Hello,
I am new to Home Assistant, ended up here because I won’t use alexa and all those other systems that invade your privacy, but wanted a way to automate some things…
I’ve managed to get a PC with HAOS up and running, so far so good!
I am not looking to accomplish much (for now), I would like to automate and have remote control over my garden hose valve and a couple light bulbs. Right now I have a Tuya based hose valve, I was able to integrate successfully with their cloud app and control locally, but I want to add remote (over the internet) control through Home Assistant and also make it run a schedule if need be. I’d be willing to purchase a different valve is this one means pain…
I haven’t purchased any light bulbs or switches yet, nor have I purchased any add-on devices (transmitters etc) for Home Assistant.
From what I read I could use LocalTuya, or Tuya-Local to control the hose valve without the cloud (maybe!), but I also see a lot of people trashing the entire Tuya platfrom, and indicating HA control may be frustrating and/or unreliable. I am wondering if either of them are worth the trouble, and if I need any device to make them work, or is it all done through WiFi?
What I am seeking here is advice, on what platforms I should embrace and invest in to accomplish the above? I am looking to buy some ligtbulbs/switches/outlets, whatever is the easiest & most cost effective way to control a few old school lamps in the house.
Finally, I need to bridge the internet gap to HA, I am an andriod guy… So looking for advice on the best way to get access to my HA computer from my android phone while I am away from home?
I am technically savvy, willing to put in the time to get things working, just trying to avoid going down a bad rabbit hole with unreliable or incompatible technology…
Any advice you veterans have to offer me would be greately appreciated!
Thank you
If the Tuya is not zigbee, you will have to use the cloud for at least set-up, probably more.
For local, you need Zigbee or Zwave stuff. Anything that transports over WIFI could use the cloud.
I’ve avoided Tuya intentionally, but for the few things where an alternative didn’t exist I’ve found LocalTuya to work great. For the devices I have, I’ve also had no problem blocking their access to the Internet as well.
A Nabu Casa subscription is by far the easiest; it just works. This is how I do it, but honestly, even if I wasn’t getting any benefits I would subscribe to support the project.
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