I just installed a new airconditioning system at home.
Living Room - MSZ-AY50 VGK (with wifi)
Office - MSZ-AY35 VGK (with wifi)
Bedroom - MSZ-AY25 VGK (with wifi)
Baby room - MSZ-AY25 VGK (with wifi)
I already hate the MELCloud shit they make you use. As i wanted to dabble with Home Assistant anyways, this will be my chance to start.
Im reasonably technically inclined (im a programmer by profession), but am not confortable to start soldering with my expensive units. Im gonna buy the Home Assistant Green (or well, receive it for my birthday lol). Now i want the best way to connect the units to it.
From my initial research, the average advice seems to be to not bother with anything "smart" Mitsubishi Electric provides, but connect an internal board instead and use it to connect to Home Assistant.
So, what should i buy? I read about ESPHome, but am still not exactly sure what that is? And from my best research the "CN105-2HA controller" seems an easy device to instal inside the airco, but would it be a good buy?
Any general advice once i embark on this fun journey?
Yes the controller cable with the ESP32 attached to it is the best option for your case to control each one once setup and linked to HA, the other option is to setup an IR blaster and just program the controls to be sent that way.
If you have the cloud / wifi adapter already installed, you could just use the MelCloud integration. It's not local, but I've not had any major issues the last 5 years iirc.
Ok thanks. I know a bit more by now, but this ESPHome platform, is that something HA users often use?
I would like to prevent where possible using any cloud and to stay fully local. Im thinking of good ways to automate other stuff, my boiler to start with
It's a bit expensive for a basic esp board, a cable & some pre-flashed (free software). For the same price as 1 unit, you could get a bundle of 5 esp mini boards & another bundle 10 CN105 cables from Aliexpress, solder on the cables & flash the software yourself.
There's only 4 wires to solder & it looks like a straightforward enough starting project, plus you'll have spares in case you mess something up.
Hundreds (possibly thousands) of people have done the same thing for years with no issues. Just look at the Midea thread to get an idea of the scale. It’s simply plugging in an ESP 32 on a 5v rail - no different than powering it over usb.