Energy consumption and Arlec Grid Connect (Tuya) smart plug

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21

ok that WORKED!

For those who are very new like me. Here’s what I missed.

You can’t just make a new sensor at the end of the YAML file. It has to go under any existing sensors you have, like a chapter in a book.

So here’s mine in it’s entirety… The first sensor is platform time_date.

The second is my energy meter.

sensor:

  • platform: time_date
    display_options:

    • ‘time’
    • ‘date’
    • ‘date_time’
    • ‘date_time_utc’
    • ‘date_time_iso’
    • ‘time_date’
    • ‘time_utc’
    • ‘beat’

  • platform: integration
    source: sensor.rrqlnfb$$$0erhk5
    name: Vet Office
    unit_prefix: k
    round: 2

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22

Now I am thinking I’ve got the sensor name wrong though, because I have 3 different energy meter plugs, and they’re all saying the same name. Any ideas?

23

It is possible that it doesn’t work with tuya (non v2) integration?
I have power entity for smart plug but integration says “unknown”.

24

Make sure that these two lines are unique for each energy meter plug, and should be good.

sensor.rrqlnfb$$$0erhk5
name: Vet Office
25

Yes, sadly this is the case. Some devices work in the original tuya integration, but not in the new one and some devices work in the new tuya integration but not in the old. The number of devices that are supported in the new integration are increasing (whilst the old version was pretty stagnant), so there is hope.

26

When you say “make sure” do you mean, make it up ?

is the “sensor” something that I am defining or should I be able to find it somewhere?

I have made the name stablepwr and the sensor sensor.stablepwr1

27

Ah. No. As described earlier in this thread:
“From the Lovelace gui interface, go into Configuration, then Integrations, find the Tuya2 integration then click on the “devices” hyperlink. Now find the Tuya device”

Click on the sensor and use that name to be the data source for the extra sensor you are creating for energy monitoring.

28

Well I must not have noticed that bit. oops.

Well I’ve added the TuyaV2 repository in HACS, it says it’s installed. But I can’t add it to integrations. It’s just not there, even after a restart.

Ideas?

29

Apparently I just have to wait lol

30
31

Ok i spend hours now trying to install tuya v2.
“Config flow could not be loaded” after install.
If i click on integrations after restarts it loads forever.
Tried to uninstall tuya from hacs and repeat process but no luck.

32

Ah. OK. Assuming you have the latest HA, TuyaV2 is installed normally ie not via HACS, and is just called Tuya. Just to clear up your install, I’d suggest removing the HACS version and any other Tuya install, restarting, then following the instructions (Tuya - Home Assistant) to add in the native Tuya integration.

34

Thank you for this Post zagnuts. I got my Arlec Grid Connect SMART plug collecting kwh.
I didn’t have any sensors in my configuration.yaml file so I added a line in the same file:
sensor: !include sensor.yaml

Then I created a file called sensor.yaml in the same folder and added:

- platform: integration
  source: sensor.smart_plug_with_energy_meter_pc399ha_power
  name: Kitchen Hot Water Energy
  unit_prefix: k
  round: 2
  method: left

I did have issues when copying and pasting from your example, perhaps because of invisible formatting characters. Typing it out solved it for me.

For those new to this, you need to connect your smart plug using the app “Smart Life” and not Grid Connect and follow the TUYA integrations guide.

There was a comment above that the waterbed produced inaccurate readings. If you refer to Integration - Riemann sum integral - Home Assistant (home-assistant.io), this recommends changing the collection method for on/off heaters to left.
I am trying this out as my readings are not the same as the Smart Life reading.

1 Like
35

Hi. See my post at the bottom. Add a line to the yaml file
method: left

This is needed for on/off heaters.

image
image1099×1503 102 KB

You can see the effect in the last hour.

36

No problem - glad it’s working for you as well! As for the copy and paste thing - there shouldn’t have been any hidden characters but it may very well have been a formatting issue. It’s so easy for a space or tab to creep into a yaml file and break it - which why I got into the habit of always testing my code after any change no matter how minor… :slight_smile:

37

i have ten power sockets but does show me only one power reding any advice to see all the plugs working?

38

Assuming you are using the new Tuya integration then it will create ten switches and each switch will have separate sensors. To see them in the energy section have you created ten extra sensors as described above?

39

i already do all the steps but it still does not show me the power readings,
it’s so odd

40

Oooh. Was in Bunnings yesterday and found this “Arlec Grid Connect Smart IP44 Heavy Duty Timer”. It is designed to plug into an external power point, and it does energy monitoring. Cost AUD$25. Bought one to play with, and:

  • Connected it to my wifi via the Smart Life app
  • Went to hassio, reloaded the Tuya integration, and the new device was there
  • Still in hassio, went into the integration and enabled the three additional sensors
  • Once the sensors were available, I then checked the name of the power sensor which in my case was “sensor.pc44ha_power” and of course reporting power usage in W.
  • Then edited my sensor.yaml file and added:
  - platform: integration
    source: sensor.pc44ha_power
    name: Pool Fridge Energy
    unit_prefix: k
    round: 2

After a little while, my new power monitor for the pool fridge was available to add into my energy monitoring. Yay!

41

Coul you please share configiration.yaml and sensor.yaml file?