I've been pulling what's left of my hair out trying to find a "self-hosted" power consumption analyzer and found both the Emporia Smart Plugs, as well as the Sonoff Smart Outlet. I didn't see a single comment that didn't have something to the tune of "I can't comment on the manufacturer's app, but Tasmota works great." Did a quick Google search, and your tutorial was the first one. Thank you so much for creating this video. It's nice to see a small community behind little projects like this, and especially to someone willing to lead those who want to learn to the light.
Awesome! Thanks for watching and I'm glad the video was helpful. Tasmota is an excellent way to keep your stuff local and not have to rely on cloud connections to get data.
Thanks for this video. I was looking for a how to and so many have bad sound and the videos aren't close enough to see what is going on. Plus a lot of chatter. This details is helpful! This will be my maiden voyage for flashing the IOT devices. I have flashed my 3D printer firmware and understand the basics of using ESP32s, ESP8266s and arduini but using the ftdi flasher will be a new experience!
Thank you for your nice video. The Tasmotizer software page has the "Send config" button. You can click on it after you flashed your firmware. By then you can set your router SSID/PW to config the S31. After that, if you further click the "Get IP", the S31 IP address will be display.
@@mostlychris Welcome as I just share what I have learned from SuperHouseTV and others. Can't get any credit. End of the day, I enjoyed your video and knowledge. Nice day.
Excellent video and achieved the end result of successfully flashing the Sonoff s31 with Tasmota. A couple of comments. Regarding the soldering operation, I was able to bypass any required soldered by using test clips on the four pads. The length of the conductive fingers on the test clips and the proximity of the pads relative to the edge of the PCB made this possible. The link to the firmware binaries was handy but spent some time searching around for what binary to use, the link had a number of binaries listed and was somewhat confusing to the newbie.
The send config section in tasmotizer is very handy day as well, can send the wifi, the template, and even the mqtt info on the second boot, that way you can skip the entire caprice portal part
Is hanged the exact same solder pad on my first try. Have not been able to recover it. Still working as a Sonoff device. On my second try, I used the spring loaded J hooks. Still a pain, but I got it working.
I can see the microscopic point in which that pad was connected to the trace. Super delicate. I wonder if I can get one of those j hooks to sit on that little spot just to the outside of the original pad location. Might be worth a try.
@@JimfromIndy I was told DigiBlur has a 3d printed jig that sits on the chip. I'm trying to find that and maybe I can use it. Otherwise, Sonoff it is. A schematic of that board would help too. I could find out what point that pad attaches.
which tasmota firmware are you supposed to use? that link that provided in the description lists about 20 different firmware options. i don't know which one to choose.
I was looking at this because a StackOverflow mentioned flashing a Sunoff as a good way to get a smart plug that could be operated with open protocols.... But, plugs exist that already support Tasmota with their original firmware for pretty much an identical price (actually cheaper). I suppose we live in a world where doing things for the sake of having the experience doing it is worthwhile, but if you just need an open protocol capable plug you can buy them as is.
@mostlychris I flash my S31 and add it to smartthings, but the device is still running on cloud, could you help to know if is there a way to run it locally ?
I flashed 2 Sonoff S31's today and low and behold they both have the same MAC address. I bought them as a 2 pack from Amazon. Wierd. I have looked all over for how to override the MAC on the 8266 and haven't really found a good solution. Any ideas?
Nice video. There is also a 3d printed jig you can use to hold the wires on the pad's but the leads @wstrater recommended looks like a better option. I have several S31's one thing I can recommend for soldering, don't be afraid to use flux on the pads it helps a lot.
Pretty sure the s31 lite zigbee model does NOT do power monitoring. I was looking at it last night and that was the impression I got. Would certainly be a lot easier to use a Zigbee version but alas at least for myself I need the power monitoring. It is the primary use of the device for me.
