Tuya - Smart Life - Wi-Fi - HomeSeer

[Dewcal]

Hi,
As my question will show, I have little or no knowledge of HomeSeer - I am thinking of getting a Plus Hub and would like to understand a few things before I spend....

At the moment I have some 20 Wi-Fi switches - suspect they are all Tuya related - which I can control via the "Smart Life" app. I see that the Plus unit will work with these units but am rather concenred where it says (or appears to say) that the plugin needs to log into the Tuya cloud.

One of the reasons for looking at HomeSeer is to get away from "clouds" so am concerned if this is a permanent link or just for set up? Or can I just "connect" each device to HomeSeer without using the Tuya cloud?

As I said, no great understanding as of yet so hoping someone can help me!
Many thanks.

[IanIreland]

My understanding (and experience) is that currently the Tuya plugin predominately accesses 'The Cloud' but slowly we are seeing some devices that can controlled locally. I have moved all my Tuya devices to local control by using Node-red in conjunction with HomeSeer. I hope over time I can achieve local control for them all directly in HomeSeer, but that is not currently the case.

[Dewcal]

Ian,
Many thanks for the feedback which bears out how I read the plugin information. I am wondering how accessing the Tuya cloud fits with the HomeSeer mantra of being completley local? Or am I missing something here? I would like to think that it is going to and from the "cloud" is why the Smart Life app can be sloooow to react at times and was hoping HomeSeer would get rid of this occasional lag.
Thanks again.

[Pete]

I have many WiFi switches here and none talk to the cloud these days. ALL are using Espurna and Tasmota firmware these days. Cloudless and not tethered here to my cell phone.

[TC1]

Folks...

When it comes to Tuya device control, HST has no control over which device is local or which needs cloud access to control. It's all dependent on the ecosystem that the devices belong to, which Tuya controls. As of earlier this year, Tuya has allowed in their API and firmware that some devices can be controlled locally. At a high level, you first register the device with the cloud service, which knows to how register a security certificate with the device. You then authorize the HS4 Tuya plugin to access your cloud account and retrieve that cert. Once it has the cert then local control can be achieved.

So to reiterate, yes, HST prefers local control for their customers but many previous customers wanted access to low-cost Tuya devices, so they delivered the plug-in. Now that Tuya has opened up devices to local control HST is taking advantage of that wherever possible, but each device has to be tested and added for local control because it is not yet a universal thing across all Tuya devices being sold.

I'm using low-cost (about $8 on sale) BN-Link wifi smart plugs and control them all locally (and on an isolated VLAN) via the Tuya plug-in. Support for other devices is imminent from what I've seen posted.

[jfla]

Hello

you can create an account on Tuya IOT

See procedure below

https://github.com/codetheweb/tuyapi.../docs/SETUP.md

after you see all your devices attached to Smartlife or Tuya



Jean-Francois.

[Dewcal]

Pete, TC1, jfla,
Many thanks for your replies and the information therein - I can see that I have a full time learning curve ahead of me! Everything is currently on the "Smart Life" app so first it looks like I have to change that to the TUYA version......
I suspect I may be back in time with more queries - thanks again for help to date.
Dave

[TC1]

Pete, TC1, jfla,
Many thanks for your replies and the information therein - I can see that I have a full time learning curve ahead of me! Everything is currently on the "Smart Life" app so first it looks like I have to change that to the TUYA version......
I suspect I may be back in time with more queries - thanks again for help to date.
Dave

No need to switch, look at the Tuya plugin documentation. I just looked at my phone and it's the SmartLife app. (SmartLife = Tuya, just a rebranding)

[Dewcal]

TC1, Thanks for the information - will bear this in mind when I get going. Have just downloaded the software to see how it goes.....

[John245]

My understanding (and experience) is that currently the Tuya plugin predominately accesses 'The Cloud' but slowly we are seeing some devices that can controlled locally. I have moved all my Tuya devices to local control by using Node-red in conjunction with HomeSeer. I hope over time I can achieve local control for them all directly in HomeSeer, but that is not currently the case.

Do you have a full implementation of a RGBW bulb? If that is the case are you willing to dhare your flow?

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John

[IanIreland]

Do you have a full implementation of a RGBW bulb? If that is the case are you willing to dhare your flow?

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John

Not yet! I can control RGBW bulb on and off. I am experimenting on colours and scenes but haven't cracked that yet.

[John245]

Not yet! I can control RGBW bulb on and off. I am experimenting on colours and scenes but haven't cracked that yet.

I have the same status. But on/off is the most important function for me at the moment.

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John