Tasmota is one of the best known third party firmware availlable to flash esp8266 based smart devices.
Its ease of use is a testament to the great work of the team behind tasmota.
Even if it is easy to use, a Tasmota quick initial setup guide is always useful.
A Little Bit of Background
The legend has it that it all started by a single guy, Theo Arendst. His only wish was to free is ESP8266 based ITEAD Sonoff from the evil claws of a cloud based control. He wanted to be able to control it locally.
Thus was born Tasmota.
The original project evolved quite substantially from its humble origin to a a full fledge ecosystem. Almost any ESP8266 based smart device can use it.
By the way, the ITEAD Sonoff and all of its “brothers” are wonderfull and easy to use devices that any DIYer want to have by its side.
Before We Begin this Tasmota guide
Equipment
ESP8266 based smart device such as a Sonoff or a Tuya Based, flashed with Tasmota as done with Tuya Convert.
A secondary Wi-Fi and web enabled device such as a tablet, computer or smartphone.
Initial Configuration
The first step in this Tasmota guide is to go throught the initial setup.
The initial setup is done using a web interface. Once a Smart Device completes its flashing with the Tasmota firmware, it creates a wireless access point to easily configure it with your own Wi-Fi.
Wi-Fi configuration
Use your secondary device to search for a Wi-Fi access point name tasmota_XXXXXX_####. The XXXXXX comes from the MAC address of the smart device and the #### is a random number.
Once found, simply connect to this access point.
Here is the first tricky part, you migth get a warning that the network doesn’t have access to the internet, but you shouldn’t care.
Dissmiss the warning and make sure that you do not allow your secondary device to connect to another network!
As a side note, the Tasmota smart device Wi-Fi access Point is only availlable for 3 minutes.
As such, if you are not able to complete the task in the given window, you will have to unplug your smart device and plug it back in to get the AP to start again.
Once you have a connection to the Tasmota smart device AP, open the following address in your secondary device web browser:
http://192.168.4.1
If, by any chance, you get a prompt from your secondary device to sign in to Wi-Fi network or to Authorize the network, just accept it and continue.
Once the web page finishes loading, Tasmota gives the opportunity to scan for availlable network.
As such, you can select your network from the list and enter the remaining credentials.
Otherwise, you can enter the information yourself where AP1 SSID is your primary network name and AP1 Password is your primary network password.
Click on the check box to unhide the password.
Additionnally, if you are not using a secondary Wi-Fi at home, you can enter a network name in the AP2 SSID with no password.
As such, if you have any issues with your Primary network credential, you will be able to create an Access Point using the AP2 name and connect to the tasmota smart device to fix things.
And, if you are using a smartphone or tablet, make sure that it didn’t capitalize the first letter of your password!
Otherwise, the Tasmota smart device will not connect to your network.
Once you are certain that the Wi-Fi credentials are correct, you simply click Save and the smart device will reboot.
Once reboot is complete, the tasmota_XXXXXX_#### will be gone and your smart device will be connected to your home Wi-Fi.
Configure MQTT
MQTT being the communication language for DIY Home automation, it’s a good thing to configure the MQTT client on the Tasmota smart device.
The first step is to connect to the smart device web interface. To connect, you will need the IP Adress of the device.
Router Connected Device List
I recommend using an app like Fing to find the IP address of your Tasmota smart device.
As another solution, you can go to your router admin panel using a web browser with the default IP address printed on the Router label.
Once you have access to that panel, there should be a tab that list all connected devices. Locating your Pi in that list shouldn’t be too troublesome.
To access the web interface, simply type the IP address in your web browser. Once it connects, you will have complete control over your Tasmota smart device.
Click on Configuration then on Configure Other and just make sure that the MQTT Enable box is checked.
Once the MQTT handling is active, you can now go to Configuration then Configure MQTT.
For basic MQTT setup, you will only need to enter the Host, User and Password value.
However, it’s good practice to change the Topic to make sure it’s unique. As such, no other Tasmota wil have it.
Also, remember that the Host is the IP address of the MQTT Broker the device will connect too.
And, do not use mDNS name to connect to the device because it’s not yet supported.
Configure Template and/or Module
The next step for this Tasmota guide, is to set the Template.
Tasmota uses Templates to create and modify the configuration of GPIOs assigment of your smart device.
As such, the Template gives extra information to the smart device on what GPIOs are exposed and which are used for what purpose.
For example, the popular gosund smart plugs.
The Tasmota Template Repository list the GPIOs that are used for LEDs, the button and the actual relay in a nice JSON format :
{"NAME":"Gosund-P5","GPIO":[0,0,0,0,17,0,0,0,56,57,21,0,0],"FLAG":0,"BASE":18}
As such, it’s easy to import a device configuration directly in the smart device. And, it’s as easy to set a new one all by yourself.
Now, let’s move on to the configuration of the Template.
Go to Configuration -> Configure Template and you will end up in the Template configuration screen.
It’s on this page that you can configure the GPIOs by selecting an option for each of them. If you are creating your own template, the tasmota template creation page
It’s Alive!
The basic configuration is now complete!
You are now ready to take control of your Tasmota device!
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