Hi all, I’m looking for air conditioners for my house but I’m struggling to figure out what are the home automation capabilities of these devices. What I got so far is that:
Some advanced models allow control over smartphone and automation, but that occurs through their proprietary app and requires internet access
It is of course possible to programatically shut on/off through a smart relay, although it may be not advisable
It is also of course possible to control it using a Zigbee IR blaster
But besides the 3 points I’ve just addressed, all other ways I’ve found around look confusing and would like to have some clarification about this. How can I control an AC through home assistant without relying on IR blasters or smart relays? What do I need to check on an AC specsheet beforehand?
I’ve seen that some Midea ACs (for example MSAGBU-12HRFN8) do have Wi-Fi. Are they compatible with Home Assistant?
I’d suggest to search for esp home together with airco and home assistant. For example a commodity used airco such as Mitsubishi heavy industries is supported with esp.
Thank you all for sharing your knowledge and experiences in this regard.
I may not be familiar with these english names, but I guess I’m talking with ductless units. One such example - to avoid ambiguities - is the MSAGBU-12HRFN8 from Midea.
Sorry if I ask such a trivial question, but is such module plug and play or does it require some soldering and hardware tweaking knowledge? I know this is a forum of hardware experts, but I’d rather go for the path of least resistance on such a delicate and important purchase.
I currently have a Fujitsu AC unit that came with a WiFi module option and I use This integration to control it (just swapped to it now that its more official to be able to install it as I was using a more manual install version for it, had to restart HA every so often when it would not respond to commands so will update if this one does the same):
I have the following automation setup with mine at this time based on my energy provider cost times via schedule helpers and I have cooling/heating and fan controls mapped to my streamdeck xl for quick access to manual controls when at my desk:
Yes if your model does not have an integration at the time then you can use an IR blaster hub to control it, you just need to program it with the remote codes for your model if a profile does not already exist at the time to use (I prefer the integration route as I don’t have to listen to the beeps lol and I don’t want to damage it trying to rip out the speaker that handles that).
For what I know, there are only two manufacturers, where you can replace the cloud based service with a local only option - Midea and Mitsubishi (I don’t know, which one, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries or Mitsubishi Airco?).
All others seem to require some kind of internet connection to work. As I wanted to be independent from internet and cloud, I chose a Midea A/C and can’t report any problems in five years. Neither with the unit itself, nor with the ESPHome dongle to control it. It just runs smoothly and makes my life much easier (and colder )!
As Midea is a very big manufacturer of A/Cs, they do produce for different brands and label the units. That’s why we started a list to see, what brands and models are known working with the ESPHome dongle (self built or bought) locally:
In that topic you will also find the link to the support topic, where you can find a few links to plug&play dongles as well as guides to built it yourself (no soldering necessary). Have fun!
Someone got that working? That’s great to hear! Does that work without the need for the cloud in the beginning or do you have to use the cloud at least once? Nevermind, I’ll go and check that topic myself, sounds interesting!