Using Expanded Drivers
Tasmota for Hubitat Elevation greatly simplifies the installation and configuration of Tasmota devices by using a Universal driver model. This Universal Parent driver will automatically select an appropriate child driver from those already installed. The architecture of the Parent driver model allows it to leverage pre-existing generic child drivers that know nothing about Tasmota.
But there are devices with additional capabilities beyond those available via generic child drivers. Take for example a plug vs a plug with power monitoring. The graphic below shows the difference in capabilities between the two configurations.
Bottom line, if you have a device that has enhanced capabilities, you will need an expanded driver to get more than the basics. A list of expanded drivers can be found here: https://github.com/markus-li/Hubitat/tree/development/drivers/expanded
Installing an expanded driver is very easy. After you locate the driver that you need you simply repeat the process that you used when you installed the Tasmota Universal Driver for Hubitat earlier in these instructions. There are two methods, either cut and paste the code or locate the “importURL:” near the top of the file and use the Import function. Both methods generate the same result. We will look at two common examples of using an expanded driver, the power monitoring plug and the sensor device.
Power monitoring plugs are relatively cheap and offer a great deal of utility for the price. With Tasmota installed you can see information on the power consumption of the plugged in device. The picture below shows an active Sonoff S31 which controls a gutter heater cable (it maintains a path for meltwater in the winter and prevent ice dams).
If you do not see power information displayed on the main page of your device, then you probably do not have the right template installed. Until Tasmota recognizes the power monitoring capabilities of the device these will not be accessible in Hubitat.
Once the Tasmota device is working as expected you can proceed to install the expanded driver for it. The expanded driver for Power Monitoring is located here:
https://github.com/markus-li/Hubitat/blob/development/drivers/expanded/tasmota-universal-metering-plug-outlet-child-expanded.groovy
Once the new driver is installed you will be able to see it in the list of drivers as shown below.
If you are installing a new Tasmota device that is not already in HE you do not have to do anything special. Simply install the new device as you normally would. The Universal Parent driver will automatically install the expanded driver if it is available. If it is not available, it will use one of the generic drivers instead. If you wish to change the driver on a device from basic to expanded it is very easy to do. Simply go Devices in HE and select the child driver that you wish to change. Scroll down to Device Information and change the Type to the appropriate Tasmota driver under the user section as shown below.
Click on Save Device and you are done. You should now be able to see the expanded capabilities show up within the device.
Some Tasmota devices have sensors attached to them. In order to access the properties of these sensors we need to have the correct configuration. In this example the device is a Sonoff TH16 (TH means Temperature\Humidity). As with the power monitoring plug we must first ensure that the Sonoff is correctly configured and displaying the information gathered from the sensors.
In the case of the TH16 it should look something like this.
If Tasmota does not display the values from the sensors like that shown above, then the Tasmota in not configured correctly. Check you have the appropriate device Template configured and check the Module Configuration for GPIO14. Once the Tasmota device is working as expected you can proceed to install the expanded driver for it. The expanded driver for Sensor Devices is located here:https://github.com/markus-li/Hubitat/blob/development/drivers/expanded/tasmota-universal-multi-sensor-child-expanded.groovy
The current version of the expanded driver supports these sensors: Temperature, Humidity, Pressure, Illuminance, Motion and Water.
Once you have installed the driver you can proceed to install the new device using the Tasmota Device Manager located in Apps. In the case of a Sonoff TH16 the various parts of the installed driver look like this.
Note: In the case of sensors the child driver is named after the type of sensor that is reported by Tasmota, in this case an SI7021.