PSK ID: 02... Issue --> vtrust-recovery SSID --> /undo --> success?

[gemmstarrr]

Hi all — sharing a recovery note from tuya-convert attempts on CE LA-WF3 smart plugs. Posting because I thought I bricked one, but it recovered via vtrust-recovery and /undo. I can’t reproduce this on other “identical” units anymore.

Setup

Device: CE LA-WF3 smart plug (Costco, years ago)

Host: Ubuntu 22.04 Live Boot on an older laptop

tuya-convert was broadcasting vtrust-flash normally.

What happened

My initial tuya-convert attempts were unsuccessful (I was seeing SSLPSK / ID: 02... type failures). I assumed it was patched and gave up for the night.

The next day when I plugged the unit back in, it looked dead:

no LED, no relay click / button didn’t do anything

I put my meter in series and it still drew a little current:

~9 mA normally

jumped to ~13 mA when holding the button
So it didn’t seem truly dead.

Then I noticed a new SSID I hadn’t seen before:

vtrust-recovery

I connected to vtrust-recovery and opened:

http://10.42.42.42/undo

After using /undo and retrying tuya-convert, the plug ended up flashable again and I was able to proceed.

The problem now

I have multiple other LA-WF3 units that appear identical, but I can’t seem to reproduce the vtrust-recovery behavior on the others anymore. I've tried power cycling it over and over, holding buttons, etc. I’m not sure what exact condition caused that plug to start broadcasting vtrust-recovery, but it seems like that may be able to bypass this PSK issue?

Questions

What exactly triggers vtrust-recovery?

Is there a known way to force a device into that state (perhaps using tuya-convert scripts)?