Pulse hub now supports live data!

[Ggofman]

Hey everyone, quick update on a small feature that’s been requested ages ago.
Sensors connected to hubs got a rapid button. This makes the recent data update every 5 seconds instead of every minute.
This should be useful for calibrations and etc.

This is still being tested out, but i should be able to dig into any issues quickly now.
@monstermash if my memory is not failing me, i recall you were one of the users who wanted this to be added in. Sorry for the belated update

[monstermash]

@Ggofman You remember correctly

Thank you, this will be very helpful!

Two questions:
This endpoint have a rate limit ?
Is there an any plans for a “https://app.pulsegrow.com/api/sensors/force-read” to return dataPointValues for all sensors?

Bugs:

• force-read on a disconnected sensor returns 500
• force-read continues to make requests every 5 seconds, even when after navigating away from the sensor page. These readings do not update on the dashboard. That would be ideal, but cancelling the polling would save bandwidth.

[Ggofman]

Hello Monstermash.

1. Not sure i understand the question correctly, but overall.
   From the technical side of things - there’s no limit for executing force reads on the hub, but it gets nuanced.
   The hub reads the sensor data by modbus register or a SDI read command.

So execution speed of a force read depends on the number of sensors connected to the hub and the types of sensors.
Technically, we could query it nonstop, but I don’t see the need / want to play it safe for more intricate setups. If every 5 sec isn’t enough for you - i can speed it up a bit.

2. Not very likely unless there’s high demand.

As for the bugs -

1. I think the 500 is fine, forcing a read on a disconnected sensor should throw an error.
   Maybe we could block that force button, but honestly i think it’s clear enough

2. I could add in the newly read datapoint to the dashboard, haven’t thought of that. Is that the use case you have in mind?
   However, the dashboard in the app would still refresh once per minute, would that still be usefull?
   Very unlikely that we will work on binding the dashboard refresh speed to ongoing force-reads.

My bad with it continuing to poll after leaving the page.

Please lmk if there’s anything else

[monstermash]

I asked about rate limit to ensure if I forced a refresh on all sensors concurrently that it wouldn’t be an issue. Was just curious If there is X calls per Y timeframe.

I think once a per 5 seconds is a good metric. If I need more I could query the endpoint directly.

Bugs:

1. ack. That works
2. If it isn’t a lot of effort keep polling and update the main dashboard, then I would call that an easy win. As far as refreshing every minute, I’d say that would be ideal assuming devices update on their normal 60 second polling, and that force refresh continues to poll sensors and update the UI.

If bandwidth isn’t a major concerned maybe 5 second force-refresh button on the dashboard for all sensors when the window is in foreground (App active: true) ? That way if people aren’t looking, you aren’t polling. (I have no idea the level of effort for this tho)

Use cases for updates on the dashboard:

• being able to see >1 VWC sensors react every 5 seconds during an irrigation event
• being able to calibrate multiple sensors at the same time
• calibrating third party sensors against pulse
• I think a more responsive UI/UX is better user experience. Seeing your stuff update more often than every 60 seconds is a big win, especially the dashboard. I imagine most long duration users are mostly hanging out on the dashboard.

[Ggofman]

I appreciate your feedback.

I’ve given this some thought. I can’t promise to add this in anytime soon.
There are multiple nuances that are worth considering and discussing with this.

However, i will keep track of this feature request and will bring it up with the team next time we do some planning. Maybe we will do something like getting data at a faster rate when the app is open.