but there is no support for exposing devices paired to Alexa / Google Assistant to outside services.
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Robert Drinovac Ah thanks for the context that makes sense and is also frustrating. I imagine it may be a privacy concern of some kind since they are both doing it. That being said, my overall goal is to cheaply use temperature sensors in rooms. I also have a Govee sensor for example and I'm happy to buy others, but I haven't figured out a way to bring any other sensor's data back to Flair that isn't the puck or the other Thermostat/Senor systems.
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Julian Joseph It is not so much a privacy concern, rather, it would involve Google/Amazon having to create an API to handle exposing devices.
1) Both companies' smart assistant devices have an end goal of being the final device in your IOT chain of devices. Their purpose is to allow some basic automations and mainly voice control of the devices that are linked to them. Neither of the two companies will bother creating a method for other services to be able to tap into devices, especially those not manufactured by Google or Amazon, linked to those smart assistants. Both companies are in the game to gather your data- exposing your Alexa / Google Assistant connected devices to outside services is an additional cost to them that doesn't provide them any personal benefit.
A great example of why this will probably never happen - Google released a new Nest API a while ago. They have yet to implement being able to read remote Nest temperature sensor readings using their API. If they drag their feet implementing API functions when it comes to devices that they manufacture themselves, then you can bet they won't go running to expose third party devices linked to their smart assistants.
The only way to bring in temp readings INTO Flair is by using the puck or any of the Thermostats/Sensors that Flair directly supports.
The reason I capitalized "into" is because you can still use temperature sensors that aren't supported by Flair directly to control Flair rooms/vents, however, you won't be bringing the temperature data directly into Flair- as in the temperature data from the unsupported sensors will not show in the Flair app/dashboard.
The great people at Flair have provided a public API, which can be used to control your Flair vents/rooms without having to use the Flair phone app.
In order to use temp sensors that aren't directly supported by Flair, you will need to use a Home Automation platform that is able to pull in your brand of temp sensors. The second step will be to create automations that control your Flair vents/Room setpoints (via the Flair API) based on the temperature readings from your temp sensor(s).
You should have a look at Home Assistant. I'm not sure what Govee sensors you have, but you can google Home Assistant + your sensor model to see if anyone has implemented it/them into Home Assistant. I created the Flair integration for Home Assistant, so, if you do end up using it you will be able to write automations within Home Assistant to control your Flair Vents/Rooms based on temp readings from temp sensors that aren't natively supported in Flair.
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Robert Drinovac Thank you so much for all of this context and the Home Assistant suggestion. I better understand the limitation of Flair based on Google/Amazon APIs. It makes me more confident that Flair is doing everything in their power to give me control when possible.
I've considered using Home Assitant or other tools to do some additional customization. For now, I think I'll continue to use at many out-of-the-box features as possible since I'm not sure that I want to go the route of managing my own support and settings, but I probably will someday. I'll definitely be referring back to this comment if/when I decide to do so.
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Julian Joseph Not a problem at all. Happy to help clarify some of the technical background/limitations. I completely understand if you're not at the point of jumping into Home Assistant. Without doing so, your best option is to use temp sensors/a setup that is natively supported from within the Flair app (I recommend the Ecobee with remote Ecobee temp sensors out of all the options).
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Robert Drinovac Appreciate that and totally makes sense. I just put my first smart thermostat (New) which was only $130. It seems like that whole setup with Ecobees would be $300-$400 for two rooms right? If that's the case I'm not sure I can justify it to myself vs. just using manual control but definitely will consider it.
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Ricky Tenzer No, a puck or pucks is/are still required. Vents can’t function without being connected to a puck. The Puck connects to Flair’s servers. The vents themselves don’t connect to Flair’s servers. The Home Assistant integration uses the Flair API to control the vents, but it is the puck that sends the command to whatever vent you’re trying to control.
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Robert Drinovac based on what you have said in the past about controlling the flair vent setpoints via home assistant with the temperature sensors. In that exact phrasing, it does not make sense to me or maybe it's just something setup in my system differently.
* Ecobee
* If I go into the flair app and change a set point it actually adjusts my Ecobee to that temperatureWhat I believe I could do is a much more complicated structure of
* Manual mode where I adjust all of the vents individually via home assistant and just ignore all of flairs automation
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Hi Ricky Tenzer,
You'll need at least one Puck in a Flair system. These articles explain more:
How many Flair Pucks do I need?
How many Gateway Pucks do I need?
All the best,
Finn
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