api.traegergrills.io down?

[wdormann]

Hi folks,

I recently received an Ironwood 885, and was amazed how difficult it was to set up the Wi-Fi / new grill via the app. After about 90 seconds of being connected to my Wi-Fi, it would disconnect from Wi-Fi and go back to the Wi-Fi setup mode where it is it's own AP that you can connect to. As such, I could never complete adding my grill to my app/account.

I eventually got to the stage of analyzing network traffic when I realized that the grill was trying to connect to api.traegergrills.io via HTTPS, but that site is down.

Is this a temporary outage, or has that service been shuttered? If it's the latter, do I have an expensive paperweight?

 

[CMTiger]

I have no idea what any of that means. I guess I was fortunate. My wifi set up was really quick. Hard to believe setting up isn’t an option for you though unless you’re using a very old iOS.

To be clear even if you’re struggling to set up wifi you can still use the grill. Certainly more than an expensive paper weight.

 

[wdormann]

The problem is that the 01.01.06 firmware depends on https://api.traegergrills.io being a thing that is both a live server, and something that will respond to what the firmware is expecting.
Current mobile apps talk to https://auth.prod.api.traegergrills.io

I suspect that somebody at Traeger shut down the api.traegergrills.io server without realizing the consequences. Specifically that old firmware grills will not be able to connect to Wi-Fi, and as such, they will not be able to update to a newer firmware.

I don't need assistance with how one goes about setting up Wi-Fi on a Traeger. I need somebody at Traeger who understands how the internet works to read this message and do something about it.

 

[RustyJake]

I need somebody at Traeger who understands how the internet works to read this message and do something about it

This site is a Traeger user group forum, with no official affiliation with Traeger. You won't get someone from Traeger responding here in any official capacity. Do they read the forums, possibly, but that won't get you your answer.

I would suggest you reach out to them via Facebook or one other other social media platforms, or contact their tech support through their website.

 

[wdormann]

For the record for anybody playing along, the fact that api.traegergrills.io is down is apparently known by Traeger, and was a conscious decision. When the 2.x firmware was released in 2020, Traeger transitioned from using a Google Cloud service to using an AWS instance. But for some reason, the transition was apparently done in a "scorched earch" manner that left 1.x firmwares attempting to connect to a server that was decommissioned. I'd think that they could just update the existing api.traegergrills.io DNS entry to point to the new server, but what do I know? Traeger allowed a window for every Traeger grill owner on the planet to update the firmware. Including grills that were sitting in a box in a warehouse. After this window, the Google Cloud endpoint api.traegergrills.io was shuttered, and these 1.x grills would never be able to join wifi or pair to an account.

If you're still under warranty, you can get a replacement controller board from Traeger covered. If you're not under warranty, the replacement board will set you back $300. There is no way for end users to update a 1.x firmware in the current world where the api.traegergrills.io server was turned off.

https://support.traeger.com/hc/en-us/articles/4407219944603-Grill-on-Firmware-Version-1-X-Unable-to-Pair

 

[CMTiger]

Did you buy this used or buy a new grill that won’t connect?
If new I assume they’ll send you the needed replacement board?

 

[wdormann]

In my specific case, Traeger support has graciously corrected the problem by mailing me a new controller, so props to them!
Depending on the circumstances of others who may be in this boat (e.g. age of the device, how it was acquired, etc.), they may or may not be so lucky.

 

[Torstenlaw]

You would think you could flash it with the new software!!??

 

[wdormann]

Chicken, meet egg.

Consumers need an internet connection to flash the firmware.
You need firmware 2.x to get on the internet, as once it is deemed that api.traegergrills.io cannot be reached over https, the Wi-Fi connection is invalid, and the grill goes back to pairing mode.

I have to assume that the firmware update process probably also relies on talking to api.traegergrills.io as well. But you cannot even get that far if you have a 1.x board.

 

[Torstenlaw]

I guess they should have put a usb port on it for these unforeseen issues. Should be able to Putty in somehow.

 

[wdormann]

Yeah, it's unclear if any of the pin headers might be for serial, USB, or the like.
But even if so, I don't think that Traeger offers a consumer-downloadable firmware anywhere, so that may all be moot...