Merkury Camera Home Assistant Issues? Get It Working

Solving Merkury Camera and Home Assistant Integration Problems

Integrating your affordable Merkury cameras into the powerful Home Assistant ecosystem can be incredibly rewarding, but it's not always a straightforward process. Because Merkury devices are part of the Tuya platform, getting them to work correctly in Home Assistant often involves cloud API configurations that can be tricky. This guide addresses the most common problems users face.

Understanding the Tuya Integration

The key to connecting your Merkury camera is understanding that you are not connecting it directly. Instead, you are using the Tuya integration in Home Assistant to connect to the Tuya cloud, which is where your camera is registered. The official Tuya integration is the recommended starting point for most users.

Problem 1: Authentication and Login Errors

During the setup of the Tuya integration in Home Assistant, you may encounter errors related to your credentials.

• Error: Invalid authentication or Login error: 1004
• Cause: This error almost always means the credentials you entered from the Tuya IoT Platform are incorrect.
• Solution:
  1. Triple-Check Credentials: Carefully copy and paste your Access ID (Client ID) and Access Secret (Client Secret) from your Tuya IoT cloud project into the Home Assistant configuration.
  2. Select Correct Data Centre: During setup, you must select the same data centre you chose when creating your Tuya cloud project (e.g., Western Europe, Central Europe).
  3. Verify Username/Password: Ensure you are using the correct username and password for your Geeni app (the app you use to manage the camera), not your Tuya IoT developer account.

Problem 2: Device is Unavailable or Fails to Appear

After a seemingly successful integration setup, your Merkury camera might show as "unavailable" or not appear at all.

• Cause 1: The camera was not correctly linked to your Tuya cloud project.

• Solution 1: Go to the "Devices" tab in your Tuya IoT Platform project. Use the "Link Tuya App Account" tab and scan the QR code with your Geeni app. Ensure you can see your camera listed in the device list on the platform.

• Cause 2: The required API services are not enabled in your cloud project.

• Solution 2: In your Tuya IoT project, go to the "APIs" tab. Ensure you have authorised the "IoT Core" and "Device Status Notification" services at a minimum. Click "Subscribe" on any services that are not yet added.

Problem 3: Video Stream Fails to Load

You might see the camera entity in Home Assistant, but when you try to view the stream, it's blank or shows an error.

• Cause: Video streaming support via the official Tuya integration can be inconsistent and depends on the specific camera model and firmware. The integration might only provide basic controls (like a switch entity to turn the camera on or off) but not the live video feed.
• Solution:
  1. Check Compatibility: First, check the official Home Assistant Tuya integration documentation to see if video streaming for your device type is supported.
  2. Explore Custom Integrations: For more reliable streaming, advanced users often turn to custom HACS integrations like "Tuya Local" or use RTSP firmware if available for the camera model. These methods bypass the cloud for the video stream, providing a more stable and faster connection but require a much more complex initial setup.

General Troubleshooting Tips

• Restart Home Assistant: After making any changes to your Tuya IoT project or the integration configuration, always restart Home Assistant to ensure the changes are applied.
• Check Home Assistant Logs: Go to Settings > System > Logs in Home Assistant. Look for any error messages related to the "tuya" component, as they can provide specific clues about what is failing.
• Confirm App Functionality: Always ensure the camera is working correctly and can be viewed within its native Geeni app first. If it doesn't work there, it will never work in Home Assistant.