Digiblur and some others can 3D print a jig that will mount directly on the ESP8266 chip. I paid around $10 I think. Solder free and makes the process MUCH easier. Also, will allow you to get around your broken solder pad :)
I was able to scrape off the board and get to the pad at the "via". Just be careful and scrape-test-scrape until you get a good connection. I have a community post with a picture of the board with the scrape. I mention it in my live stream as well.
@@mostlychris I appreciate that. For some reason, I can't get Tosmotizer to to connect to the S31 using the same Moyina Serial converter that you're using. It tells me invalid head of packet every time. Edit: I think I figured it out. I feel so dumb now. Another video mentioned connecting the RX on the converter to the TX on the s31 and TX on the converter to RX on the S31. I’ll give it a test later, but that makes complete sense. ....Yep, that was my problem. Thanks Chris!
If you haven't found the trace yet, you can go right back to the ESP chip and connect to the Rx on the chip. The pads ,just connect to a trace that goes back to the Rx and Tx on the ESP chip.
I was never able to find that on the chip. To be fair, I didn't look at the chip specs. However, I was able to scrape my way through on the board and make contact with the trace connection point. That plug has been in service for Christmas tree lights since I got it fixed a couple of months ago.
I also broke the solder pad when i was flashing the sonoff... i just scratched off a bit of the pcb to expose the wire.. then i soldered a pin to that. it's a little janky but it works lol
Good tip. I bought some clips to prevent having to solder those and it didn't work to get signal to the pad. I'll try your method and see what happens. Here are the clips: amzn.to/2W8An70
@@mostlychris I would not use a pin header as removing something with multiple pins is harder than single pins (meaning higher risk of overheating pads). I used dupont wires with pins on one end to solder to the S31, and female on the other to plug into my FTDI adapter. I also replaced the plastic part (shroud) of the connector with a six position one so it is easy to plug/unplug on FTDI adapter without making connection errors. However, the best thing you can do to avoid damaging pads is using a temperature controlled soldering iron (weller we1010na is relatively cheap and is great for this; use small tip) so you do not overheat the pad. Howdy from Austin, TX!
This is a Most Excellent Tutorial.. Easy to follow.. And I've successfully Flashed my Sonoff S31. Now my problem is getting it to work in Home Assistant. I tried the MQTT thing and No Go, and Tasmota just doesn't interface without that part. So hoping you have something for an Entry user to follow or a link to another Tutorial. Thanks in Advance Anyone's for help.
@@mostlychris Hey thanks so much. I did get home assistant to finally recognize the Tasmota interface. It's actually pretty automatic with the newest version. I was puzzled for days however why it's didn't work. Then I recalled the old logic I used during my IT days. I restarted my Raspberry Pi that HA runs on and bingo it now works. 😊
I haven't tried this, but there is a ported version siytek.com/download-tasmotizer-for-mac/ Do your due diligence before using that since I haven't vetted it.
@@mostlychris No, unfortunately not. My problem is, that I started too early computing, with a Commodore Pet in 77, changing to Apple euro II in 79. Windows just came years later so I stuck to MAC all my life ( didn’t regret it ) but have never seen windows and don’t want to start now.
@@n.r.2258 I do Linux stuff myself. For my paying job I have to use some MS tools and it's just easier to do that. I have a LInux VM on my Windows box so I can do terminal stuff that way. There is a way to do this using the terminal on Mac. It's all command line based, which it sounds like you can handle.
True. But since I've heard so much about Tasmota I wanted to try it out. Same process (mostly) for other ESP type devices. I do have a Sonoff temp sensor for the freezer that uses native Sonoff and not Tasmota. Allows me to compare them a bit.
@@mostlychris Fair point Chris. I have the native integration with a couple of S31 plugs and it has been flawless. Thanks for all your videos, they are great and highly informative.
@@DominusEstOK The other problem is, that a lot of features of the sonoff are not supported in HA … i.e. the DUAL R2 are able to measure current and voltage … but HA doesn’t support it … just the 2 switches no matter if you use it local or via China.
@@DominusEstOK You're welcome on the videos. I enjoy making them. Good to hear on the Sonoff plugs. Every time I talk about my Sonoff device in the live stream somone brings up Tasmota so it was time.
