With my custom sensor, it would report off.
But the standard integration would report the zone’s state as fan_only.
And then if I turned the heat pump on and set to heating, the standard integration will still report the zone’s state as being fan_only.
I’m happy with the zones reporting their open/closed (on/off) state, and then looking at the main unit state to see whether the system is on or off, heating/cooling etc - but the zone status can be combined with the main unit status (as you have done) to show a more complex status.
I’ve run the latest release code for the Python API through ChatGPT and it directly supports Airtouch5. There is mention of Airtouch 5 all throughout the code.
As best I can tell, the issue with “lack of Airtouch 5 support” is within the integration for Airtouch4 which currently asks for airtouch4pyapi version 1.0.5 which is missing the necessary code. By creating a custom component which has a different name and requiring airtouch4pyapi version 1.0.8, it allows for Airtouch 5 support. Once the integration is updated to require v1.0.8 (or later) there should not be a need for a custom component.
Confirmed that airtouch4pyapi 1.0.8 (referenced via a custom component as per post from user cbuss on March 8, 2023) works.
Screenshot of one of my climate related dashboards with the Airtouch info on the right:
Yes, it’s working for me too.
Another question for those of you with AirTouch 5 tablets - do you have any issues with them dropping off WiFi and requiring manual intervention to get them back on the network? Mine loses network connection after a few hours and I have to toggle WiFi and manually reconnect to get it back onto the WiFi. Obviously this breaks my HA integration and also prevents me from using the AirTouch mobile app when it’s off the network.
I haven’t had trouble losing wifi, but did have trouble with the tablet regularly losing touch with the control module (requiring a restart). This was fixed when the Airtouch people remotely accessed the tablet and “found nothing wrong” - but they obviously fixed something).
You obviously have good wifi signal strength at the tablet?
I don’t have any other wifi issues at home but I can see from my Grandstream logs that the tablet seems to connect to two different access points during the day (I have three access points around the house). I wonder if it’s struggling to reconnect when it changes to another access point. I can do some troubleshooting on this, good to know that yours is solid.
Our installer originally told us your phone needed to be on the same wifi band (ie 2.4 or 5GHz) as the tablet (which I had trouble believing), but (as I expected) that is not the case.
Yes, the phone doesn’t need to be connected to the same wifi network
The new version 5 tablets don’t have an inbuilt plug on the back of them like the version 4’s did.
Google wouldn’t give them authority to use the version of android unless the plug was removed from the tablet and they had to have a battery fitted into the tablet also. The battery is useless and the system won’t work if it gets plugged.
This means now, the tablet slide on to the bracket and the pins on the tablet contact an additional plate on the wall bracket.
This connection has been a little buggy if the plate isn’t nice and flat against the wall, it can lead to weird issues like the tablet not connecting to the main module properly, rebooting etc.
It can be fixed by remounting the back plate or adding something around the back of the mounting plate to force the connection off the wall a little more.
I know they are working on a solution for this, it’s annoying and I get very little calls about it.
Because google wants stupid demands it force a simple plug to be changed to something that could be problematic.
I have very little issues with wifi problems from customers, maybe a couple and I think I had just replace the tablets with new.
Either that or it’s been the back plate connection I e mentioned in the comments
Thanks - I’ve made some tweaks to the SSID settings and will see if that helps. Do you or your customers run third party apps on the AirTouch 5 tablets? I’ve found that it’s too slow to run most apps - it can barely run HA on it. I tried to run some other smart home apps like Sonos or Philips Hue, and the apps just keep crashing.
Interesting - I assumed it would have been a generic tablet they had re-badged (unbadged). It has been all-but-faultless since they connected to it remotely (one possible fault - but can’t be sure).
As a side issue, have you any idea what protocols they use to get access to the Airtouch inside my home network without me setting-up a port-forward (indeed, the app does the same)?
I don’t use them personally, I have a Samsung wall tablet which I run everything on. I do see customers with apps on them but I have never had anyone tell me that they are slow but I also don’t really ask too much. I will try some.
The tablet only has so much power and is geared towards being a aircon control mainly.
I’m sure lite apps are fine but larger intensive things may get a bit much for it. I haven’t even looked at the hardware specifications really.
Mine literally sits on the wall black as I never have to use it, everything is just with the app.
I know Airtouch was trying to make this control as more of a total home automation hub moving forward.
The launch was delayed because they were trying to make common apps work correctly, things like opening in landscape and portrait view etc.
They have a lot of features to add in time, things that are already in mine that aren’t public release yet.
I think they are also looking into just making a hub in the future so you wouldn’t even have a ta let for some people like me who want the larger Samsung tablet.
I don’t know what they are using but they can access the tablets and see data graphs of temperature, zone percentages, changes, wifi connections etc.
I can easily ask the engineer what they are using.
I’ve wanted something that I can use as an installer because I do have ones interstate that I’ve wanted to help people with or set them up for them.
You’d be surprised how many are around that are setup wrong or not to the best they could be by installers.
Yes, I have that issue. It seems random rather than “every few hours” and it will be an issue with Android more than the hardware I suspect. It’s every few weeks for me.
I’m just going to set up a watchdog somehow so that it self-reboots when it happens.
It is a generic chipset from Allwinner using their A133 SoC and it’s fairly new hardware too, with 802.11ax support. You can find these on Ali Express and other places, usually marked as an “A133 HelperBoard” and similar names.
Check out the “A133” chip in the middle of this image.
The “tablet” is the small circuit board where that A133 chip lives. The larger board underneath that is the more custom wall-mount setup with the I/O interface to the Airtouch main control unit (which connects to the vendor-specific AC control modules)
very interesting - thank you
I have an intermittent Wifi failure that requires a reboot. I am polling the temps on the AirTouch 5 and they just stop randomly after a couple of weeks. A reboot is necessary. Never had this problem with the 4.
