Tuya devices is manufactured by many differents companies in order to keep the costs of those devices low. Tuya devices are often used in products like smart plugs, smart fans, and smart bulb. These devices are often design to connect to the internet to allow the user to control those devices through a mobile application.
However, many of those devices use Tuya’s own cloud server to interpret the commands that is sent to those devices, which can cause those devices to experience latency in responding to those commands or to those devices altogether if the internet connection is lost. When using the standard cloud integration for devices like Home Assistant, the commands that are sent to the Tuya devices must first travel to the Tuya cloud servers, be process by those cloud servers, and then the response from the cloud servers must travel back to the Tuya devices in order for those devices to perform the required action. This process introduces latency and reduces the privacy of the user in that it sends their information to a third party.
Using Local Tuya with Home Assistant
The alternative to utilizing the standard cloud integration for Home Assistant are known as Local Tuya. Local Tuya allow for Home Assistant to communicate direct with the Tuya devices without the need to travel to the Tuya cloud servers. This process ensures that Tuya devices respond to commands at more faster rates and that the Tuya devices are still able to function even if the user is without access to the internet.
In order to utilize Local Tuya, however, the user will have to access the Tuya developer account for each Tuya device to access its local encryption key. Additionally, the router that controls the network to which the Tuya devices are connected will have to provide each Tuya device with static IP address within the settings. Without static IP address for each Tuya device, those Tuya devices may change there IP addresses without notice, severing the connection between the users Home Assistant installation and those Tuya devices.
Not all Tuya devices are created equally in relation to using Local Tuya. Some devices are easier to setup than others. For instance, smart plugs with built-in energy monitoring features may work well with Local Tuya, but some multi-way switch may require the use of the cloud integration instead.
For devices that contain an ESP chip, however, software like ESPHome or Tasmota can be used to replace the software that come with the Tuya device. By using software like ESPHome or Tasmota, the Tuya devices will be able to communicate with Home Assistant without relying upon Tuya’s cloud servers or local encryption key. Additionally, using these type of custom firmware will eliminate the need for the user to search for and enter the encryption keys for each device.
For these types of devices, however, the user will have to know the chip type of each Tuya device prior to purchasing the devices. The process of establishing Local Tuya is systematic in its requirements of the user. For instance, the user must first establish an account with the Tuya developers and link the Tuya devices to that account.
Following the establishment of the account, the user will have to install the Local Tuya integration software for Home Assistant via a custom repository manager. Finally, the user will have to enter the device ID and encryption keys for each of the Tuya devices into the settings for the Local Tuya integration within Home Assistant. Without static IP addresses for the Tuya devices, however, the user will likely forget to provide those static IP addresses within the router settings for the Tuya devices.
Therefore, if the user forgets to provide static IP address for the Tuya devices, those Tuya devices may change their IP addresses, which will sever the connection between Home Assistant and the Tuya devices. Depending upon the type of Tuya devices that are to be utilized in the smart home, a user may choose different method of integration and automation. For instance, the user may choose to utilize the cloud integration for certain device, but use Local Tuya for devices that are used more frequent in the smart home.
Additionally, if any of the devices have ESP chip, they can be controlled using the custom firmware software mentioned above in order to reach the highest level of control over the Tuya devices. By using both the Local Tuya technology and the custom firmware software, the smart home will function entire within the local network of the smart home and will remain functional even if there is an outage in the power or internet access to that smart home.