@@n.r.2258 That will be in interesting comaparsion. As noted in the video, I ripped off a pad and can't flash my second plug--unless someone knows where the RX pad connects on the board--so I might have one Sonoff based and one Tasmota based.
I've been pulling what's left of my hair out trying to find a "self-hosted" power consumption analyzer and found both the Emporia Smart Plugs, as well as the Sonoff Smart Outlet. I didn't see a single comment that didn't have something to the tune of "I can't comment on the manufacturer's app, but Tasmota works great." Did a quick Google search, and your tutorial was the first one. Thank you so much for creating this video. It's nice to see a small community behind little projects like this, and especially to someone willing to lead those who want to learn to the light.
Awesome! Thanks for watching and I'm glad the video was helpful. Tasmota is an excellent way to keep your stuff local and not have to rely on cloud connections to get data.
Chris, great video! Will be referencing this one in my next one! The first time flashing for me was easy with this guide!
Excellent! Thanks for watching and referencing! I didn't see this comment until after our Twitter convo.
Thanks for the great tutorial. Other than soldering the wires on, this was a total piece of cake thanks to you.
Thanks for watching! You can avoid soldering with these: amzn.to/2Zk3mXl
@@mostlychris yessssss this made it 100% easier!
@@brenthendricks I just added a couple more plugs to my arsenal and from start to finish I was up and running in about 5 min with the clips vs solder.
Thanks for this video. I was looking for a how to and so many have bad sound and the videos aren't close enough to see what is going on. Plus a lot of chatter. This details is helpful! This will be my maiden voyage for flashing the IOT devices. I have flashed my 3D printer firmware and understand the basics of using ESP32s, ESP8266s and arduini but using the ftdi flasher will be a new experience!
Glad it was helpful! I try my best to be as detailed without too much "fluff". It's a delicate balance.
Thank you for your nice video. The Tasmotizer software page has the "Send config" button. You can click on it after you flashed your firmware. By then you can set your router SSID/PW to config the S31. After that, if you further click the "Get IP", the S31 IP address will be display.
Thanks and thanks for the tips! Nice name btw.
@@mostlychris Welcome as I just share what I have learned from SuperHouseTV and others. Can't get any credit. End of the day, I enjoyed your video and knowledge. Nice day.
Excellent video and achieved the end result of successfully flashing the Sonoff s31 with Tasmota. A couple of comments. Regarding the soldering operation, I was able to bypass any required soldered by using test clips on the four pads. The length of the conductive fingers on the test clips and the proximity of the pads relative to the edge of the PCB made this possible. The link to the firmware binaries was handy but spent some time searching around for what binary to use, the link had a number of binaries listed and was somewhat confusing to the newbie.
Thanks for the feedback. I also discovered the test clips based on another comment in here. I've been using those ever since.
The send config section in tasmotizer is very handy day as well, can send the wifi, the template, and even the mqtt info on the second boot, that way you can skip the entire caprice portal part
Is hanged the exact same solder pad on my first try. Have not been able to recover it. Still working as a Sonoff device. On my second try, I used the spring loaded J hooks. Still a pain, but I got it working.
I can see the microscopic point in which that pad was connected to the trace. Super delicate. I wonder if I can get one of those j hooks to sit on that little spot just to the outside of the original pad location. Might be worth a try.
@@mostlychris Believe me, I tried. Failed.
@@JimfromIndy I was told DigiBlur has a 3d printed jig that sits on the chip. I'm trying to find that and maybe I can use it. Otherwise, Sonoff it is. A schematic of that board would help too. I could find out what point that pad attaches.
why are there so many kwh in "energy today" ,14:22?
Needs an initial reset after flashing. That value isn't correct. I'd have to be running my own power station for that, lol.l
which tasmota firmware are you supposed to use? that link that provided in the description lists about 20 different firmware options. i don't know which one to choose.
