I’m in need of replace all of my existing Tuya based smart switches with something that is future proof. For me, Local Tuya is hopelessly broken and I do not want to have to re-integrate all of my switches into another integration that might lose it’s support in the future. This is not meant to be a criticism.
So, I’m looking for a brand of switches that is rock solid (or close to that) and has a solid Hassio Integration. The Lutron Caseta switches seem to be pretty robust. I installed several of them at my ex-girlfriend’s house, but she doesn’t use Hassio.
Can anyone help an oldtimer out and recommend something that is pretty solid and integrates easily into Home Assistant. Thank you.
Zigbee, wifi, matter, zwave…
I started with tuya wifi cloud based switches but replaced them as this just doesnt work for me.
Zigbee works fine. If you use zigbee anything that support zigbee 3.0 should work out of the box, no problems.
What kind of switches are you looking for? Built-in wall mounted, inline, with knob hardware or bare bones? What do you need to switch, lights or also heavier equipment? Do you already have a zwave or Zigbee network? If Zigbee, do you use ZHA or Zigbee2MQTT? More information about what you need will help us giving you good answers.
Thanks to both of you for the replies. I’m interested in wall mounted switches to control lights (indoor & outdoor) and a few switched outlets. I also have fans in the bedrooms.
I currently am only using WiFi, as I did not want to have to add a box to drive switches. I’ve since changed my mind on that and am willing to entertain the idea of some sort of box, like what is used for the Lutron Caseta smart switches.
For me, the most important thing is ease of setup, stability and future proof. Oh, and another important thing is I’m 68 and it is becoming a bit of a challenge to work in Hassio. Just wait until you get to be my age and you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Well maybe the best thing will be to use some wifi switches connected to some cloud that have decent mobile app. Those mobile apps can do some simple automations and there is no need to run a server for it nor home assistant.
A few cloud based switches will work. The problems might arise if you plan to have a couple of dozen.
I would like to do some simple automations through Hassio. Automations t I had setup with my Tuya switches did just what I needed. But, with Local Tuya no longer supported and broken, I’m back to square one.
In the meantime you should/could change to this Fork of, local tuya
It’s a peace of case, you download this repo, delete the other ( and go to Settings/Device-Service and add this NEW … basically, your devices pop up in this Integration, when you assign your tuya account at setup
The Author of this recently forked the other, and it seems promising
Before getting new ones like sonoff,
Try replacing the firmware on the tuya switches with esphome. I haven’t use the tuya/localtuya integration for a while now.
As you can see, many of the tuya devices are unavailable.
I am looking into tuya local and will see if it is a straight forward migration.
However, who is to say if the developer will continue to support this in 2-3 years? I know this sounds negative, but it is a legitimate concern.
Maybe I should just tough it out until there is a more “permanent” solution for integrating tuya devices without having to depend on the cloud.
Thank you for pointing me to this. I have learned something new today. I had not really noticed “forks” until you pointed this out to me. This tells me someone has built on rospogrigio’s work. rospogrigio had built on mileperhour’s work.
I do not have a tuya account, unless you are talking about a smartthings account. That, I have. But like many of us, I want all of the control to be within my home and not cloud dependent. Still, I will read through this.
Thank you for the referral. I will look into this, however, if the firmware upgrade fails, what happens to the device? Is this reversible? Doing this to the devices just complicates the process and introduces the chance for errors on my part.
The goal is something that easily integrates into Hassio and continues to get supported by the developer so that I don’t have to continue to redo integrations.
Some of us old f**ts, don’t like to change out hardware every year or so. We like things that last. As an example, I still have the washer and dryer I bought in 1984. I have them because I can fix them.
Please keep the suggestions coming. Everything has been most helpful. Even though I sound a bit resistant, I plant to review everything you guys have suggested.
That’s in Utopia , you should know that by now
I “collected” my various Tuya capable devices in local-tuya, and recently moved to the new fork, everything continued to works as usual (and i got rid of a bunch of warnings/errors in my log )
Im sure(think) this will also work for you with a a smartthing account ( ask the author in the forum Topic )
Long before HA i had a few Ikea strips/spot Drivers and remote Buttons, working with no hubs, With HA i bought an Ikea Hub, and additional Devices.
