MeacoDry Arete® Two 18L Dehumidifier support

hendry · October 17, 2024, 7:41pm

Hi! Recently bought a Dehumidifier from Costco & it connects to my wifi after a clumsy bluetooth bootstrap via their ‎Meaco on the App Store

I emailed the vendor about home assistant and they said:

Our AreteTwo is not compatible with Apple Homekit. However here is link for ‘Matter’ which you can see if it works but no guarantee - Interoperability of Matter Products-TuyaOS-Tuya Developer

Host is up (0.020s latency).
Not shown: 999 closed tcp ports (reset)
PORT     STATE SERVICE
6668/tcp open  irc
MAC Address: FC:3C:D7:6C:71:47 (Tuya Smart)

Nmap done: 1 IP address (1 host up) scanned in 1.18 seconds

I have Tuya HACS on local Home Assistant, but I don’t understand how to configure it.

Any suggestions where to go from here? My goal is to get it triggering on and off via GitHub - BottlecapDave/HomeAssistant-OctopusEnergy: Unofficial Home Assistant integration for interacting with Octopus Energy for cheap electricity in the UK.

timmo001 · October 24, 2024, 10:04am

We’ve just bought one of these (12L), The site doesnt mention anything tuya or matter related so not sure if a connection to Home Assistant will be possible without contacting the Meaco developers. There doesnt seem to be a developer portal or any sign of thrid party support from what I can find

timmo001 · October 26, 2024, 10:57am

We received ours yesterday and found out the “meaco” app is just a skinned tuya smart app, so all we needed to do was add it to the tuya smart app and it automatically worked with the official tuya integration

Man-Or-Astroman · October 30, 2024, 9:30am

Hello! I have got the Arete Two working with HA.

Another community member mentioned in an offhand post that their dehumidifier app has an almost identical UI to the Tuya Smart app. So I thought I’d check the Meaco app, low and behold. It’s basically the same!

Ipsofacto, you can actually directly input your dehumidifier into the Tuya Smart app and it will run it with all the same functionality as the Meaco app. But the difference being, Tuya has HA support!

Link to the original post here: [WIP] Smart dehumidifier

While this post is for another dehumidifier, i can tell you this applies to Meaco. Many dehumidifiers seem to use the same service but reskin themselves and lock abilities down (clumsily, you can bypass by just using the original Tuya app!).

Note missing functions:
You cannot control modes directly (night, smart, laundry etc). You will have to create your own automations for this.

Tank full indicator is not available (although I am trying to get this to show up, as clearly it there is a sensor that the app can read).

I will make a better post with instructions on how to set this up later in the week.

Rafal_R · November 3, 2024, 12:43pm

Hello, I’ve just bought Meaco Arete and this is great news that it can work with Home Assistant.
I have one (maybe stupid) question: is it possible to have it linked to both apps (Meaco and Tuya) in parallel or you loose connection via Meaco app when connecting with Tuya?
Many thanks for sharing your experience!

v6ak · November 3, 2024, 8:28pm

Not sure, but IIRC it wasn’t possible with Rohnson+Tuya apps, and I don’t think it will be possible with Meaco+Tuya. With Rohnson, there wasn’t much a reason, as the app was just skinned and trimmed Tuya. Is there any use case for using both Meaco and Tuya apps with a single device?

jameswestcott · November 20, 2024, 9:32pm

Hiya, did you get any further with this?

As you say setting the mode (laundry, air purifier, night, etc) and seeing the tank & wet status seem to be problematic.

I managed to get it working using the Tuya HA integration. Haven’t managed with the Local Tuya integration yet mainly because it doesn’t have a humidifier device type. I can happily create switches/sensors/etc and I suppose I could use a generic hygrostat helper.

TimWard · December 6, 2024, 4:58pm

So … how do you even get started with this? Assuming I know nothing about “Matter” or “Tuya” but do have lots of other stuff working with HA.

