I’d like to replace our smart plugs, because currently I’m locked to Tuya in, I want to get rid of it.
Currently, we are using the Eightree ET20 which are great so far, because none of them ever had an issue, they are affordable, have a great form factor (round and I can place several of them next to each other) and they look good.
Except of the point, I’m forced to use Tuya. So far I know, there is not really any way to flash them with ESPHome with destroying them. Therefor, I’m looking for a good replacement which is more “open source” and not locked down to any cloud or manufactory.
We already have some Shelly i4 digital inputs, with which I had great experience so far, so I looked for their models, but the Shelly AZ Plug and Shelly Plus Plug S are both a bit too price in my option with 23 - 26€. Even in a 4 pack, it’s 20€ each or more.
Then I found the NOUS Tasmota A8T, which seem to be good, and I guess there should be no problem to flash them with ESPHome.
(I don’t like to take them apart, but better than all the other solutions I found so far) Nous A8T | devices.esphome.io
I’m open for any other recommendation, as soon it meets all my requirements
Wi-Fi
“open source”
energy meter (I don’t need it super precise, I just use it to trigger automatizations when there is a load)
round and not bulky (to fit several of them next to each other)
I have the Australian version of them that have been working without issues so far for just over a year now and they are fully local only with all the monitoring and management settings you would need.
Tuya wifi based devices are the only ones that basically brick if there is not connection to their cloud platform.
I prefer WiFi plugs because I tend to move them around which can wreak havoc on a Zigbee/Zwave mesh. I’ve tried several WiFi plugs, flashed them all with open source firmware, and since they’re so hard to crack open without damage it’s much easier if they support OTA flashing or come pre-flashed.
Switchbot plugs can be flashed OTA, but the electronics were shoddy and all four of mine died in under a year.
Now I’m trying Athom v3 plugs which are esp32c3 pre-flashed with esphome so you can enable ble proxy if desired. I have US plugs so I can’t vouch for the EU size.
One more note — since Tasmota 13 there is a new partition scheme (on esp32) which prevents OTA conversion to esphome. There is a PR to add a repartitioning feature to esphome but it’s still experimental.
This looks promising, the only problem could be the form factor. In Europe/Germany we have multi outlets with nearly always 45 degrees turned outlets (easier/cheaper to produce, because they just need a Phase and Neutral bar inside to power all outlets)
Matter over wifi just needs the Matter Server addon installed into you HA instance then you just either scan the QR code or manually put in the code printed on it to add it via the companion app.
If you find any that are Matter over thread then that is when you need a thread border router/co-ordinator in the setup.
That should cover your main needs as well as the local bytes one you linked.
Same on the website: “Energy monitor: Track power consumption to live a low-carbon life. With the internal electricity meter, the Meross app provides real-time reports on how much energy your devices consume and historical data.”
Reading the energy values should be still possible in HA?
The non matter versions would need the app for initial setup so it can be linked to your wifi at the time then you would use the meross integration to manage them in HA.
Matter over wifi don’t need the app or intergration and should still have the data displayed in HA.
If you want to validate if they do then you can buy one to test and see if it fits your needs as it also depends on the matter firmware they come with at the time (some devices may get a firmware update after setup to make sure all things are exposed in HA if they have yet to be updated at the time of manufacture).
I have some Useelink matter over wifi based power boards and I am waiting to see if they get an update to expose any power monitoring for the sockets and usb ports they have.
After some consideration, I’ll go with the ESPHome version. Matter is cool, but again, I’m dependent on the manufacturer to provide updates with functionality and I need the app to install them.
Plus, the Meross socket updates the power every 10 seconds and energy every 60 seconds. There is no way to change this.
I’ll have to get at least one of the matter based ones to see what options it has here in australia but the zigbee ones have been near instant in the updates to the data.
ESPHome is very popular too for many DIY projects with there 32 and 8266 boards so you have that as well which is nice.
Matter overall is just a maturing protocol so will be a while till things settle so its good to have options for local only setup and management with ESPHome, Zigbee, Z-wave etc as they are available to you and fit the requirements.
As for the firmware updates unless the device needs the app to work et all even when linked to HA then the main integration should be able to push out the updates when they are made available through it i.e in the case of zigbee then ZHA and Z2MQTT handle this function to keep supported devices up to date.
Do you know if it’s part of Matters “future plans” to have a central location where the main integrations can pull updates and push it to local connected devices?
I know, Home Assistant is doing this with all my Shelly devices (but yes, that’s via WiFi again).
As I stated updates are handled via the integrations when they are pushed through them and they have access to them from the device manufacturer.
Your central location will be the matter server add-on that you have installed in your HA instance to allow use of matter and thread devices (you will need as stated in another reply a thread border router with the thread add-on to allow connection to the matter server for matter over thread devices).
It is not only part of the plans. It is already live.
Click the Access button to get to the list, then find the Vendor ID under Vendor info and use that to search the Model list for a list of available firmwares.
The problem is that it is not mandatory to use it.
Eve use it and HA can update these devices.
Onvis does not use it, so you have to update them the way Onvis made and that is complicated and require an Apple Matter Hub, so the Onvis Matter devices are essential Apple only devices.