I was looking at this because a StackOverflow mentioned flashing a Sunoff as a good way to get a smart plug that could be operated with open protocols.... But, plugs exist that already support Tasmota with their original firmware for pretty much an identical price (actually cheaper). I suppose we live in a world where doing things for the sake of having the experience doing it is worthwhile, but if you just need an open protocol capable plug you can buy them as is.
Yes. Now you can. At first, no, but then someone commercialized it. Tech is constantly changing.
can you get wattage with Tasmota?
Depends on the device. The S31 plug I flashed with Tasmota has voltage, current, apparent power, reactive power, power factor, and kWh.
@mostlychris I flash my S31 and add it to smartthings, but the device is still running on cloud, could you help to know if is there a way to run it locally ?
If you flashed it with Tasmota, it shouldn't be on the cloud anymore. Can you verify that it actually got flashed?
Looks like adafruit pogo plug device could clamp on the pins for flashing
I got one of these pogo plugs & was able to clamp it on the pads witout soldering & move to the next one
I flashed 2 Sonoff S31's today and low and behold they both have the same MAC address. I bought them as a 2 pack from Amazon. Wierd. I have looked all over for how to override the MAC on the 8266 and haven't really found a good solution. Any ideas?
Someone messed up! Maybe Sonoff will send you another to replace the cloned one. Sounds like these might even be forgeries.
Nice video. There is also a 3d printed jig you can use to hold the wires on the pad's but the leads @wstrater recommended looks like a better option. I have several S31's one thing I can recommend for soldering, don't be afraid to use flux on the pads it helps a lot.
Thanks! So many options. I need to make a video about soldering those pads 😁
What is the advantage of using this over the sonoff s31 lite? The ZigBee model.
Not sure there is any advantage. It's WiFi based. Since I haven't used the S31 lite, I can't answer authoritatively.
Pretty sure the s31 lite zigbee model does NOT do power monitoring. I was looking at it last night and that was the impression I got. Would certainly be a lot easier to use a Zigbee version but alas at least for myself I need the power monitoring. It is the primary use of the device for me.
Digiblur and some others can 3D print a jig that will mount directly on the ESP8266 chip. I paid around $10 I think. Solder free and makes the process MUCH easier. Also, will allow you to get around your broken solder pad :)
Ooohh. That would work! Lemme find that jig.
do you have a link?
I just pulled off a pad on mine too. How do you flash it now? I ordered some of those J clamps for the rest of my plug project.
I was able to scrape off the board and get to the pad at the "via". Just be careful and scrape-test-scrape until you get a good connection. I have a community post with a picture of the board with the scrape. I mention it in my live stream as well.
@@mostlychris thanks I’ll try that
@@mostlychris I appreciate that. For some reason, I can't get Tosmotizer to to connect to the S31 using the same Moyina Serial converter that you're using. It tells me invalid head of packet every time.
Edit: I think I figured it out. I feel so dumb now. Another video mentioned connecting the RX on the converter to the TX on the s31 and TX on the converter to RX on the S31. I’ll give it a test later, but that makes complete sense.
....Yep, that was my problem. Thanks Chris!
Glad you were able to get it going! Using those clips will prevent future soldering mishaps.
Thanks, this worked like a champ.
Great to hear! You're welcome!
If you haven't found the trace yet, you can go right back to the ESP chip and connect to the Rx on the chip. The pads ,just connect to a trace that goes back to the Rx and Tx on the ESP chip.
I was never able to find that on the chip. To be fair, I didn't look at the chip specs. However, I was able to scrape my way through on the board and make contact with the trace connection point. That plug has been in service for Christmas tree lights since I got it fixed a couple of months ago.
