Hello I am a new user of Home Assistant ( I did try a few years ago but found it to steep a learning curve)
Bu now I want to try again so I am looking for some advice, my current set up uses Tuya for to control all my Zigbee devices there are 46 plus ZigBee radiator valves devices currently, I also have several amazon devices and the Tuya skill so lights etc can be be switched using voice commands.
What I would like to be able to do is stop using Tuya but still retain the voice control that Alexa gives me .
I have been looking on the internet and there are several options, I am not keen to sign up for a monthly subscription with Nabu Casa.
So could some advise on the best way of achieving this or if it is even possible.
Thanks for reading this Chris
Hi, welcome to the forum!
Regarding the zigbee devices: zigbee is somehow scattered and there is no guarantee that everything will work.
I’m not familiar with Alexa but did you see the different integrations and I guess specifically this one: Amazon Alexa - Home Assistant
Welcome!
So if I understand your post correctly, the tuya you are using is the cloud-connected application right?
There is a ‘localtuya’ project that should allow you to do the same things as with the cloud one. Haven’t tried it myself so don’t know how complex it is.
You mentioned using tuya actions with Alexa to turn off lights, however you haven’t mentioned any lightbulbs.
Proposal: check if your devices are compatible with ZHA and if so start moving them bit by bit over to it. That will give you the time to troubleshoot if need be, experiment and try out automations and dashboards.
ZHA compatible devices and via the official docs - follow the zippy links
As afsy_d already sugested check out the Zigbee Device Compatibility Repository to find out whether to use ZHA or Z2M depending on the Zigbee devices you already have.
Additionally search the forum regarding ZHA vs. Z2M (like HERE) to not to regret your choice at a later time.
Regarding Alexa voice control with HA I recommend to do some readings HERE and HERE to evaluate if it fits your needs.
Note that Tuya Zigbee devices are OK to take over to HA since these devices can be used without a Tuya or other properitary Zigbee bridge. This will give you full local control without some obscure foreign cloud being involved.
But better stay away from any Tuya WiFi based devices since a Tuya account is mandatory to do at least the initial setup which can be a real PIA not to speak of the many other disadvantages being involved.
Hi guys, am I wrong in stating that there is a chance that not all of their zigbee devices might work?
No, you are very likely right. They need to check that via the ZHA or Z2M links. If there are components not supportedz they’ll have to check if it is worth it.
Correct, even in Z2M it’s a bit of a cat & mouse game because Tuya use different model names for essentially the same sensor.
The below is just a random door/window sensor I found on Z2M. Look at how many different (known) model names are possible for essentially the same device:
I have more than a 100 zigbee devices and most of them are tuya or tuya based. Never had problems with them. I’m using z2m.
Now maybe I’m lucky but I can’t say from my own experience that they are problematic. Probably there are some very cheap tuya based devices that are causing a lot of problem, but again don’t buy the cheapest things you can find on aliexpress.
The only thing I found out that is not working is zigbee tuya door locks and this is probably because they are using some encryption that is not publicly available making developers of z2m hard to implement in z2m.
Definitely cross-reference the Tuya devices to confirm compatibility. As far as using Alexa to control devices, you’ve a handful of options -
-
NabuCasa subscription, I understand you said you’re not keen on this route. It is the simplest method, as others will require some legwork.
-
Build your own Alexa skill. This is what I did a couple years ago. It works like a charm, but requires the most legwork to setup. You also need to make sure your router/modem/ISP will allow this method to work.
-
MatterBridge Add-on. This seems to be the go-to method nowadays. Requires some setup, but not anywhere near as bad as building your own Alexa skill. Trade-off is you’re hosting this bridge add-on on your network, so all processing and resources are local.
-
Emulated Hue. Not many use this method anymore and it has an annoying quirk where all devices show up as lightbulbs in Alexa app.