I’ve got a Tuya Electricity Energy Monitor, I’m using HA in VMWare Player with a Sonoff E dongel on a 15ft usb cable, I’m using Zigbee2MQTT v 1.35.1-1 with Mosquito Broker 6.4.0, I put the Tuya device in paring mode, and just get ‘Interview Failed’, is there anything I can do? Are there any diagnostic routes to go down?
Welcome!
If you share a bit more detail, I think folks will be better able to help you.
‘Tuya Electricity Energy Monitor’
Is a bit generic. Specific model numbers.
Is the specific model you have supported by Zigbee2MQTT? Link below.
I have found with some devices, often ‘Tuya type’ zigbee devices that I have to do the ‘add’ more than once to get it to add. Put your coordinator, or if you are doing a ‘add via’ a router, that router in paring mode. Then put your Tuya device in pairing mode. Give it a couple minutes in each attempt.
You can often find a lot more detailed experiences, help and bug info over at the Zigbee2MQTT github forums and bug posts. There are a LOT more folks using Zigbee2MQTT than just here at Home Assistant.
Also, be a bit careful about upgrading ANYthing in your home automation setup. If you have a version that is work, honestly don’t screw with it. About, the only reason to upgrade to a new version of something like Zigbee2MQTT is to add a new yet to be supported device. I stress, a setup that is working, not one that has issues. Then, yes you will need to upgrade to fix bugs.
I am a fan of Zigbee2MQTT, however with so many new devices becoming available, I do see folks having issues when they upgrade an existing system, devices that worked in older version, quit working. This is just a frustrating reality of some many new devices trying to be supported and with such a large body of existing devices.
Good hunting!
Thanks for those pointers…I’ll start having a dig around.
Upgrade was an act of desperation, its never worked. Tuya model number: PJ-2101A . Sorry, could you clarify for me, I’m using the Mosquito Broker, Zigbee2MQTT and the Sonoff E dongle. Which, if any, of those would you call the router?
Do you think there’s any merit in persuing Tuya Local?
“Upgrade was an act of desperation, its never worked.”
Yes I, and many more, have been there. 
“PJ-2101A”
A quick search of the Zigbee2mqtt compatible database and google in general, I do not find any signs that folks have this working.
Is this a solar panel related device?
I would not give up on Zigbee2MQTT and getting it to work. I would post a bug report at the zigbee2mqtt github page requesting that it be added. And if you are adventurous, have some coding skills and a refrigerator stocked with 
you could try and see if you can create your own device handler for it.
The whole Tuya Local stuff, I’m not sure about it. I have spend some time diddling around with it and have a couple device attached to my Home Assistant setup via it (not the Home Assistant direct add on, but rather a custom python code I wrote). I have these devices integrated this way, because I have yet to get around to finding a better way to get them connected. Note, none of mine are zigbee based, just tuya wifi. I use the very good Tiny Tuya python library to work with my devices, link below.
The price if a tuya compatible zigbee hub is pretty low. Might be worth it to just diddle around with this one device. However, I do not recommend going this route for Tuya products in general. Try and get them off the Tuya cloud! Might be an intermediate solution.
‘Adding via’ is just a way to add a zigbee device to a zigbee network when the device is not in range of the central coordinator device. This is how you build out a stable mesh network that spans distances beyond the central coordinator.
Good hunting!
Zigbee2MQTT needs a converter for zigbee-herdsman for each new device, see “How to support new devices” → Support new devices | Zigbee2MQTT
Maybe I’ll just get the WiFi one, it seems that people have got that running in HA