38.4 HA Arlec Plug

20220823

Arlec smart plugs are Tuya devices and can be paired with the Tuya Smart app for Home Assistant compatibility. The Arlec devices support the Grid Connect app which looks like it is a skinned version of the Tuya Smart app. The specific plug purchased from Bunnings 2022-08-23 for $19.30 was a XXXXX, single socket/plug.

The app is required to set up the plug with WiFi. To place the plug in pairing mode it needs to be plugged in and hold the power switch on the devide for 5 seconds, until it quickly pulse. Whilst it is pulsing use the app to scan for the device, and then to connect it to WiFi. Best to connect to a Guest WiFi network since the firmware running on the plug is closed source and so it’s high risk to give it access to our home network.

Connect the phone to the Guest WiFi network to have the device offer to connect to the same Guest network. Only the WiFi that the phone is connected to is offered through the app.

Once paired, the plug could be turned off/on through the app. The power button on the plug itself can also be used to override any automation to turn the plug on/off.

In Home Assistant visit the Tuya integration to see the new device listed as PC191HA which can be renamed as required.

Create an automation that will turn the plug on from 8pm to 9pm daily, perhaps for a use case of turning on/off electric blankets in winter.

- id: '1661302863751'
  alias: Electric Blankets on 8pm
  description: ''
  trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: '20:00:00'
  condition: []
  action:
  - service: homeassistant.turn_on
    data: {}
    target:
      device_id: e87aef45ef54c5436058cd12249254de
  mode: single

- id: '1661302863715'
  alias: Electric Blankets off 9pm
  description: ''
  trigger:
  - platform: time
    at: '21:00:00'
  condition: []
  action:
  - service: homeassistant.turn_off
    data: {}
    target:
      device_id: e87aef45ef54c5436058cd12249254de
  mode: single

---

Your donation will support ongoing availability and give you access to the PDF version of this book. Desktop Survival Guides include Data Science, GNU/Linux, and MLHub. Books available on Amazon include Data Mining with Rattle and Essentials of Data Science. Popular open source software includes rattle, wajig, and mlhub. Hosted by Togaware, a pioneer of free and open source software since 1984. Copyright © 1995-2022 Graham.Williams@togaware.com Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0