I successfully use Broadlink R4mini to control my air condition. When i am at home, i use my learned ir commands and open the AC. But sometimes, i have to run the command twice (as it can happen with IR remote) in order to open (or close) the AC. If im not at home, there is no way to know if the AC opened or not. Is there any way to manage that? I was thinking to buy an plug with current meter, so i will know that the AC is on after big consumption…but im curious if there is a simpler way.
If you already have a temperature meter in the room, you could measure temperature drop, that will tell you enough. But it is slow method…
Since these initially dumb AC units are receiving IR-command one way only (Broadlink → AC) it is impossible to know the actual HVAC state of those devices.
Installing something like a Sonoff POW R2 to measure the actual current and let HA know about the state is certainly the best way to know whether the AC unit is ON or OFF.
I have configured Trend binary sensors for sensing whether AC units are in state Cooling or in state OFF. While it works well after some time for tuning the trend sensors correctly it certainly means some fiddle around to find the correct thresholds. Some information about configuring a trend sensor you can find i.e. here. Temperature meter needed for this approach.
Other people here on the forum have installed simple contact sensors on the ventilation flaps of their indoor units to sense, whether they are open (unit is ON) or closed.
Second this. I have a dumb IR AC. Just use a Sonoff S31 for power usage. Tells me when it is off, just the fan, or compressor running. Works great. Albeit Tasmota has a 10 second update interval so you have to wait ten seconds after any change to get a valid state.
S31 is not available in my country, but i will find an alternative.
So, i guess you are doing something as the one i propose. I guess you can make an automation to have a boolean input, when trigger, send IR, wait for half minute or so…check S31 power, if its running end automation, if not, send IR again…
I don’t use a boolean. Just a condition to check power usage. And I trigger on every temperature change.
This way, if a person physically changes the AC, it will self-correct. A boolean would be fooled.
If possible, show us a photo (or a link) of your AC unit. We will see what is possible. I have some ideas but need to see your AC first.
Also, if we are talking about Sonoff S31, or its equivalent in your country, be careful on the current spikes / loads when you AC turning on fan / compressor / whatever. You don’t want your power monitoring smart plug becoming a weak link or fire hazard.
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 course…
[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
… and I quote: “Inrush current can be 4 to 10 times greater than the normal running current”
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 16A… suddenly that 16A is not a lot of headroom.
I’m told that “You only need one special spike to blow a fuse.” 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. It’s 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 Broadlink…
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
Glad you got it working. An IR AC was my first project that got me started with Home Assistant. Have learned so much since then. Have fun!
Check out SmartIR
It uses an optional external binary input to detect power state:
climate:
- platform: smartir
name: Office AC
unique_id: office_ac
device_code: 2000
controller_data: remote.xiaomi_miio_192_168_10_10
temperature_sensor: sensor.temperature
humidity_sensor: sensor.humidity
power_sensor: binary_sensor.ac_power
Not all AC model would work this way, but googling lead me to an idea to detect the status being on or off:
… some of those window split AC units would automatically open and close the motorized vent .
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Please double check this on your plug. Are there multiple “flavours” of this P110 model? Or do they get different ratings in different countries, based on different standards/tests?
https://www.tp-link.com/fr/home-networking/smart-plug/tapo-p110/#specifications
https://www.tapo.com/uk/product/smart-plug/tapo-p110/#tapo-product-spec
Anyway, like I said, don’t 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 “magic smoke” 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 I’m fine? And thank you for your concern… it’s important to go by specs and don’t have sneaky surprises in the future…
That’s very smart! I hadn’t think of it…maybe I can try that too!
If it can be controlled by BroadLink R4Mini, it will work with SmartIR 
You just need a device that measures power…that can be a switch, but does not necessarily have to be used as a switch, we only need power consumption
I see… 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 thermostat…do i understand correctly?
That is correct but you don’t 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 AC’s 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).
Yup, I myself use it, for temperature I use a DHT22, but the power measurement i still have to implement some day…
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