George_Saridis · December 20, 2024, 8:20am

Hi there m8, very helpful first post! We are looking forward on a follow-up from you to see how things have (if)progressed

Here below I have put all the variables that are supposed to be exposed by Tuya. However, Local Tuya does not expose “mode”. The rest can be accessed using either a “number” or “sensor”.

switch	Boolean	
"{true,false}"

dehumidify_set_value	Integer	
{
  "unit": "%",
  "min": 35,
  "max": 70,
  "scale": 0,
  "step": 5
}

mode	Enum	
{
  "range": [
    "manual",
    "laundry",
    "sleep",
    "purify"
  ]
}

humidity_indoor	Integer	
{
  "unit": "%",
  "min": 0,
  "max": 100,
  "scale": 0,
  "step": 1
}

fault	Bitmap	
{
  "label": [
    "tankfull",
    "defrost",
    "E1",
    "E2",
    "L2",
    "L3",
    "L4",
    "wet"
  ],
  "maxlen": 8
}


child_lock	Boolean	
"{true,false}"
countdown_set	Enum	
{
  "range": [
    "cancel",
    "1h",
    "2h",
    "3h",
    "4h",
    "5h",
    "6h",
    "7h",
    "8h",
    "9h",
    "10h",
    "11h",
    "12h",
    "13h",
    "14h",
    "15h",
    "16h",
    "17h",
    "18h",
    "19h",
    "20h",
    "21h",
    "22h",
    "23h",
    "24h"
  ]
}

ontimer	Enum	
{
  "range": [
    "cancel",
    "1h",
    "2h",
    "3h",
    "4h",
    "5h",
    "6h",
    "7h",
    "8h",
    "9h",
    "10h",
    "11h",
    "12h",
    "13h",
    "14h",
    "15h",
    "16h",
    "17h",
    "18h",
    "19h",
    "20h",
    "21h",
    "22h",
    "23h",
    "24h"
  ]
}

JimBob2 · January 9, 2025, 7:33am

Hey everyone, I have a Meaco air purifier which works with the Tuya Smart Life app - however in the app I am unable to create automations, it doesn’t let me select the device. I can only control it manually (which works great).

Do you think Home Assistant would allow me to finally automate this (mostly interested with turning off and on, and changing mode from medium to high), or is the fact I can’t create a scene a red flag?

Thanks!

HR_iot · January 9, 2025, 10:45pm

Hi all,
Thanks for the great info above. using that I’ve been able to get my Meaco Arete Two working using LocalTuya in HA with all the same functionality as the Meaco app.

Join the Arete Two to my wifi using the Tuya Smart app on my phone.
installed LocalTuya from HACS and followed their instructions to setup the Tuya developer account and linked the app account to the developer account. You can see your Arete Two in the device list is your dev account at this point.
Signed into LocalTuya in HA and it can see the device but with no entities.
Click Configure, select Protocol version 3.3 and start adding entities

ID 1: On/Off - Switch
2: Target Humidity - Number
4: Mode - select
valid entries: manual;laundry;sleep;purify
friendly: Humidity;Laundry;Night;Purify

14: Child Lock - switch
16: Humidity - Sensor
17: Off Timer
valid entries: cancel;1h;2h;3h;4h;5h;6h;7h;8h;9h;10h
friendly: Cancel;1hr;2hrs;3hrs;4hrs;5hrs;6hrs;7hrs;8hrs;9hrs;10hrs
I only did up to 10, but I think you could go all the way to 24.

19: Status - sensor (more below)
101: On Timer (same setup as off timer)

The Status entity is an 8 bit number with each bit being 1 Boolean status that lines up with the fault parameter in the Tuya dev device debug page.

I created 8 Helper - Templates type Boolean sensors as follows:
tankfull:
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(1)) | bool }}
defrost:
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(2)) |bool }}
E1:
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(4)) |bool }}
E2:
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(8)) |bool }}
L2:
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(16)) |bool }}
L3: (too warm >40degC)
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(32)) |bool }}
L4: (too cold <5degC)
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(64)) |bool }}
wet
{{ (states(‘sensor.arete_two_status’) | int | bitwise_and(128)) |bool }}

I’ve only been able to confirm that “tankfull” and “wet” are working but these are at either end so looks like it should work.

