Diary of an Emacs tragic

Putting ESPHome on Arlec Smart Plug In Socket

Written by

Jason

in

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  • Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Front View
    Front View
  • Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Rear View
    Rear View

I got some of these Arlec Smart Plug In Sockets from Bunnings. Apparently they are Tuya devices but I decided to take the brute force approach to putting ESPHome on the.

First challenge was getting the tri point screw out. I had to buy a special screwdriver for this.

tri point screw in arlect smart plug
They don’t really want you opening these

Once I got the screws out, it was easy to unclip the case and open it.

  • Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Circuit Board Underside View
    Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Circuit Board Underside View
  • Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Circuit Board Topside View
    Arlec Smart Plug In Socket Circuit Board Topside View
  • TYWE2S esp8266 module

After tracing the circuit, I decided to solder wires to the board and connect them to my USB->Serial adapter. The only tricky part was that you have to hold GPIO0 at ground when you power up the esp8266 to get it into flash mode. I just held a wire on the tiny GPIO0 pad on the TYWE2S.

wires soldered to circuitboard to enable flashing
wires soldered to circuit board to enable flashing

Comments

5 responses to “Putting ESPHome on Arlec Smart Plug In Socket”

  1. Ben Myers Avatar
    Ben Myers

    Hi Jason,
    Can I please have a copy of your esphome config.
    thanks,
    Ben

    Reply
    1. Jason Avatar
      Jason

      Hi Ben,
      Sure, ESPHome configuration for Arlec Grid Connect Smart Plug-in Socket

      Reply
  2. Jesse Stevens Avatar
    Jesse Stevens

    Hi there, I’ve struggled with these screws also. Do you have a link where you got the driver to remove them or even just the description?
    Thanks

    Reply
    1. Jason Avatar
      Jason

      I had to pay the Jaycar tax to get a suitable set. I think it was this set I bought:
      https://www.jaycar.com.au/22-piece-long-bit-screwdriver-set-with-case/p/TD2114

      Reply
  3. Nicholas O'Sullivan Avatar
    Nicholas O’Sullivan

    Would you ever put together a comprehensive guide on modding these? It’s been so annoying finding that I cannot easily code a way to control them with my Python projects. Unlike how you can control the TP-Link products.

    Reply

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