These Devices is the Only ones which have worked flawless, regardless what happens to HA , even if the Ikea hub is offline or disconnected( And the Android-Phone, with the Ikea-App is turned off ), i can still control them with the remote buttons, as they are paired direct to the devices ( Really is painless, and i believe “future” proof )
As for the Tuya-capable Devices, they will live on in the “new” fork, i have a “local” Android-Device where i have these in the Tuya-Smart App ( have been in various apps, i.e smart life etc.) I only use this Device when i need to add ( pair ) an i.e TuyaDevice, Ikea or Aqara(sensors) , so mostly this Android is turned off, to avoid Internet access this way
To use Zigbee, you don’t need another box/hub, all you need is a USB dongle like the SkyConnect or Sonoff dongle. If you want ease of use (at the cost of some advanced functionality and sometimes support for additional devices) I would go for ZHA. I would recommend it, it’s a very reliable type of network, it uses little energy (battery powered switches!) , and there is plenty of choice in equipment.
Typically, the wifi equipment is a bit cheaper for similar functionality but the difference is small. Zigbee also allows direct binding between switches and equipment, so they still work even if your whole Ha instance is down. I’m a fan, as you can tell
Ehhh , an USB Dongle is just another box/hub ! , But yes Zigbee has it’s advantage as you mention, i.e pairing remote-switches direct to devices(if they use a mutual supported firmware, and neither is depended upon a coordinator)(and works without wifi), and i believe ZHA also allows for various brands to coexist on same zigbee channel(if the devices are build for it), and one is not depended upon wifi
However a ethernet-Wired-Zigbee-coordinator (hub) will outperform and be a more stable choice than any USB-Dongle … there is absolutely no Zigbee-USB-Dongles i would/can recommend , compared to an ethernet-wired
Well, yeah, sort of. Many of the dongles are small enough to not count as ‘another box’ in my book, although they deliver the same functionality as many of the hubs do.
Indeed ZHA (and Z2M) are brand aspecific. I have 51 devices from at least 10 different brands in my zigbee network, and they all work together without problems.
Speaking of ‘no problems’, I won’t argue against the superiority of ethernet connected coordinators, but I have had two different types of dongles (gpio uart bridge on a Pi, and Sonnoff ‘E’ type in my current setup) and they have both been completely trouble free, with stable connections all the time. So for me, there is not really a way in which an ethernet coordinator can be much better. Personally, I think creating a mesh with an adequate number of mains powered (routing) devices is the most important, together with, wherever crucial functions are switched, using switches that will still function in ‘dumb’ mode if your coordinator and ha instance go down.
Nothing, it still works as normal. If firmware flashing fails, that means the tuya firmware is patched and you’d need to use serial method instead.
This is assuming your tuya device is using tuya’s beken chip instead of espressif like they used to. You can verify it by checking their mac address (tuya inc or espressif inc)
I would be ok with a box. I’ve accepted those because I think it would bring stability. I wired my house with CAT 5e a long time ago. My modem, router and switch are all located in a closet on the ground floor. So, it would not be a issue to hang something on the wall in the closet.
I will review the newer forks for the Local Tuya. If the changeover is pretty straight forward, I will stick with it. After all, there is some incentive to stick with it as I have a good number of Tuya switches.
Today, I have a repeat issue with my Tuya switches. I thought I had fixed it, but it’s come back. 10 of the 26 devices are offline. Some of the devices that are offline are an inch away from one that is online.
When I installed these things last year, I was using two routers (one upstairs and one downstairs). Both had identical SSIDs and passwords and all devices were stable.
I have a Netgear C6900 modem/router (downstairs) and a Netgear WNDR3700v3 router (upstairs). With 26+ devices on my 2.4Ghz network, I’m wondering if that’s too many. I’m going to change the SSID on the upstairs router and reconfigure all of the upstairs switches.
My apology for all of this. Thanks for your patience.