Hope this is of help.

HR_iot · January 9, 2025, 10:52pm

As a new user I’m limited to adding only 1 screenshot per post, so having to add these as replies (and wait 5 minutes per reply!!):

Controls look like this:

note: to get out of Night (sleep) mode, you need to select Night again and then the new mode with in a few seconds. This is the same as on the unit or in the Meaco App.

HR_iot · January 9, 2025, 10:59pm

Sensors:

stuartatno19 · January 16, 2025, 1:48pm

Great info, i now have the Arete Two in HA, confirm your observation on tankfull & wet, will wait for other scenarios to occur.
Automation around on/off from HA will be my next step.

martinSezman · January 23, 2025, 7:48am

Hi!

Template code for Status based on the dehumidifier state code in sensor.arete_two_status_code entity.

{% set status_code = states('sensor.arete_two_status_code') -%}

{% if status_code | int -%}

{% for x in range(0, 8) -%}
{% set result = 2 ** x -%}
{% set bit = x+1 -%}
{% if status_code | int | bitwise_and(result) -%} 
{% if    bit == 1 %}tankfull
{%- elif bit == 2 %}defrost
{%- elif bit == 3 %}E1
{%- elif bit == 4 %}E2
{%- elif bit == 5 %}L2
{%- elif bit == 6 %}L3: (too warm >40degC)
{%- elif bit == 7 %}L4: (too cold <5degC)
{%- elif bit == 8 %}wet
{% else %}
{% endif %} ({{ bit }})
{% endif -%}
{% endfor -%}

{% else %}Ok
{% endif %}

niallobr · January 27, 2025, 9:21pm

Awesome info @HR_iot and @martinSezman - thanks for sharing!

I just set up the 25L version and noticed the humidity displayed is 10-15% lower than my Sonoff SNZB-02D temperature/humidity sensor. I think both are measured in RH (relative humidity) so I’m a bit confused about the accuracy… Can anybody compare?

stuartatno19 · January 28, 2025, 9:58am

Can confirm, my readings are lower than other sensors
52% Meaco
64% Cheap sensor on window within 1.5mt of Meaco
63% Philio on other side of room & nearer cooking / kettle etc
58% 2nd cheap sensor within 1mt of Philio
When i look at trend of logged sensors the Meaco spikes, this corresponds with the Philio spike.

niallobr · January 28, 2025, 9:22pm

Thanks. Mine is set to 40 and Meaco humidity shows 37% at the moment, the Sonoff sensor says 61%… pretty big difference!

dt1000 · January 29, 2025, 7:48am

Thanks for the excellent guide - I now have my new dehumidifier nicely integrated into Home Assistant. Amazing!

Question… I have the dehumidifier located in the bedroom, so I turned it off overnight as it is a little noisy. I noticed that the humidity in the room returned to normal (if not higher) levels very quickly… is this expected behaviour?

Here is the graph - you can see Humidity in purple and Power in cyan.

There is a 30% increase in humidity overnight!

Phantomski · January 30, 2025, 12:01pm

Thanks everyone for great tips. Finally made it work with my Meaco Arete Two 20L.

Apologies if I’m just repeating others posts, but some of the below wasn’t immediately obvious to me, so while I was just writing notes for myself, I thought the summary might be an useful guide for others:

