Integration generates absurd amount of traffic

[k9rdu]

This integration is generating more traffic to and from the internet than the entire rest of my home assist installation with over 200 entities and a dozen integrations.

It generates between 45 and 55 kbs about every 10 seconds. This occurs whether or not "Enable newly added entities" and "Enable polling for updates" are enabled or disabled in the system options of the integration.

I have two smart feeders in this integration. See router images of data use with the integration enabled and disabled.

[dcmeglio]

Can you show me the entity list? I don’t own a feeder anymore but that entity count sounds very high.

[k9rdu]

Not sure where you are getting the entity count from as I did not provide it. Here are screenshots of the entities for this integration.

[k9rdu]

Just re-read my original post. Are you wanting a list of every entity in my entire home assistant setup?

[dcmeglio]

No that's what I was looking for. Based on the way the petsafe API works, this is expected behavior. Their API returns a lot more data than we need, but to poll, that's what they offer. The integration polls every 10s. Personally speaking, I have a 2Gb/s connection. Something that wouldn't have killed my 56k modem from the 90s I don't personally consider "absurd." It might be higher than other integrations you have, can't argue with you there, but it's how the integration works so I'd consider this expected behavior.

[k9rdu]

When I say absurd I don't mean it is a personal insult I just mean that it is a bit absurd that polling for a couple pet feeders takes more bandwidth and everything else combined. I have Google fiber here, I'm certainly not hurting for bandwidth. The real issue with this for me is that I had a perfectly working smart home but I'm trying to get everything possible out of the cloud and limit the amount of internet traffic with the idea that if power and internet goes out things will still function. I have verified that the feeders will still work without internet or AC power (They have battery backup) - so there is some base level of memory where they retain meal schedules. What I don't understand is why there are such frequent polls, and more importantly that when I turn everything off in system options it is still polling. I understand different devices may have different polling needs, but for feeders, 6 times a day (to pick up a low food warning) with an option to manually refresh in case of a meal size or schedule change) would be plenty. I would go so far as to say I really don't need polling at all - if the internet is down the polling will fail. If the internet is up, the app will send the warning. Hope that all makes sense. Merry Christmas!

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On Mon, Dec 23, 2024, 11:55 PM dcmeglio ***@***.***> wrote: No that's what I was looking for. Based on the way the petsafe API works, this is expected behavior. Their API returns a lot more data than we need, but to poll, that's what they offer. The integration polls every 10s. Personally speaking, I have a 2Gb/s connection. Something that wouldn't have killed my 56k modem from the 90s I don't personally consider "absurd." It might be higher than other integrations you have, can't argue with you there, but it's how the integration works so I'd consider this expected behavior. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#22 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AXMZGZU3YZQUPOVHBHEET3T2HDSKPAVCNFSM6AAAAABUDF7BKKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKNRQGY2DOMZWGU> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>

[dcmeglio]

No offense taken. I'm not sure what to offer here. Their API is cloud only. While yes, the device itself can work without internet, that doesn't mean there is an API I can use. The only API I found is cloud based and this is how their API works. If you're trying to have everything local, this probably isn't the best device. I'd suggest getting a feeder that can be flashed with a Tasmota firmware or something like that which will let you control it locally. Unfortunately, this is cloud only.

As far as why every 10 seconds? I could reduce the polling frequency I suppose. I'll add though, you're the first person to raise it as an issue, again this is a very small amount of network traffic in the grand scheme of things. Most people are trying to get their devices to be as "real-time" as possible so making it every 4 hours instead of every 10 seconds may not be desirable for others. Also, and perhaps a bad decision, but this was designed to be generic for other Petsafe devices. Personally I have a litter box. When my cats use their litter box is unpredictable. Once a day? 10 times a day? When? No idea. Best way to get it accurate is to poll frequently. While I understand you don't necessarily see the value of the polling, mostly, I designed this foremost with my own needs in mind and for the litterboxes I do need the polling. I'll consider adding a setting to reduce the polling frequency in the future.

and more importantly that when I turn everything off in system options it is still polling I don't think these options do what you think they do, or if they're supposed to do what you think, then I can at least confirm it's not how I built the integration. If the integration didn't poll, it would never report any data and wouldn't work. These settings do not stop the integration from polling the API.

Like I said, I understand you're looking for something different, but this is how this integration is designed to work. If you're interested in raising a PR, I'd be happy to take a look, but I think you want an edge case that I don't think others will want. If there's no polling, none of the data displayed by the integration will ever be accurate. It'd basically just be something to trigger manual feeding.

[k9rdu]

I think the easiest thing (other than doing nothing, of course), would be to let users set their polling frequency. It does seem counterintuitive that when I turn everything off in system options, it's still running. Not a big deal either way. I'm mainly using this integration to set up some intelligent nagging for my son to refill the feeders. I mainly wanted to make sure you were aware of this.

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On Wed, Dec 25, 2024, 11:19 AM dcmeglio ***@***.***> wrote: No offense taken. I'm not sure what to offer here. Their API is cloud only. While yes, the device itself can work without internet, that doesn't mean there is an API I can use. The only API I found is cloud based and this is how their API works. If you're trying to have everything local, this probably isn't the best device. I'd suggest getting a feeder that can be flashed with a Tasmota firmware or something like that which will let you control it locally. Unfortunately, this is cloud only. As far as why every 10 seconds? I could reduce the polling frequency I suppose. I'll add though, you're the first person to raise it as an issue, again this is a very small amount of network traffic in the grand scheme of things. Most people are trying to get their devices to be as "real-time" as possible so making it every 4 hours instead of every 10 seconds may not be desirable for others. Also, and perhaps a bad decision, but this was designed to be generic for other Petsafe devices. Personally I have a litter box. When my cats use their litter box is unpredictable. Once a day? 10 times a day? When? No idea. Best way to get it accurate is to poll frequently. While I understand you don't necessarily see the value of the polling, mostly, I designed this foremost with my own needs in mind and for the litterboxes I do need the polling. I'll consider adding a setting to reduce the polling frequency in the future. and more importantly that when I turn everything off in system options it is still polling I don't think these options do what you think they do, or if they're supposed to do what you think, then I can at least confirm it's not how I built the integration. If the integration didn't poll, it would never report any data and wouldn't work. These settings do not stop the integration from polling the API. Like I said, I understand you're looking for something different, but this is how this integration is designed to work. If you're interested in raising a PR, I'd be happy to take a look, but I think you want an edge case that I don't think others will want. If there's no polling, none of the data displayed by the integration will ever be accurate. It'd basically just be something to trigger manual feeding. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#22 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AXMZGZXELV7UMKL7AJICDU32HLLJTAVCNFSM6AAAAABUDF7BKKVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZDKNRRHE2DENZWHA> . You are receiving this because you authored the thread.Message ID: ***@***.***>