Smart Life (Tuya) Products integration

[jackal]

Hi,

   I am starting to see a lot of new wifi devices and plugs using Smart Life app.   These plugs and switches are pretty cheap and relatively well made.  Is there anyone who has attempted integration with ISY using the smart life api?

   Looks like a game changer if we could integrate them into ISY.

Jackal

[Issacsim]

I already have a few devices and planing to get more. A node server for Polyglot will be great if we could have one.

[x046866x]

I see a lot of noise around Tuya, but not a lot of integration.  Apparently it is huge in China, but I just don't see the same excitement over here.  I get the sense most of the press is written by them, but perhaps they'd be better served by better supporting the community.  Their claim of cheap devices is great (and I did get some decent cheap WiFi enabled switches as a gift last Christmas), but I can't easily integrate them with any of my plethora of other Z-wave, ZigBee (Hue) and Insteon stuff.  A PolyGlot and/or decent hub would go a long way to open up to this market.  

[lilyoyo1]

1 hour ago, x046866x said:

I see a lot of noise around Tuya, but not a lot of integration.  Apparently it is huge in China, but I just don't see the same excitement over here.  I get the sense most of the press is written by them, but perhaps they'd be better served by better supporting the community.  They're claim of cheap devices is great (and I did get some decent cheap WiFi enabled switches as a gift last Christmas), but I can't easily integrate them with any of my plethora of other Z-wave, ZigBee (Hue) and Insteon stuff.  A PolyGlot and/or decent hub would go a long way to open up to this market.  

Do they have an open API for their product? One would be needed in order to develop a nodeserver

[larryllix]

7 minutes ago, lilyoyo1 said:

Do they have an open API for their product? One would be needed in order to develop a nodeserver

Not that I could find a year or more ago. It seems to have a lot of support and many apps but nobody could ever tell me where the information came from. Of course, the language barrier is severe.

[simplextech]

24 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Not that I could find a year or more ago. It seems to have a lot of support and many apps but nobody could ever tell me where the information came from. Of course, the language barrier is severe.

There isn't an open API.  Tuya is a Cloud Service for OEM's to incorporate into products.  You can pay Tuya for development services from concept to manufacturing if you want and they will cloud enable the wifi devices etc.  Or you can design and add their cloud service to your own product.  With that they provide the Cloud service for hundreds if not thousands of different vendors and devices.  There are several hacks out there to integrate with Tuya but nothing is official as it's not a single device/vendor endpoint.  I'm sure they will happily provide access to developers for a fee....

[TomL]

I have several SmartLife Diffusers, you can enable the  SmartLife Alexa skill for them and then set up variables in ISY, then in the Alexa portal set them as a contact switch or motion detector and integrate them that way.  You can turn them on and off, used this to set a 24 hour schedule.  THe diffusers in alexa app only allow on off commands, not sure if other devices would allow dimming, etc..

[rahnee]

They do have an open API.  Currently I use Alexa to do scheduling etc. as that is the "easier" way vs using their app.  A Nodeserver would be fantastic.  My son was going to build one over winter break but he ran out of town and is back at University so he won't even look at it until summer at the earliest.  Would love to have something before that.

I use Alexa to set schedule, color, dimming etc...

 

[simplextech]

Just now, rahnee said:

They do have an open API.  Currently I use Alexa to do scheduling etc. as that is the "easier" way vs using their app.  A Nodeserver would be fantastic.  My son was going to build one over winter break but he ran out of town and is back at University so he won't even look at it until summer at the earliest.  Would love to have something before that.

 

Where is their open API?  Where's the docs and information?  Alexa is not an API.  Their app is not an API.  There is no API for integration with Tuya.  There are hacks and you can modify most Tuya devices and reflash them with Tasmota.

[rahnee]

13 minutes ago, simplextech said:

Where is their open API?  Where's the docs and information?  Alexa is not an API.  Their app is not an API.  There is no API for integration with Tuya.  There are hacks and you can modify most Tuya devices and reflash them with Tasmota.

