is_online entity consistently reports as "false", even though SPA is running, online and connecting through the Bestway App

[mleibundgut]

Version of the custom_component

Removed and installed ha-bestway several times, assured I have version 1.6.2

Bestway device

Bestway Saluspa, Airjet-V01 Pump

Describe the bug

Symptoms are as described in Issue #82. After upgrade to HA core 2025.1.4, all Bestway controls and entities are unavailable. I downgraded core, but that did not seem to help. Even restored a month old backup and now still can't get the controls to show as available.
The is_online entity shows consistently as false. Control via the Bestway app works flawlessly. The timing with the core upgrade might have been a coincidence...

One thing I noticed is that the app at the beginning often shows the unit as offline. When I click on it it says "loading" and then I can control the unit. See below in app screenshots. Also the Wifi connection shows as "excellent" in the access point.

So here I think the option of ignoring the "is_online" status might be helpful.

Logs

2025-01-28 10:06:26.963 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.bestway.bestway.api] Device list refreshed: {"devices": [{"protoc": 3, "ws_port": 8080, "port_s": 8883, "gw_did": null, "host": "usm2m.gizwits.com", "sleep_duration": 3600, "port": 1883, "mcu_soft_version": "D4H10603", "product_key": "********************************", "state_last_timestamp": 1738020143, "role": "owner", "is_sandbox": false, "type": "normal", "product_name": "Airjet_V01", "is_disabled": false, "mcu_hard_version": "P4970005", "wifi_soft_version": "04X3000B", "dev_alias": "Terrace", "mesh_id": null, "is_online": false, "dev_label": [], "wss_port": 8880, "remark": "25", "did": "", "mac": "", "passcode": "", "wifi_hard_version": "0ESP32C3", "is_low_power": false}]}
2025-01-28 10:06:27.078 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.bestway.bestway.api] New data received for device Nx0BI8hTx0TPKRZZIkzyBO
2025-01-28 10:06:27.078 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.bestway.bestway.api] Status for device type 'Airjet_V01' returned: {"E19": 0, "E18": 0, "E32": 0, "E31": 0, "E30": 0, "E11": 0, "E10": 0, "E13": 0, "E12": 0, "E15": 0, "E14": 0, "E17": 0, "E16": 0, "word5": 262, "word4": 0, "word7": 35, "word6": 0, "word1": 0, "word0": 0, "E29": 0, "word2": 262, "option6": 10244, "ver": 1175, "E22": 0, "jet": 0, "E23": 0, "power": 1, "Tnow": 95, "option7": 10260, "option4": 0, "option5": 27136, "option2": 0, "option3": 30, "option0": 59940, "option1": 59940, "E24": 0, "E25": 0, "E26": 0, "E27": 0, "E20": 0, "E21": 0, "E08": 0, "E09": 0, "E06": 0, "E07": 0, "E04": 0, "E05": 0, "E02": 0, "E03": 0, "E01": 0, "bit7": 1, "heat": 3, "Tunit": 0, "wave": 0, "word3": 0, "Tset": 104, "filter": 2, "E28": 0, "bit6": 1, "bit5": 0, "bit4": 0, "bit3": 0, "bit2": 1}
2025-01-28 10:06:27.078 DEBUG (MainThread) [custom_components.bestway.coordinator] Finished fetching Bestway API data in 0.663 seconds (success: True)

[WelshRocketman]

I agree. This is a problem and backs up what is reported in issue #82. There may also be those who never get this integration up and running if they don't persist with restarting it until the is_online reports true.

My spa is currently packed away for winter but when I resurrect it once more I'll take a look at alternative options for determining if the spa is actually online and test that theory out in my forked version.

[mleibundgut]

Do you have any suggestions what can be done to restart the integration to possibly get the "is_online" to report true again? I am puzzled that it worked fine for some time and then all of a sudden not any more. I restarted the pump several times, but nothing made a difference so far.
I had noticed earlier that the integration at times showed as unavailable for a minute or two, but then always came back. Now it constantly shows offline.

[mleibundgut]

Just an update on my earlier comment: I removed the SPA from the app, and then added it again using the procedure in the app, and the SPA is online again via the API. So it looks like this was a proplem on the API server side.

[WelshRocketman]

Thanks for the update Markus. It does appear that the app triggers some kind of update to the spa status that can't be achieved another way. It does point to the is_online being unreliable indicator of the actual status of the spa itself.

…

On Wed, 29 Jan 2025, 17:33 Markus Leibundgut, ***@***.***> wrote: Just an update on my earlier comment: I removed the SPA from the app, and then added it again using the procedure in the app, and the SPA is online again via the API. So it looks like this was a proplem on the API server side. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#89 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AEH5CPHCSKZETMCTAEFDUUL2NEGIDAVCNFSM6AAAAABWBPTBCOVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDMMRSGQYDINRWGQ> . You are receiving this because you commented.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[TheOneOgre]

Would just like to update I am also seeing this behavior with my AirJetV01. I had opened #90 not realizing it is this exact issue and #82 until reading into this more. I am open to testing as my spa is always up, and I have verified the controls still work via the BestWay app and the device isn't losing wifi or power.

[cdpuk]

This does seem to have got worse more recently, so probably something on the Bestway side that's causing problems. A possible fix was created as part of #86, but I've not had any feedback on this yet. Anyone affected by this, please try v1.7.0-beta1 available via HACS and let us know how you get on.

[TheOneOgre]

This does seem to have got worse more recently, so probably something on the Bestway side that's causing problems. A possible fix was created as part of #86, but I've not had any feedback on this yet. Anyone affected by this, please try v1.7.0-beta1 available via HACS and let us know how you get on.

I have been using v1.7.0-beta1 and this issue persists. I switched to the fork https://github.com/WelshRocketman/ha-bestway and that resolves the issue.

[lenard-a]

This does seem to have got worse more recently, so probably something on the Bestway side that's causing problems. A possible fix was created as part of #86, but I've not had any feedback on this yet. Anyone affected by this, please try v1.7.0-beta1 available via HACS and let us know how you get on.

@cdpuk I installed the beta version yesterday, but it was worse than v1.6.2. I have an automation that runs each time the device goes offline for at least 5 minutes (it turned off last year due to a power outage and I could not turn back on as it became colder than the limit - I wanted to prevent this), but with the beta version it was going offline for more than 5 minutes. I even increased this to 10 minutes, but the automation was triggered last night even with the higher threshold. So I reverted back to v1.6.2.

[TheOneOgre]

Any update on this? My Airjet V01 does not work with HA anymore, even when using WelshRocketman's fork. It is been unavailable for months now and haven't seen any updates. Is this being worked on? Or testers needed?

[lenard-a]

Any update on this? My Airjet V01 does not work with HA anymore, even when using WelshRocketman's fork. It is been unavailable for months now and haven't seen any updates. Is this being worked on? Or testers needed?

Is it working with the Bestway app? Mine stopped working after a few months, (I tried to reset Wi-Fi, tried with both iOS and Android, used different routers, I even reset my router, but it still did not work) I contacted support, and after a few rounds (had to upload pictures and videos), they sent me a new "egg", that has V02, and it is working perfectly. (It is always online in the Bestway app, but it goes offline from time to time in Home Assistant)

[cdpuk]

It still doens't really seem clear what's going on here. Since the integration has come into existence the number of different hardware and software variants seems to have exploded, and all of them have their own quirks. The early models continue to work fine, but later models less so. Unfortunately this is going to be tricky to get working without significant community contributions - it's not something that I can solve when I don't own the affected models and don't have the time to work on them.