Unlocking Hidden EV Charger Data: Why Home Assistant Beats the Tuya App Every Time

If you own a Tuya-compatible EV charger, you've probably noticed something frustrating about the official Smart Life or Tuya Smart apps: they show disappointingly basic information. While these apps give you the essentials—total voltage, current, and power—they're missing the detailed insights that could help you better understand your charging patterns and electrical system.

Enter Home Assistant with the Tuya Local integration, where the same EV charger transforms from a basic appliance into a comprehensive monitoring system. Here's why Home Assistant reveals data that the official apps keep hidden.

What Tuya Apps Actually Show You

Most Tuya EV charger apps provide only the bare minimum:

• Total voltage (sum across phases)
• Total current (sum across phases)
• Total power (sum across phases)
• Basic charging status (charging/idle/fault)

That's it. For a device pulling significant power from your home's electrical system, this level of detail feels inadequate.

The Tuya Local Advantage: Complete Device Access

Tuya Local (by make-all) differs significantly from other integrations like LocalTuya. While LocalTuya requires complex developer account setup with time-limited API access, Tuya Local uses the same authentication as your Smart Life app—making setup much simpler. More importantly, it provides complete access to all device parameters that the manufacturer exposes.

When you integrate your EV charger using Tuya Local, you unlock a treasure trove of detailed metrics that were always there—just hidden from the official app interface:

Individual Phase Data

Instead of just knowing your total power draw, you can monitor each electrical phase separately:

• L1 Phase: 234.0V, 10.9A, 2.5kW
• L2 Phase: 234.0V, 11.3A, 2.6kW
• L3 Phase: 234.0V, 11.4A, 2.6kW

This granular view reveals whether your electrical phases are balanced—critical information for three-phase installations.

Extended Metrics

Tuya Local exposes additional parameters buried in the device's JSON data:

• Precise charging time (in minutes, not rounded)
• Session energy consumption (to 0.1 kWh precision)
• Historical charging data with timestamps
• Alarm states and fault codes
• Internal device diagnostics

Real-World Template Example

Here's how you can extract individual phase data using Home Assistant template sensors. Your EV charger's metrics attribute contains JSON data like this:

{"L1":[2340,109,25],"L2":[2340,113,26],"L3":[2340,114,26],"t":280,"p":79,"d":165990,"e":193}

Create these template sensors to access the hidden data:

template:
  - sensor:
      # L1 Phase Power (from 25 = 2.5kW)
      - name: "EV Charger L1 Power"
        unit_of_measurement: "kW"
        device_class: power
        state: >
          {% set metrics = state_attr('sensor.ev_charger_status', 'metrics') | from_json %}
          {% if metrics and 'L1' in metrics %}
            {{ (metrics['L1'][2] / 10) | round(1) }}
          {% else %}
            unavailable
          {% endif %}

      # L1 Phase Voltage (from 2340 = 234.0V)
      - name: "EV Charger L1 Voltage"
        unit_of_measurement: "V"
        device_class: voltage
        state: >
          {% set metrics = state_attr('sensor.ev_charger_status', 'metrics') | from_json %}
          {% if metrics and 'L1' in metrics %}
            {{ (metrics['L1'][0] / 10) | round(1) }}
          {% else %}
            unavailable
          {% endif %}

      # L1 Phase Current (from 109 = 10.9A)
      - name: "EV Charger L1 Current"
        unit_of_measurement: "A"
        device_class: current
        state: >
          {% set metrics = state_attr('sensor.ev_charger_status', 'metrics') | from_json %}
          {% if metrics and 'L1' in metrics %}
            {{ (metrics['L1'][1] / 10) | round(1) }}
          {% else %}
            unavailable
          {% endif %}

      # Session Energy (from 193 = 19.3kWh)
      - name: "EV Charger Session Energy"
        unit_of_measurement: "kWh"
        device_class: energy
        state: >
          {% set metrics = state_attr('sensor.ev_charger_status', 'metrics') | from_json %}
          {% if metrics and 'e' in metrics %}
            {{ (metrics['e'] / 10) | round(1) }}
          {% else %}
            unavailable
          {% endif %}

      # Charging Time (from 280 = 280 minutes)
      - name: "EV Charger Session Time"
        unit_of_measurement: "min"
        icon: "mdi:timer"
        state: >
          {% set metrics = state_attr('sensor.ev_charger_status', 'metrics') | from_json %}
          {% if metrics and 't' in metrics %}
            {{ metrics['t'] }}
          {% else %}
            unavailable
          {% endif %}

Why This Matters for Smart Home Integration

Load Balancing

With per-phase monitoring, you can implement intelligent load balancing. If one phase is heavily loaded, your Home Assistant automations can adjust other high-power devices accordingly.

Energy Management

The detailed power data enables sophisticated energy management scenarios:

• Solar charging optimization: Adjust charging current based on real-time solar production
• Time-of-use optimization: Automatically reduce charging during peak electricity rates
• Dynamic load management: Prevent circuit overloads by monitoring total household consumption

Predictive Maintenance

Access to alarm codes and diagnostic data means you can catch potential issues before they become problems—something the basic Tuya app simply can't provide.

Setup: Tuya Local vs Other Options

Tuya Local (make-all) stands out from alternatives like LocalTuya because it:

• No developer account needed: Uses your existing Smart Life app credentials
• Automatic device discovery: Often detects EV chargers with pre-configured profiles
• More reliable connection: Better stability compared to LocalTuya
• Regular updates: Active development with frequent device support additions

Installation is straightforward through HACS - just add the custom repository and authorize with your Smart Life app credentials.

The Bottom Line

Your EV charger is capable of providing detailed, actionable data that can improve your energy management, prevent electrical issues, and optimize charging costs. The official Tuya apps choose to hide this information behind a simplified interface, but Home Assistant with Tuya Local gives you complete access to the raw device data.

If you're serious about smart home automation and energy management, the choice is clear: Home Assistant doesn't just control your devices—it reveals their full potential. The question isn't whether your EV charger can provide detailed monitoring data; it's whether your smart home platform is sophisticated enough to use it.