Install Tuya Smart iOS app / create in-app account (user account, separate from developer account)
- Note you can’t use both Meaco official app and Tuya Smart app at the same time. The action of pairing removes the device from the other app. It’s not a problem, as the the entirety of Meaco app is basically a skin for Device section in the Tuya Smart app
Add device(s) by turning on pairing mode on the dehumidifier and adding as normal
- Note: If you have WiFi client isolation ON enabled on your firewall / router / AP, despite the device using cloud, you need your phone and the dehumidifier on the same WiFi able to see each other just for the initial setup. Annoying way too common IoT WiFi setup limitation.
Create developer account on tuya Developer Platform: https://platform.tuya.com
- Create new Cloud Development Project
  - Project Name: as needed
  - Industry: Smart Home
  - Data Center: make sure to select a correct one Mappings Between OEM App Accounts and Data Centers-Tuya Developer Platform-Tuya Developer
    - use eu - Central Europe Data Center for UK
- Open your new Project, Devices / Link App Account - link Developer account with the app using provided QR code (“Me” section in the iOS App)
  - iOS app is now linked with Developer Platform Cloud Project as an API Devices source
- Open the Project, Devices / All Devices - select yours and change Device Permission to “Controllable” (otherwise it’s read-only)
Add integration in Home Assistant: Settings / Devices & Services: Official Tuya integration, during setup link account in the app using provided QR code (“Me” section in the iOS App)
- Home Assistant is now linked with Developer Platform Cloud Project as Cloud Authorization API client
- Devices auto added with detected device name (limited entities and functionality, HACS Local Tuya is much more flexible)
- You can now use the devices in basic functionality provided by Home Assistant official Tuya integration
- You can stop here if you don’t want to fiddle, are happy with the cloud and the limited functionality
Add integration in HACS: search for Local Tuya integration, click Download, restart Home Assistant, add integration in Home Assistant Settings / Devices & Services: Local Tuya HACS integration, use API credentials from tuya Dev Portal Cloud Project Overview
Install tinytuya python CLI tool: tinytuya · PyPI
- Run the CLI tool in wizard mode (tinytuya wizard) to find devices key (Client ID and Client Secret from tuya Dev PortalCloud Project Overview, Device ID from Devices, select correct datacenter region)
- tinyuya.json (config data) and tuya-raw.json (devices data) created. Local device secret is device’s “key” in tuya-raw.json
Setup the device and its entities in localtuya Integration: “Configure” / Add New Device. Fill in the required integration settings and then for creating entities use:
- ID 1:
  - Type: switch
  - Friendly Name: Power (values are ON/OFF as default in Home Assistant, don’t use any other fields)
- ID 2:
  - Type: number
  - Friendly Name: Target Humidity (min 35, max 70, step 5)
- ID 4:
  - Type: select
  - Friendly Name: Mode
  - Valid Entries: manual;laundry;sleep;purify
  - User Friendly Options: Humidity;Laundry;Night;Purify
- ID 14:
  - Type: switch
  - Friendly Name: Child Lock
- ID 16:
  - Type: sensor
  - Friendly Name: Humidity (Unit: %, Sensor Device Class: Humidity)
- ID 17:
  - Type: select
  - Friendly Name: Off Timer
  - Valid Entries: cancel;1h;2h;3h;4h;5h;6h;7h;8h;9h;10h;11h;12h;13h;14h;15h;16h;17h;18h;19h;20h;21h;22h;23h;24h
  - User Friendly Options: Cancel;1hr;2hrs;3hrs;4hrs;5hrs;6hrs;7hrs;8hrs;9hrs;10hrs;11hrs;12hrs;13hrs;14hrs;15hrs;16hrs;17hrs;18hrs;19hrs;20hrs;21hrs;22hrs;23hrs;24hrs
- ID 19:
  - Type: sensor
  - Friendly Name: Status (see below)
- ID 101:
  - Type: Select
  - Friendly Name: On Timer
  - Valid Entries: cancel;1h;2h;3h;4h;5h;6h;7h;8h;9h;10h;11h;12h;13h;14h;15h;16h;17h;18h;19h;20h;21h;22h;23h;24h
  - User Friendly Options: Cancel;1hr;2hrs;3hrs;4hrs;5hrs;6hrs;7hrs;8hrs;9hrs;10hrs;11hrs;12hrs;13hrs;14hrs;15hrs;16hrs;17hrs;18hrs;19hrs;20hrs;21hrs;22hrs;23hrs;24hrs
- ID 19 / Status:
  - Use for example Helper - Template type sensor - use the great tips from others above to set those up