Interesting point. A valid one for sure. Considering the size of the capacitor in my AC, and an entire summers usage under my belt. I am confident in future usage.
Mileage will vary per device of courseā¦
[edit] after a little thought this may be AC dependent as well. For eg. my Midea AC always turns on with fan only first. This is always <300W. After a few minutes the compressor turns on. Call it 700-900W depending on load.
I definitely cannot assume similar behaviour for all devices.
The key being that startup load being acceptably low with my devices. And that others should observe theirs and act accordingly.
Also consider startup current, especially for loads such as a motor.
This company makes multimeters and did a good job explaining what that is. How to Measure Inrush Current | Fluke
ā¦ and I quote: āInrush current can be 4 to 10 times greater than the normal running currentā
So if you believe your AC is using , say, 2 or 3 or 4 Amps, and then your smart plug is using a relay that is rated at 16Aā¦ suddenly that 16A is not a lot of headroom.
Iām told that āYou only need one special spike to blow a fuse.ā So just be careful, everyone.
thanks for every advice, i just saw your answers.
I had the same concern: if my smart plug can handle my AC (inventor P2MVI-12).
I bought Tapo P110. Itās nice and power meter is supported (also i have Tapo P100 and they work fine).
So, Tapo P110 supports <16Ampere. I did some research and the most a 12.000 btu will suppose to need is 15A (230Volts). All other answers was saying lower. Also - and this is what gave me the strength to put the plug - is the fact that the biggest Safety switch at my electrical panel was 25A and this was for my oven. The rest were 16A, so i guess if the AC needs more than 16A i would had a problem already.
I dont know if this argument is correct, but finally the P110 worked fine.
Also, i see the same behaviour as someone stated before: when the AC is off it takes ~10W. When you open it at the beginning it is running in a fan only mode and take ~20W (i think this is for around 3-4 minutes). Then it goes in heating mode. And in this cold day it consumes ~1300W (according to P110).
All that said, my automation is simple:
I created a helper toggle and an automation. When the helper (which is in the lovelace) is turned on, its acting as a trigger for the automation. The automation then, will make a repeat, that trigger the Broadlink, wait for 2 min, check if current_energy is more than 15W. If yes, the automation stops. If not it will retrigger Broadlinkā¦
alias: open AC with power measure
description: ''
trigger:
- platform: state
entity_id: input_boolean.helper_for_ir_and_power_ac
from: 'off'
to: 'on'
condition: []
action:
- service: persistent_notification.create
data:
message: open AC with power
- repeat:
until:
- condition: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.air_condition_current_energy
above: '15.0'
value_template: '{{ float(states(''sensor.air_condition_current_energy'')) }}'
sequence:
- service: script.toggle_ac
- delay:
hours: 0
minutes: 2
seconds: 0
milliseconds: 0
- service: persistent_notification.create
data:
message: wait 2 min for AC retrigger
mode: single
Not all AC model would work this way, but googling lead me to an idea to detect the status being on or off:
ā¦ some of those window split AC units would automatically open and close the motorized vent .
Please double check this on your plug. Are there multiple āflavoursā of this P110 model? Or do they get different ratings in different countries, based on different standards/tests?
Anyway, like I said, donāt let your smart plug be the weakest link and fire hazard. Sure it may work fine for weeks / for months so far, but to get a āmagic smokeā you only need one specific spike.
Plus, resistive load and inductive load are different. There would be a even larger initial spike (4x to 10x) for motors, which I suppose your AC has some.
Mine is max load 3680W, 16A I see that on the package also.
What can I do more to be sure Iām fine? And thank you for your concernā¦ itās important to go by specs and donāt have sneaky surprises in the futureā¦
If it can be controlled by BroadLink R4Mini, it will work with SmartIR
You just need a device that measures powerā¦that can be a switch, but does not necessarily have to be used as a switch, we only need power consumption
I seeā¦ very useful. Although, for my case i just want on and off thing, so i can control my AC remotely. But from my understanding the SmartIR integrates temperature and other sensors and IR so you can have a kind of thermostatā¦do i understand correctly?
That is correct but you donāt have to use the additional sensors with it.
If you bought the Broadlink HTS2 Humidity Temperature Sensor together with your R4 Mini this comes in very handy especially if you are using a Trend sensor to sense whether the AC unit is ON or OFF. On our dumb Daikin ACās I have put all inside the cover of the indoor units thus they are invisibe (no devices laying around here and there) and all is working flawlessly for years now (set and forget).
yes, i also have the HTS2 Sensorā¦but where do you put the sensor? Because mine is very far from the AC so it will take ages to really feel temp difference. Can you send a picture?
I attached the Broadlink gear to one of the isolated refrigerant pipes to/from the Air Conditioner behind the indoor unitās cover and as close as possible to the ACās IR receiver using a suitable cable tie (as for Daikin AC units there is plenty of space between the electric module and the wall behind but note: The ACās IR receiver possibly doesnāt get the IR signals of the RM4 mini if you tie it in there).
The RM4ās are getting power directly from the ACās power inlet (through quality USB PS) where the power cable is routed in such a way that the temperature/humidity sensors are in or close to the air flow of the AC units. This way temperature changes are detected almost instantly.
Unfortunately I can not send you pictures at this time because I would have to remove one of the ACās indoor unit covers for taking photos of how it looks like since from the outside the whole thing is completely invisible. I will post some pictures here the next time the HVAC technician comes for routine maintenance service where the covers are getting removed anyway for cleaning purposes of the evaporators.
Warning: Electricity is dangerous and can cause personal injury or DEATH as well as other property loss or damage if not used or constructed properly. If you have any doubts what so ever about performing do-it-yourself electrical work, PLEASE do the smart thing and hire a QUALIFIED SPECIALIST to perform the work for you.
@k8gg
Update on the Ampere thingā¦ I contacted with Inventor (my AC brand) and they told me, my model is far less than 16A, even at the beginning of the operation. The only way it will ask more than 16A is if something is really wrong with the compressor and even then the AC will fail itselfā¦(something between these lines). They even told me they prefer 10A Safety Switch at the electrical panel, so it must work lower than even 10A. But thank you for pointing out. The technician said 16A is far far beyond than my AC power rangeā¦and he assured me that my Smart plug is totally fine with my AC. Although its good that you mentioned this issue, as bigger ACs maybe have problemsā¦
@Tamsy
Thats a very nice idea, although i will not implement it for two reasons: 1) as i stated before my smart plug is OK to work with my AC, 2) i prefer to keep my sensor for room temperature instead of just AC on and offā¦but thank you anywaysā¦
That is my concern as well. So I donāt want to use power monitoring for the state of the AC. Still havenāt found another suitable solution. As the AC is a ducted type so door switches wonāt work.
Any suggestions will be very much appreciated!
Try googling, or even just search here in this forum, with the key phrase āCT clampā. There are devices out there for sure that could monitor on/off of your air conditioner.
Thanks for your suggestion. I found the Sonoff POWCT. Seems suitable for this. I wonder if the clamp will work when I just put it over the power cord. It doesnāt have to be accurate regarding consumption, just register the AC state.
The power cord is coming directly from the wall and I donāt want to cut the isolation.
