Introducing: Smart Life (Tuya) conditions!

Back in May we launched the first part of our integration with Tuya, but that release only included actions and you could not setup conditions with your Tuya devices…until today!

What’s included in this release

With this new release, you’ll now be able to create:

  • Conditions with your Smart Life (Tuya) devices: create rules for your logic that depend on the status of your devices. For example, only allow your logic to run if the power consumption recorded by your smart plug is under a specific threshold.
  • Conditions that trigger Logicblocks depending on the status of your device: for example, trigger Logicblocks when you turn on a smart plug, a PIR sensor detects a presence or a light bulb is switched on.

What’s not included in this release

During our tests we’ve learned that Tuya devices can be configured in many, many different ways. We are displaying the statuses that can be used in Conditions that the device manufacturer included during the development of the device. This means that you might be missing some statuses for some devices. If you think there is something wrong with your devices, you can always reach out to us and we’ll have a look at your config.

We have created a thread to curate a list of well-configured devices, so you’ll know beforehand how these devices are operating. You can also contribute to expanding the list letting us know about your current devices.

What’s next?!

Tell us what you’d like to see next to control your home automations just how you want it.

We want to introduce a new concept of devices to Apilio, that will allow you to check the status of different devices and variables in one place. Maybe you’d like us to focus on expanding the Tuya actions first, or on a different integration? We are all :eyes: and :ear::ear:

One last thing…

The whole Apilio team would like to thank our families and partners for enduring weeks of chaotic Tuya testing at our homes, during which a seemingly unending stream of new test Tuya devices were added to our dwellings, where all existing Logicblocks were disabled or modified beyond recognition, and some lights and switches were turning on and off at unexpected times of the day, all in the name of Quality Assessment :pray: Thanks a bunch.

:bulb: Related articles

4 Likes

Thanks for this! I will give it a try in hopes that the Tuya triggers are more reliable here than they were with IFTTT.

2 Likes

Hi @rached! We are super happy with the fast response times :running_woman:! Let us know how your tests go :slight_smile: We are here and happy to help!

Great job on the Tuya conditions. As a total newbie, and after discovering Apilio only a couple days ago, I probably take for granted something that already required a lot of sweat, blood, and tears.
Nonetheless, my request is to be able to retrieve and to use the value retrieved in the Tuya condition. That means in the event:
„Tuya condition ‘condition_name’ changed. The status ‘Tuya variable’ for device ‘Tuya device 1’ was updated to 100.0 by Tuya.“ I would like to be able to recover or to use the value „100.0“.
Ideally, the value „100.0“ could be passed on to IFTTT as one of the variables in the related logicblock.

3 Likes

Great input! This is a known limitation and we will consider offering more options going forward.

I’d like to second this!
Example a) a Tuya temperature sensor with an Apilio condition on >= -20 to trigger IFTTT… I would like to pass IFTTT the temperature value.
Example b) two Tuya temperature sensors, and I’d like to calculate the difference in temperature. If I can pass the temperature to IFTTT, I can pass that back to Apilio to set a numeric variable, with a condition to trigger an IFTTT action.

[Also for example b) it would be really useful to be able to set an Apilio variable from a condition directly…]

1 Like

Hi @joelblogs,
great input, thanks!
I guess if you could use the temperature input of another sensor when creating a Tuya condition, your problem would be solved as well (without having to handle variables at all).
Like: If temperature of sensor_1 is higher then temperature of sensor_2 => condition is true

2 Likes

I just noticed this history item:

Tuya condition ‘office_door_temp_change’ changed. The status ‘Va temperature’ for device ‘Office Door’ was updated to 1920.0 by Tuya.

compared to

Tuya condition ‘office_heater_temp_change’ changed. The status ‘Temp current’ for device ‘Office heater’ was updated to 17.0 by Tuya.

I notice that for some temperature sensors - those that record fractions of a degree of accuracy - they seem to return an integer of the value multiplied by 100, rather than a proper decimal value. If this isn’t a decimal bug in Apilio, the ability to scale these values would be extremely useful in any conditions we get to create.

Thanks again!

Joel

1 Like

if you could use the temperature input of another sensor when creating a Tuya condition

That would also be awesome! :blush:

1 Like

Those are probably two different types of devices, right?
Because the Tuya platform is very open and covers a huge range of device types and different implementations, we only see/understand what the API delivers.
So in this case, it is probably that one device is better implemented than the other. But we are thinking about ways to “fix” this on our side with some creative methods.

2 Likes

Those are probably two different types of devices, right?

Correct :blush:

They’re both Zigbee devices via a Tuya hub, but one has an LCD display and the other does not. The device with the display has the 2 decimal places precision.

2 Likes

Hello all. I am new to Tuya with Apilio. I have a hub and two sensors working, but can only make a condition on the door sensor. The motion sensor shows up but will not allow me to configure. Please see



and give any advice, I would appreciate it.

Thanks,

Daniel Louque

1 Like

Hi Daniel,

I checked the logs and there is a problem with this specific device (type) on the Tuya/Smart Life end.
When Apilio asks the Tuya API for device options, the API answers with an error. So we can’t do anything about it.
What device brand / model is it?

1 Like

Thanks for reply, appreciate the quick response. Please see attached info about the PIR.

Daniel

1 Like

I have a visually similar motion sensor, but from another brand.
We have had other cases in the past where the brand company does not setup these devices correctly with Tuya, which can result in it not working with Apilio.

What is the brand and how can i test it?

Thanks

Daniel

One that works well is this one: https://www.amazon.de/-/en/SNZB-03-Wireless-switching-batteries-included/dp/B08BCKHSB7
The one similar to your was called OWSOO Super Mini Tuya Powered ZigBee PIR, but it’s not on Amazon anymore.