Tuya-based sensors - is there a way to avoid the costly cloud API signup?

Hardware
1

I swear that I'm never buying anything with the word "Tuya" on the pack ever again!!

I purchased a couple of sensors to remotely monitor my Mum's old house while it was empty - we had to wait far too long for probate and then the house to be sold so it was over 12m in the end. I didn't have time to get Node-RED set up originally so I brought a presence sensor and temperature/humidity sensor, both with Tuya.

Now that the house is sold, I've brought those back home and wanted to use them offline with my home Node-RED. But, for the life of me the only way I can find to do it is to have the Tuya Dev Platform.

It seems that platform has drastically changed and it appears that you only get a 30d trial period after which you have to pay?

Not sure if there is any other way but I've not been able to work it out.

In case you are interested, the sensors are:

They were cheap and Tuya seemed the best quick win at the time. They've done fine for remote monitoring so I can't really complain. But it is annoying if there is no other way to use them.

2

I have no idea if it will work with these devices but I use node-red-contrib-tuya-smart-device with a few Tuya wifi devices (Power monitor SO & coloured lamp). Still works for me. (complicated initial setup)

3

This is the only sensible decision.

Tuya zigbee devices are most of the time flaky. Heavy talkers on zigbee...
Tuya wifi usually needs a hack to work without tuya cloud. Free or not free, is "almost" a second level problem.

If doable, on this particular device, try installing ESPHome. That's the only long term workable solution.

4

Tried that, the CLI gives me this error:

There was an issue fetching that device. Make sure your account is linked and the ID is correct.

The device(s) are linked and the ID is copied from the Tuya dev website. I've tried 2 other nodes as well - both of them baulked on the fact that I don't have a current license (my trial ran out).

I guess if you have one that is already working, it will continue for now - at least until Tuya make further changes to lock you out.

Unfortunately, they are sealed units with no available info.

THe Temperature & Humidity sensor probably isn't worth bothering with but the Pinafresa Tuya WiFi MmWave Human Presence Sensor Microwave Radar Detection PIR Motion Sensor + Luminance Wall Mount : Amazon.co.uk: DIY & Tools might be worth firing up Home Assistant for to see if I can get that working. It is pretty sensitive. Though mounted 1/2 way down my Mum's through living/dining room, it would pick up the postman at the front door on its most sensitive settings.

5

Depending on the chips used, you may be able to the use the libretiny project to convert it to an ESPHome based device

6

Hi Julian,
I have quite a few Tuya devices—as you said, they're cheap and work well, but they're tied to the Tuya cloud. I have two types of devices:

  • those permanently plugged into mains power: smart plugs, ceiling fans.
  • those running on battery: temperature/humidity sensors.

As you, all are Wi-Fi enabled.

For the mains-powered devices, I use: node-red-contrib-tuya-devices (node) - Node-RED.
As for the battery-operated ones, they sleep most of the time, and the node-red-contrib-tuya-devices node struggles to pick them up when they wake up; sometimes, data is only reported once a day. I regularly make HTTP requests to openapi.tuyaeu.com (using tokens, etc.), but that relies on the cloud—which I know you don't like :wink:

Getting back to your issue: I’ve also encountered the "trial period expired" error. If we're talking about the same thing, here is what I do to extend the trial period:
Go to : cloud > cloud service > iot core > view details

cloud-cloud service- iot core-view details
cloud-cloud service- iot core-view details1313×567 69.6 KB

You might have a session that has expired or been suspended there ?

And clic: Extend trial period

extend trial period
extend trial period1314×582 69.1 KB

I hope this works for you. :crossed_fingers:

To take things further and break free from Tuya—there is indeed LibreTiny and CloudCutter (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFsuza3UAhk&t=31s), but also OpenBeken (named after the Wi-Fi chips found in those cheap Chinese gadgets):
https://openbekeniot.github.io/webapp/devicesList.html.
With CloudCutter and OpenBeken, it’s possible to break away from the Tuya ecosystem (without soldering): https://youtu.be/16UpLNC4pos
Worth a try!

Cheers!

Chris

7

Ah! Well, that appears to be the place I needed to go to in order to get a 1 year extension rather than a 1 month which the other arcane screens led me to. I suppose this is better than nothing. And now, I can actually get the data I need for both sensors.

So many thanks for that.

I will try out your other things as well - but not tonight, a beer is calling. :slight_smile:

8

Beer: 1, tuya :0 :laughing:

9

If one is a seazoned Node-Red user, i miss the point to go for Tuya. So many cons, not to say the cloud dependency.
I have a variety of this kind of sensors, and first check if a device is compatible with zigbee2mqtt, AND is listed on Supported Devices.
In the beginning i worked with native Aedes, but later switched to Mosquito.
"Cheap" is a good argument, but the waste of time and frustration afterwards is a pain in the butt.
Cheers.

10

Yes, this is what I normally do. But, as I said, I was in a hurry to fix up some security for an unoccupied house. I didn't have time to set up a Pi with Node-RED, etc and add compatible sensors. It wasn't even a cost issue since the estate can cover that, it was just immediate convenience. And it worked just fine for nearly a year. With temperature and humidity monitoring through the winter and presence detection along with an internal security camera, all cloud based.