This is where we started https://docs.tuya.com/en/iot/open-api/quick-start/solution-overview

There is also some work done on GIT https://github.com/codetheweb/tuyapi

[larryllix]

2 minutes ago, rahnee said:

This is where we started https://docs.tuya.com/en/iot/open-api/quick-start/solution-overview

There is also some work done on GIT https://github.com/codetheweb/tuyapi

Sound like we have "open" and "local" confused. Looks like we have an open api but it is not local and will push most HA people here away from it. Cloud dependency is avoided by most.

[simplextech]

4 minutes ago, rahnee said:

This is where we started https://docs.tuya.com/en/iot/open-api/quick-start/solution-overview

There is also some work done on GIT https://github.com/codetheweb/tuyapi

This is a "Open API" for Tuya device developers.  Not an integration end point for 3rd parties.  Can it work that way?  yup sure can and as you linked to projects are taking advantage of that.  Looks like you have everything you need for a nodeserver.  Enjoy.  I don't use Tuya devices and I do everything I can to avoid cloud based devices.

[simplextech]

1 minute ago, larryllix said:

Sound like we have "open" and "local" confused. Looks like we have an open api but it is not local and will push most HA people here away from it. Cloud dependency is avoided by most.

Absolutely.  It's "open" in the sense of device developers but it's not "local" and requires internet connectivity for anything to function and is dependent on their cloud service which could go away and then leave devices dead.  I'd much rather work on a Tasmota integration which is local and re-flash those Tuya devices than deal with more cloud integrations.

[jackal]

1 hour ago, simplextech said:

Absolutely.  It's "open" in the sense of device developers but it's not "local" and requires internet connectivity for anything to function and is dependent on their cloud service which could go away and then leave devices dead.  I'd much rather work on a Tasmota integration which is local and re-flash those Tuya devices than deal with more cloud integrations.

bummer! wished it was a local solution too.  flashing to Tasmota for every tuya device sounds like a little too cumbersome to be widely and easily adopted.    But if it can be integrated into ISY, it is still a clear upgrade and no worse than the stand alone solution using the Tuya app. Still worth looking into!

[simplextech]

3 hours ago, jackal said:

bummer! wished it was a local solution too.  flashing to Tasmota for every tuya device sounds like a little too cumbersome to be widely and easily adopted.    But if it can be integrated into ISY, it is still a clear upgrade and no worse than the stand alone solution using the Tuya app. Still worth looking into!

There's a solution.... don't buy cheap wifi junk.  If you must have wifi buy stuff that has native support for MQTT or can POST to a user defined URL.

[larryllix]

2 hours ago, simplextech said:

There's a solution.... don't buy cheap wifi junk.  If you must have wifi buy stuff that has native support for MQTT or can POST to a user defined URL.

Not everybody wants to spend $3K for light bulbs, though and possibly still get junk like some Hue. I bought dozens of cheap WiFi bulbs for about $8 each that work just fine. OTOH, it took a lot of hacking to crack the code sequences for these cheap MagicHome bulbs. MiLight bulbs were the best quality so far at about $12 each, but I don't want a cabinet full of hubs either.

[simplextech]

7 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Not everybody wants to spend $3K for light bulbs

If you're spending that much on "smart bulbs" you're doing it wrong.

[lilyoyo1]

2 hours ago, simplextech said:

There's a solution.... don't buy cheap wifi junk.  If you must have wifi buy stuff that has native support for MQTT or can POST to a user defined URL.

I agree completely. While one doesn't have to go out and purchase a 50 dollar hue or lifx bulb, the best thing anyone can do is get stuff that is widely adopted and supported within the ecosystem they are using. 

It's great to save a few bucks by getting the cheapest thing. However if it's not going to be part of your system, why bother.

[lilyoyo1]

26 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Not everybody wants to spend $3K for light bulbs, though and possibly still get junk like some Hue. I bought dozens of cheap WiFi bulbs for about $8 each that work just fine. OTOH, it took a lot of hacking to crack the code sequences for these cheap MagicHome bulbs. MiLight bulbs were the best quality so far at about $12 each, but I don't want a cabinet full of hubs either.

I'm with @simplextech, if someone has 3k worth of bulbs, they're doing it wrong.

