I’m looking for a wifi smart plug or switch that can integrate with HA, is UL listed, is still in production, and doesn’t need an active Internet connection to work. Does such a beast exist?
My impression is that several major device manufacturers have been aggressively stamping out local APIs in firmware updates and that newly produced device models which previously supported local push/poll may no longer work.
Are there any switches/plugs that can be bought off-the-shelf today that are known to still support local push/poll and are UL listed?
Zigbee is becoming my go-to protocol. Not only is everything always local, but setup and maintenance of the network is automatic. I assume the same can be said for Z-Wave. I’m trying to get away from WiFi devices. Too much hassle to set up and maintain, too many integrations which change (and often break) with each HA release, vendor firmware upgrades to contend with, cloud requirements, obsolescence, etc.
I had a read of the Shelly user support forum the other day and saw three reports (in just one day’s worth of forum posts) regarding devices that experienced catastrophic failures including short circuit and hazardous overheating.
The apparent failure rate is alarming and I would not be comfortable using Shelly devices unless their track-record improves.
But beware of mission creep. It’s way too easy to find a good deal on some hardware, then read about a new device you’d like to try, and before you know it, you’re juggling six different integrations, each of which breaks in turn. I’m over three months behind on my HA updates now, and although the integration I’ve been waiting on is (reportedly) fixed in 10.x, I just read about a potential problem in this release with another integration I use. Add in all the “routine” breaking changes and config syntax changes in each release and it seems like I’ll never be able to update!
We’re all beta testers, like it or not. I’m starting to realize that minimizing the number of different integrations and components is critical to keeping HA (and the family) happy.
I’m personally a big fan of Tuya devices that have been migrated to LocalTuya. Just moved about 16 outlets/switches to local control, no cloud.
Also use Shellys and Tasmota-flashed outlets.
If you want a super-easy, Wi-Fi, outlet, look at the Sonoff S31s (WiFi) and then just flash them with Tasmota (I bought like 12 and flashed them all at once and keep them in a drawer and pull them out as I need them). I have them all running via MQTT.
Tuya plugs (mostly old ones) support Tuya Convert with which you can flash Tasmota/ESP Home on it. But the newer ones ships with either newer firmware or newer chips(not even ESP series chips) and can no longer be flashed. For those I uses local Tuya and it worked pretty well. If you are paranoid about sending data to Tuya server, then restrict their access to the outer world on your router.
The other option is Zigbee plugs, but I always find the Zigbee coordinator in my home not reliable.
To be honest the cost of adding zigbee to HA is minimal and opens up your choices massively. Wifi products are limited and most people tend to grow their systems to include door sensors, smart plugs, motion sensors (in fact just about any smart home products that run on batteries will use zigbee and not wifi)
It also ticks your boxes regarding no cloud as it’s purely local and in your control. Also avoids flooding your wifi.
Also regarding costs you may find that zigbee products are cheaper and kind of out ways the cost of the hub in the first place.
I have a couple Tuya plugs. They operate perfect under their app. Under HA, though, they can only flip once. They won’t toggle & direct on/off doesn’t work. Would the LocalTuya help? I set up the development account exactly as described.
Basically followed this tutorial to flash them with Tasmota. Then I configure MQTT on the plugs when I install them (no need to pre-configure as my MQTT configurations may change before pulling them out of a drawer).
New one can’t be converted because it is no longer an esp82xx chip
LocalTuya is a decoy as you need the cloud to get the key of your devices every time you add one.
You can (for now) extend the free trial on their websites but for how long? The day you can’t, it can be up to $4,000 if they decide that you’re doing profit from their API.