question

Have you done a quick search on the subject here?

I did a topic to help get people started. If you get stuck after this, ask some specifics and I will try help.

https://community.victronenergy.com/questions/225863/working-with-tuya-and-node-red.html

Hi Nick, Yes I have followed your post and it helped me get some of the detail that got me this far.

However I admit I am a dummy when it comes to Node-Red and I have no idea how you set up each of the items in your flow

So for example can you help me set up a simple flow to turn the Geyser On and Off and document what has to be changed in each element of the flow so it talks to my device and my Tuya Cloud App Account.

With that as a first step then we can start looking at how we read SOC of the Battery and add that into the flow and then the same for Solar Output

Keith

As a noob, the best place to start before jumping into the deep end will be to get a feel for nodered, the basics and the victron nodes.

There are 3 short webinars that will help.

Here is part one, two and three are on the same page:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_iaciqn_Fg

There is a good cookbook as well to help with context:

https://cookbook.nodered.org/

Just fiddle a bit getting some basic flows going, pulling data from victron nodes etc.

For Tuya, particularly water heating applications, I recommend creating a smart scene in the smart life app.

Set it to look for when power drops beneath a low value ~100W and have it turn the device off. The scope will be every day 24 hours a day.

With this, any time you manually or remotely turn the appliance on, tuya will automatically turn it off when it is at temp. This Guarantees one heating cycle, then you don't have to worry about additional logic in node red.

You want to use the smart device node, not the hub, this means comms are on your local network, not via the cloud which is way too slow.

Tuya devices send and receive data in registers referred to as dps, with each register numbered from 1 upwards.

Using their iot site you can query your device and see which registers it supports, a simple one will be power on/off, power consumption etc.

You will get and set these register values to control your device using inject nodes and functions.

The device node has two outputs, the top one is the data output (it is quite chatty and will continuously send info while it is running) the bottom one is the connection state.

You need to give your devices a fixed IP, and then you just configure that and the local key for nodered to be able to communicate with the device.

If you look at my sample flow I have many inject nodes which shows the format for turning a device on/off or forcing it to connect/disconnect and fetching the state and power consumption.

It is fairly basic JSON stuff:

{
    "operation": "GET",
    "payload": {
        "dps": 23
    }
}

If you inject this, it will fetch the value of dps register 23, which is power consumption.

If I go to the API explorer on iot.tuya.com and go to device control, query device and pop in its device ID it will show me the capabilities:

{
  "result": {
    "properties": [
      {
        "code": "switch_1",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 1,
        "time": 1695804285115,
        "value": false
      },
      {
        "code": "countdown_1",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 7,
        "time": 1695804285115,
        "value": 0
      },
      {
        "code": "cycle_time",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 17,
        "time": 1610969931673,
        "value": ""
      },
      {
        "code": "random_time",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 18,
        "time": 1610969931673,
        "value": ""
      },
      {
        "code": "add_ele",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 20,
        "time": 1695389979000,
        "value": 67
      },
      {
        "code": "cur_current",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 21,
        "time": 1695804295141,
        "value": 0
      },
      {
        "code": "cur_voltage",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 22,
        "time": 1696056671637,
        "value": 2339
      },
      {
        "code": "cur_power",
        "custom_name": "",
        "dp_id": 23,
        "time": 1695804295141,
        "value": 0
      }
    ]
  },
  "success": true,
  "t": 1696061259746,
  "tid": "6c7ec57f5f6811ee95454a52bad04d54"
}

dp_id is the dps register number, so you can use this list for pulling/setting info.

On nodered load the dashboard nodes you can use this to create a custom dashboard and render the data you pull, or provide an interface to set them.

You can load nodes via manage pallette: node-red-dashboard

So start here, if you get stuck let me know.

When you can successfully fetch and set data on your device, then you can start on more complicated logic using functions.

Hi Nick,

Ok, apart from the cookbook I have viewed all of the above mentioned sites already and I keep coming back to my original question.

Where can you get a step by step instruction on setting up a flow where there is an explanation of the parameters that need to be set for each step of the flow generation. And then when you have built a flow how to insert it into a working system.

Now you mention about jumping into the deep end

i have watched all the YouTube videos, I have read a large number of posts and they may be great for someone who has been playing with Nodered for some time but they don’t solve my problem.

Unfortunately I am not at home at the moment and I probably won’t be back there for maybe another ten days. I was trying to learn and set up a flow using nodered on my system at home but using it to operate a test Geyser that I have here with me. so I could learn whilst I was away. I see your comment on the cloud being too slow but I have found the cloud switching from the Tuya app to be almost instantaneous so I wanted to set up a working flow that I could test without the Geyser actually being installed at home, just plugged into local power here locally.

Based on your comments and my circumstances could I ask for your assistance as follows

If I give you my device ID ( <<moderated>>) could you please set up a flow that you can export and I can import as a start point

If you can make it work with the cloud then I can test it here otherwise if you can make it work on a local IP then please use 10.0.0.35 and I will have to wait till I get home to test.

If you can give me your email address I can send you additional detail on my Tuya App Account and IOT Account if that helps

My Email Is << moderated >>

What country are you in ??

Hi Keith, I'm going to edit out your email else you're going to get spammed.

The simple answer is there is no step by step to building a specific flow, it has to be pieced together from different sources.

The cloud node limits the number/speed of requests, so when you want to frequently probe or check a devices status, it can be done that way, it just isn't ideal. For a remote learning exercise it will be fine.

It's best to define the logic you need.

Turning it on/off a X time, that is easy. Linking that to a victron status, also fairly easy.

Generally the more complex part is adding error handling to deal with exceptions, but that is something to worry about later.

Can you detail a specific scenario and I can try provide a flow where you can just plug in your device details.

If you can log onto iot.tuya.com and go to the cloud section where you created a project and linked your devices, and use its API explorer to query the device from device control menu (just enter the device ID, the other parameter can be left blank) that will help as you need to know what registers it uses. It's in the same general area you used to find the local key.

I am in sunny South Africa.

Hi Nick, Well I guess SA explains why you were up so late the other night.

Now that you have my email address ( and thanks for editing it out) Maybe we can use email to send detailed info as it is required. If you are happy please send me an email so we can set up that link

Now back to the logic.

Most applications I can foresee involve a switching application of some sort so my learning plan was to start with a simple switching flow ( On/ Off) to insert and check the operation of the device.

Next was to add a monitoring function eg SOC of the battery to add as a required parameter ( learn the function application)

Next was add a second monitoring function (Output of Solar Inverter) and learn how to combine the functions of the two monitoring criteria.

Also I liked your monitoring of the power drop when the water heater reaches temp and cuts off, so probably include that as well.

I figured by the time I learn how all that goes together I will hopefully understand enough of NodeRed and Tuya to be able to start experimenting with other ideas.

I just figured if Tuya is becoming such a major player in the cloud based switching and monitoring arena it was time to learn the interaction with Victron and NodeRed

If you can help me get to achieve the above I would be extremely grateful

Understanding enough of NodeRed and Tuya and then how to make it all operational is my goal.

Keith

Hi Nick, Seems to be lost in cyberspace. I don’t have it anywhere.

Address has two “m”’s and one “n” - correct ?

I run a Microsoft Exchange Server and for some reason some emails sent from gmail based accounts don’t seem to arrive. If you are gmail based can you send from a different address and I will reply from my emergency hotmail account so we can use that in future

Thanks

Keith

Hi Nick, As it seems that we cannot establish email contact is there any chance you can export a copy of your flow and post it here then I can import it and adjust values to accept my device and system

That hotmail address is “commnetaust”