Using products that are natively supported within the isy can cut down on the number of hubs a person needs. It's when people try to reinvent the wheel for basic things that the "need" for a bunch of other stuff goes up. 

I'm not against hubs though. I like that my hue has it's own stuff. The pros of a hub far outweighs the cons for me

[larryllix]

2 hours ago, lilyoyo1 said:

I'm with @simplextech, if someone has 3k worth of bulbs, they're doing it wrong.

Using products that are natively supported within the isy can cut down on the number of hubs a person needs. It's when people try to reinvent the wheel for basic things that the "need" for a bunch of other stuff goes up. 

I'm not against hubs though. I like that my hue has it's own stuff. The pros of a hub far outweighs the cons for me

Hue bulbs here are $69 each. With taxes that comes to $77+ each. If you use 25 units in your house you are already up to almost $2K.

What bulbs are you referring to do it right?

[simplextech]

14 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Hue bulbs here are $69 each. With taxes that comes to $77+ each. If you use 25 units in your house you are already up to almost $2K.

What bulbs are you referring to do it right?

See now that's just insane.  Hue White I can find for $15 and Color are expensive at $40 and that's not on sale.  So for you yeah those Canada prices are killer.  But really 25 bulbs???? why???? need a smart bulb in everything even though it's probably also controlled by a Insteon switch????

[TrojanHorse]

I gotta guess it’s all about color baby. Who wants a bulb that only does black and white?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[larryllix]

Yep. 15 bulbs on my wrap around deck saved me a few days of work mounting Christmas lights and taking them down. The LEDs strings last about 1-3 years now and you spent hours finding the bad connections, bulbs, and fuses that don't work each year before finally tossing them out.

Alexa...turn on Christmas deck lights  is all that is needed.

Alexa...turn on Canada Day deck lights  is another side benefit or Alexa...turn on party/Halloween lights.

Many 5m RGBWW strings give the nicest lighting I have ever seen. We can light up the room like a hospital operating room on dull days and we feel so much better. The MiLights bulbs gave the best white light I have ever seen. Must be a really high CRI. Hue bulbs sucked and many hundreds of dollars of wasted money sits in a junk box now. One Hue bulbs would buy me 4-5 other RGBWW bulbs.

I use Deep red or blue in the bedroom to watch TV and it fades out on a timer if I fall asleep. It allows you to see but doesn't glare in your eyes keeping you awake.

I have bulbs that flash green at midnight each night to remind me it's late and go to bed. Some flash red to indicate the garage door is open.
What would I do with just white bulbs? Yeah I used to beep a sonalert but it is annoying and can't serve as a gentle continuous reminder for anything.

...and at $77 dollars a bulb Hue still requires another chunk of change to buy a hub. The Hue Iris had nice colours if you like a 20 W equiv. bulb.

 

[simplextech]

43 minutes ago, larryllix said:

15 bulbs on my wrap around deck saved me a few days of work mounting Christmas lights and taking them down. The LEDs strings last about 1-3 years now and you spent hours finding the bad connections, bulbs, and fuses that don't work each year before finally tossing them out.

Now that is absolutely legit!  and yeah I hear you about throwing out the stupid string lights every year!

I do the same with Alexa... for all of the lighted holidays.  I just have outdoor plugs for the lighting.

44 minutes ago, larryllix said:

Many 5m RGBWW strings give the nicest lighting I have ever seen.

Now that's different.  That's not bulbs.

45 minutes ago, larryllix said:

...and at $77 dollars a bulb

I still can't get past that cost up there... wow! 

[larryllix]

15 minutes ago, simplextech said:

Now that is absolutely legit!  and yeah I hear you about throwing out the stupid string lights every year!

I do the same with Alexa... for all of the lighted holidays.  I just have outdoor plugs for the lighting.

Now that's different.  That's not bulbs.

I still can't get past that cost up there... wow! 

Actually, comparing Home Depot from each country the US pricing is higher on this Philips Hue sample of Hub with 4 bulbs Plus Hub only. Our monet runs about 33% premium over US currency right now.

 

The Borg - USA

The Borg - Canada