Flashing many Tuya BK7231N Devices with OpenBK for Offline Control in Home Assistant

Question

Hello I am new to the field of Home Assistant automation. I have around 19 devices for my new home, all of them Tuya devices, bought on Temu. Yes, maybe it was not the best choice, but they were cheap, and I was full of enthusiasm to buy them since I moved into my new house. Rented house. So, I...

p.kaczmarek2 · Answer

They should be more or less okay, just remember to use PowerSave (PowerSave 1 startup command) featured by OBK, otherwise capacitors may fail quickly: Battery-powered devices with WiFi are hard to flash and reprogram. This is firmware-agnostic issue, no matter whether you use Tasmota or anything else. This also depends on whether your device is using tuyamcu or deep sleep, you'd need to check it first. I always recommend Zigbee for battery-powered devices. Still, OBK should work, we have some threads on that. We also have some nice features for battery powered devices, like quick connect by @insmod . In my opinion, it's relatively easier to convert battery powered device to deep sleep (without MCU) than to use it with TuyaMCU feature. Flashing and usage should be easy, the only question is the curtain configuration script. We have some sample scripts for OpenBeken, but I didn't try them yet. If they are not good enough for you, then we can create a better one together. I can help, as long as you do the testing. It should be very easy, just remember about PowerSave. Battery powered devices using only WiFi module with OBK are easily configurable, you can set sleep time easily in autoexec.bat script. In my opinion, this is not related to OpenBeken - Battery powered WiFi devices are hard to flash in general, Zigbee is much easier and efficient. It depends on how much you want to play around it, Zigbee works instantly. It depends on various factors, sometimes it may drain a little bit faster, but if you have a device without TuyaMCU, and you set longer sleep time in OBK (deepsleep command) you can actually have longer battery life. This is easily configurable in battery powered devices which don't have TuyaMCU. Plugs are very easy to flash and convert, no problems there. Just remember about power save. Curtains controller requires futher setup for the logic, but there are some samples around for it, and I think I can help with devising a driver for that as well, as long as you also have a basic grasps of how it should work (I will write the code). I don't have curtains myself. Battery powered devices are up to discussion. It's worth to check if they are TuyaMCU first. Maybe we could try to convert one and decide then. I know some people who are using OBK in battery devices without any problems, but it's not as easy as with plugs. I don't use CEN, only GND, 3.3V, RX and TX. Also, make sure there is nothing connected to RX/TX. TuyaMCU devices have MCu connected there, so this may be an issue. Photo? Probably 3.3V from CH340G can't supply enough current, you may need extra LDO. OBK has good MQTT support for HA, and configuration is more or less easy. I don't know about curtains, as I didn't use them, but for sensors and plugs the HA discovery should handle all. Sure, share everything you have.

eltigre4jc · Answer

Thank you, sirYou are very kind answering me in such a detailed way. I was not expecting this and thought my post will get lost between the hundreds of other posts.After reading your comments, I am a little in doubt if I should start flashing, especially the battery-powered devices. For the others (plugs, curtain switch), I can already skip them, since I made them work locally in Home Assistant and blocked the Internet and DNS calls for them.In my mind, as an unknowledgeable person, I thought I will connect to the PC, flash the device, and some configuration and that was all. But, of course, it is not as easy as it sounds.Anyway, I will proceed to flashing. That is how I will learn, even if it will be painful.I also attached all the JSON files with all the information I have extracted from Tuya IoT Platform, and can I please ask you to take a short look, especially at the battery-powered devices, to see if you can confirm that they indeed contain an MCU? Meanwhile, I am still waiting for my tools (BRm frame and USB adapter) to ship to my location before I can continue the journeySpoiler: Show Here is an archive with all the JSON files. I could not attach them to the post, since I probably do not have the rights

insmod · Answer

>>21730390 Remember to make and keep backups for battery-powered devices. If you use common alkaline batteries or nickel batteries, and if they are almost fully discharged - device can enter a loop, where it tries to enable wifi, and since batteries are almost discharged, voltage drops too low and device reboots. In some cases it can brick a device, and full backup restore is needed. I didn't observe this behaviour with lithium AAA batteries. My door sensor with ni-mh batteries is still good after almost a year (with flags for fast connect enabled). It triggers about 10-15 times a day. Spoiler: Show

eltigre4jc · Answer

I have 2500 mAh, 1.2 V, HR6 NiMH batteries, rechargeable and 1000 mAh, 1.2 V, HR03 NiMH And I am planning to recharge them maybe once a month or once 2 months, just to be sure I have enough power.And for sure I will back up to everything. Because I also know for sure I will break things on my first attemptThank you

DeDaMrAz · Answer

This graph may be useful as it represents a Wi-Fi converted temperature sensor that's been on the long term testing for quick connect feature. In my setup it reports data every 15 minutes and is powered by a single second-hand Li-Ion 18650 cell. Almost 2 months now on a single incomplete charge, outdoors and now even with close to freezing temperatures. EDIT: ignore the flatline part of the graph, that's me switching and changing my wifi setup.

eltigre4jc · Answer

Thank you for the graph.I received my tools to start flashing and see what I get. So, as soon as I get some time to play with the flashing, I will do it and post the updates here.

eltigre4jc · Answer

So, I tried today to flash a curtain switch controller, but without success.The controller has BK7231N chip on a CB2S board.I tried using pogo pins linked to UART CH340, and an external power source to power with 3.3 V and 500 mAI tried power on/power off, but the bus was not recognizedI tried pressing the pai button on the device; bus still not recognizedI tried making a short between CEN and GND; bus still not recognized.And after some hours, and many tries, I gave up. Maybe the curtain controller is special as stated above.I will try with something else, maybe a plug or a battery-powered device.Thank you

DeDaMrAz · Answer

@eltigre4jc Simple check, how did you connect Rx and Tx to the module?

eltigre4jc · Answer

I tried with TX => RX2 and RX => TX1, and also TX => TX1 and RX => RX2.All kinds of combinations and also tried asking ChatGPT and Gemini.

DeDaMrAz · Answer

Bad idea 😉 Connect CH340 RX to TX1 and CH340 TX to RX1, check ground and 3v3, measure they are present on the module and after connecting it all short CEN pin to GND or module shield.

eltigre4jc · Answer

I tried the combination you said, but it did not work. Either my connections were weak or imperfect, or something else which I could not discover The power source showed that the module was consuming 6 mA. I had 2 LEDs lit up on the UART converter (power and data transfer), but still the bus could not be read.Maybe I will try again when I try to flash some other type of device.Thank you again.

p.kaczmarek2 · Answer

Or maybe you have this strange WiFi module version with badly labeled pads, can you show a photo?

Flashing many Tuya BK7231N Devices with OpenBK for Offline Control in Home Assistant

Post #1

Post #2

Post #3

Post #4

Post #5

Post #6

Post #7

Post #8

Post #9

Post #10

Post #11

Post #12

Post #13

Didn't find an answer? Ask Artificial Intelligence

Topic summary