I also broke the solder pad when i was flashing the sonoff... i just scratched off a bit of the pcb to expose the wire.. then i soldered a pin to that. it's a little janky but it works lol
Good tip. I bought some clips to prevent having to solder those and it didn't work to get signal to the pad. I'll try your method and see what happens. Here are the clips: amzn.to/2W8An70
@@mostlychris I would not use a pin header as removing something with multiple pins is harder than single pins (meaning higher risk of overheating pads). I used dupont wires with pins on one end to solder to the S31, and female on the other to plug into my FTDI adapter. I also replaced the plastic part (shroud) of the connector with a six position one so it is easy to plug/unplug on FTDI adapter without making connection errors. However, the best thing you can do to avoid damaging pads is using a temperature controlled soldering iron (weller we1010na is relatively cheap and is great for this; use small tip) so you do not overheat the pad. Howdy from Austin, TX!
This is a Most Excellent Tutorial.. Easy to follow.. And I've successfully Flashed my Sonoff S31. Now my problem is getting it to work in Home Assistant. I tried the MQTT thing and No Go, and Tasmota just doesn't interface without that part. So hoping you have something for an Entry user to follow or a link to another Tutorial. Thanks in Advance Anyone's for help.
Does it show in your local network? I've also flashed these with Tasmota. Is your HA running ESPHome on the same network as your plug?
Looks like YT deleted your reply but I see it in email. Jump on Discord for more discussion so the comments don't get lost.
@@mostlychris Hey thanks so much. I did get home assistant to finally recognize the Tasmota interface. It's actually pretty automatic with the newest version. I was puzzled for days however why it's didn't work. Then I recalled the old logic I used during my IT days. I restarted my Raspberry Pi that HA runs on and bingo it now works. 😊
CTRL-ALT-DEL FTW
@@mostlychris Indeed a very high tech approach. LoL 🥴
great video. Is this only for the S31 or does it work with S31 lite also ?
Looks like it does. templates.blakadder.com/sonoff_S31-lite.html
Awesome vid, thanks! Just curious what router/interface is that?
If you are talking about the list of clients I show, I'm getting that from the Unifi USG.
It's a shame that this is always done with software that doesn't run on the MAC. (Tasmotizer)
I haven't tried this, but there is a ported version siytek.com/download-tasmotizer-for-mac/ Do your due diligence before using that since I haven't vetted it.
@@mostlychris
Thanks for the reply but it can’t be the solution, first to port Windows onto the Mac, just to run a tiny App.
Thought it was just a dmg that you could install natively on the mac.
@@mostlychris
No, unfortunately not. My problem is, that I started too early computing, with a Commodore Pet in 77, changing to Apple euro II in 79.
Windows just came years later so I stuck to MAC all my life ( didn’t regret it ) but have never seen windows and don’t want to start now.
@@n.r.2258 I do Linux stuff myself. For my paying job I have to use some MS tools and it's just easier to do that. I have a LInux VM on my Windows box so I can do terminal stuff that way. There is a way to do this using the terminal on Mac. It's all command line based, which it sounds like you can handle.
There are a couple of pad repair videos here, eg th-cam.com/video/xty1G5UBYb0/w-d-xo.html
Thanks! I'll check them out. I need a couple more plugs and I want to use the one I destroyed.
With Home Assistant you don't need to flash Tasmota anymore for local control of Sonoff devices.
True. But since I've heard so much about Tasmota I wanted to try it out. Same process (mostly) for other ESP type devices. I do have a Sonoff temp sensor for the freezer that uses native Sonoff and not Tasmota. Allows me to compare them a bit.
@@mostlychris Fair point Chris. I have the native integration with a couple of S31 plugs and it has been flawless. Thanks for all your videos, they are great and highly informative.
@@DominusEstOK
The other problem is, that a lot of features of the sonoff are not supported in HA … i.e. the DUAL R2 are able to measure current and voltage … but HA doesn’t support it … just the 2 switches no matter if you use it local or via China.
@@DominusEstOK You're welcome on the videos. I enjoy making them. Good to hear on the Sonoff plugs. Every time I talk about my Sonoff device in the live stream somone brings up Tasmota so it was time.
@@n.r.2258 That will be in interesting comaparsion. As noted in the video, I ripped off a pad and can't flash my second plug--unless someone knows where the RX pad connects on the board--so I might have one Sonoff based and one Tasmota based.