So one would need to probably start from scratch to decode this unit. It looks like it still does 1second bursts of information, in your logs when it says “Time to Send” is the period between the bursts when it’s quiet, where this module would send a pending command. There seems to be 8 groups of data in each burst, so the timing is probably similar with what I’ve discovered/set with my unit.
Take the first packet of 3 groups, these are in hexadecimal format. Easiest way to convert to binary is using a tool, e.g. Hex to Binary Converter
1) 4D C8 18 0D 08 00 F8 F8 F8 08 08 08 08 58 98 98 EA EA 08 08 1B 0F 08 09 0B 0B 28 08 FA FA 0A FF FA CA F8
2) 4D C8 18 0D 08 00 E8 F8 F8 08 08 08 08 58 98 98 EA EA 08 08 1B 0F 08 09 0B 0B 08 08 FA FA 0A FF FA 6A FC
3) 4D C8 18 0D 08 00 E8 F8 F8 08 08 08 08 58 98 98 EA EA 08 08 1B 0F 08 09 0B 0B 08 08 FA FA 0A FF FA 6A FD
There’s little difference between them. There might be some status or read temperature changes altering between these.
If we look at the change of CA to 6A, second to last its 11001010 to 01101010. F8=11111000, FC=11111100, FD=11111101
So you need to go look at the consistency of the burst of 8 groups, and what changes when you change something like a zone on/off, ac on/off cooling/heating/auto. It looks like your wall controller is on the 485 bus too, so if you make a change, you will likely see a 9th group show up, which will probably be the command to adjust the thing you just pressed on.
It’s also entirely possible, that the esphome module is mis interpreting the timing of this data. Also possible that it’s encoded/encrypted someway, which will make it harder.
Once/if you got a good idea of what’s what, it can start to be written in to this esphome module.
Thanks. I also realised after looking it up. Thanks for the tips. I’ll give a go attached trying to decipher this but maybe it’ll be better off just getting modbus module for this series. I’ll report back if I can make some headway.
Been trying to get Actron485 to work the the last day and a half on my indoor unit (SRV171E). Kept getting “Receiving Data: NO” (both with and without a ground running alongside the A+B), I went back to the platformio version with a long USB cable running to my laptop and was still getting the same so gave up on the upstairs unit.
After removing everything I noticed a small jumper on the headers on the Actron board that was not present in the icamib-mod or actron485 installation documents so I removed it and connected everything back up. Put power back on, connected it back to the laptop, but vscode monitoring was giving nothing, not even “receiving data: no” which it was giving before. So I tried to flash esphome again.
This time the indoor controller lit up, turned on in random zones and switched to heat, but ac-control doesn’t connect to my network and doesn’t show logs/boot properly afterwards (It sometimes does connect to my network as an esp32, but the ac-control hostname doesn’t work so “esphome logs” doesn’t work). After turning off the mains to the AC(and 5v esp transformer) and only powering the esp32 from the cable connected to the laptop, installation works and it boots properly, but after returning power it’s back to “receiving data: NO”.
I’m thinking it may be a power delivery issue (as the esp32s3 being plugged in via USB AND the 5vin seems to trigger something in the Actron). The waveshare converter (https://www.waveshare.com/ttl-to-rs485-c.htm) I got says it runs on 5v also, so will try powering it directly from my 5v meanwell also. That will have to wait till tomorrow as the heat up in the roof is killing me.
Update: tried swapping the TX/RX, didn’t make a difference. Will try powering the RS485 board with 5V tomorrow.
Next day update: added the jumper back on as I think it was a red herring, powered the rs485 converter with 5V, no difference. Have not managed to get it to say “receiving data: Yes” a single time. Might try a regular esp32. Each time the AC turned on after flashing esphome, I flashed it using one of the two USB C ports on the S3, and noticed the TX light on the rs485 blinking, but when flashing over the other USB C, nothing. Also when sending commands via home assistant, there is no blinking of the TX or RX lights, so perhaps it’s an issue of communication between the rs485 converter and the esp32s3.
Bought a standard esp32 and still no luck. I do have a hypothesis though.
The installation manual for ICAMIB-MOD mentions it takes 60s to initialise upon installation. Is it possible it flashes a chip on the Actron indoor board to enable serial communication?
My outdoor board doesn’t have any AB wires or connectors.
Hi all, I finally got the icuno mod board. Has anyone got this board setup using an esp32 with an rs485 module using modbus communication? If so would you mind sharing your esphome yaml? Or even if it’s with a icamib mod card I Can at least see how to set up a modbus communication on esphome.