tuya-convert VS dustcloud

First of all I've tried Tuya-Convert but it was never able to find the device. I've also tried TuyOTA with similar results, it just seems like it can't detect the device at all - neither in pairing mode, nor in normal operation mode.

I was about to say a similar thing. Companies closing off their devices with paywall and other closed API are calling for a hack. I found this repo on GitHub

Mit tuya-convert.

Is it possible to run custom firmware on them? Like using https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert (not sure if this one is compatible with the newer lamps). Or maybe something else?

If it has an ESP chip, it probably won't OTA with https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert since that doesn't work on recent Tuya firmware, hence the blakadder page showing manual flashing.

> They cost >2x the Meross ones. Got 2. They work so far. Crossing my fingers they're legit, though my guess is they won't last.

FYI - there are cheap Tuya devices that can be flashed with alternative firmware[1] which works locally. More generically, there a lot of ESP32-based switches that work with Tasmota open-source firmware[2]. There breadth of devices is annoying because it makes configuration difficult because because different manufacturer wire up the relays differently, so it took me trial and error to figue out which device "port" the firmware needs to toggle to turn the switch on/off

1. https://github.com/ct-Open-Source/tuya-convert

2. https://github.com/tasmota

If you're already comfortable with Docker, setting up ESPHome and Home Assistant should be fairly easy for you, and will unlock lots of options. Depending on the hardware revision of your smartbubls, you might even be able to use Tuya-Convert to install ESPHome or Tasmota on your existing bulbs, and completely cut ties with Tuya and the cloud.

but here's instructions on how to root: https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/wiki/VacuumRobots-manual-update-root-Howto

A few of the Xaiomi's and Viomi's are rootable. I have a Gen1 Xaiomi and it's brilliant. I got ssh access to the ubuntu install and installed https://github.com/Hypfer/Valetudo and run it 100% local via my home-assistant install.

dgiese is a proficient vacuum security researcher and has most of that stuff available here: https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud

Here you go: https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/wiki/Supported-Devices

The very first thing I did on my old Xiaomi Gen1 was to root it with information from this repo https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/wiki

It's come a long way since the early days and with valetudo it's really easy and convenient to hook the vacuum up to Home Assistant. It's actually one of the reasons I was recommending Xiaomi vacuum cleaners to friends and family. Unfortunately they have recently changed the firmware password making it impossible to root without using a serial connection.

Never once has my vacuum connected outside my own network. I know many instructions say you need to install the app to root, however that's not true. You could upload using https://github.com/rytilahti/python-miio as long as the vacuum isn't provisioned yet.

Here https://github.com/dgiese/dustcloud/issues/103 somebody claims there'd(or atleast in in non-MAX version) would be ADB listening but that just doesn't make any sense to me, why would anybody mess their simple Linux system with Android in such a way? I haven't seen any other reference that there'd be Android onboard.

Also, hacking and reverse engineering devices is fun, but my goal here is to get a floor cleaning robot that doesn't leak data outside and can be controlled from HA, and I am not really willing to spend too much time in order to get it done. I have no problem in disassembling, soldering, flashing and hacking but I am looking for a reasonably stable, relatively straightforward solution, rather than another thing to add to the ever growing list of stuff I have to actively keep maintaining.