Midea branded AC’s with ESPhome (no cloud)

[DcFamas]

Hey guys,
my AC was working flawlessly. Unfortunately it doesn’t work anymore. The device wasn’t reachable. Because of this I deleted the device from HA. Now I can see the autodiscovered device, but when I try to add this to HA, I get the following error message:

Keine Verbindung zum ESP möglich. Achte darauf, dass deine YAML-Datei eine Zeile „api:“ enthält.

deepl translated:

No connection to the ESP possible. Make sure that your YAML file contains an “api:” line.

I haven’t changed anything. To I need to reflash the stick?

Best regards

[aceindy]

I believe so…for sure can’t hurt.
Make sure to read about api:

2023.2: ESPHome deprecated API password: how to update to encryption key

If you run ESPHome separately from HA (separate Docker container, for example) and have existing ESPHome devices that are now warning about deprecated passwords following an HA update to 2023.2 or later, here’s how to fix: Go here, and copy the randomly-generated base64 key (or generate your own). [image] In your ESPHome configuration for each device, find the lines: api: password: "YOUR_PASSWORD" Replace it with this, substituting in the key from above: api: encryption: key: "YOUR…

[NTXAggie]

Hey @exciton these are all great suggestions, but I think I already had tried them. The grounds I actually all have tied together on my breadboard, I am just bad at diagrams apparently. I didnt post a pic of the whole breadboard because I had some other IR sensors on there that just made it a confusing mess to see in a pic haha.

I did check the netaddress after your message, thank you for that idea. I think its already set to 0 by default. It was hard to see in my last pics due to the hot glue on top from factory. But here is a close up pic!

BTW, yes I have the KJR-120W wired controller (Senville branded).

I’ll keep tinkering with it this week as I have time. Thanks again!

[Judman13 (Judson)]

Hello! I have a Midea window unit and it is working great with esphome.

One thing I just realized is that is doesn’t report when its actually running in anyway.

This that just a limit of the communication with the dongle or something I need to change in my config?

esphome:
  name: midea

esp8266:
  board: esp01

# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
  password: ""

ota:
  password: ""

wifi:
  ssid: !secret
  password: !secret
  use_address: 10.0.20.83
    
# Enable Web server.
web_server:
  port: 80

# Sync time with Home Assistant.
time:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: homeassistant_time


# UART settings for Midea dongle (required)
uart:
  tx_pin: 1   # hardware dependant
  rx_pin: 3   # hardware dependant
  baud_rate: 9600

# Main settings
climate:
  - platform: midea
    name: Midea Climate         # Use a unique name.
    period: 1s                  # Optional
    timeout: 2s                 # Optional
    num_attempts: 3             # Optional
    autoconf: false              # Autoconfigure most options.
    beeper: false                # Beep on commands.
    visual:                     # Optional. Example of visual settings override.
      min_temperature: 17 °C    # min: 17
      max_temperature: 30 °C    # max: 30
      temperature_step: 1 °C  # min: 0.5
    supported_modes:            # All capabilities in this section detected by autoconf.
      - FAN_ONLY                # This capability is always used.
      - COOL
      - DRY
    custom_fan_modes:
      - SILENT
      - TURBO
    supported_presets:          # All capabilities in this section detected by autoconf.
      - ECO
      - BOOST
      - SLEEP                   # This capability is always used.
    supported_swing_modes:
      - VERTICAL                # This capability is always used.
    outdoor_temperature:        # Optional. Outdoor temperature sensor (may display incorrect values after long inactivity).
      name: Temp

[nonnull]

Did anyone ever figure out what connector type that ‘usb with extra bits’ connector is?

My Dremel skills are… lacking. I don’t want to modify the minisplit itself. And I’m having a very difficult time finding USB connectors that can be disassembled to get e.g. a soldering iron in there.

[aceindy]

yup, it is this one

I honestly don’t have a clue how they are called or where to find…

Luckily. mine also had a header plug which is easy to find

You can even use ordinary male-male dupont wires

if it doesn’t have the header plug i guess the ‘easiest’ is to just solder the wires directly on the print board, as few others did

or…just do it…like this guy, just with a sharp knife

Midea branded AC’s with ESPhome (no cloud)

Yeah, that’s exactly what I am dealing with. I was reaching out to Mouser, but they don’t have them. I ended up using regular ones and modifying them. When you buy new usb plug you get it in pieces, including plastic insert. Pins lines up as they should, you just need to take off some plastic on the edges. I am using flat soldering iron and it works nicely. [PXL_20210710_132718965] [PXL_20210708_182756486]

[thenon]

Hi @petikeje

I am just trying to build my wifi dongle for my midea clone and struggling with the uncommon usb lookalike connector.
You are referring to delock. Can you be a little more specific, please?
(obviously anyone is welcome to answer)

thank you

[petikeje]

Hi,
When I started this project I bought a delock usb to pin cable to connect a nodemcu to the climate unit (with an additional classic usb cable). But it was not working!!! As the guys mentioned here (maybe aceindy) I can’t connect a nodemcu with this method to the climate.
Finally I connected an esp01 with dupont cables through an 5V to 3.3V adapter to the climate exactly the same way as you can see above in the last post from (also ) aceindy.
By the way if you still interested in, the mentioned delock cable: https://kabelvilag.hu/Delock-Cable-USB-2-0-type-A-female-to-pin-header
Unfortunatelly it is from a Hungarian store, but maybe you can find one. One additional thing: it has a standard usb socket, it doesn’t fit to the official midea usb plug without modification.
Here is the 5V to 3.3V adapter: https://a.aliexpress.com/_EwqHJPj
Have a luck and best regards!

[mako777 (mako)]

I’ve got Kaisai branded clone and it has normal standard USB and I’ve trimmed the ESP adapter a little and soldered USB plug onto it and it fits nicely in original spot.

[gisbertg (Gisbert)]

Successfully connected to Home assistant. With a XIAO ESP32C3 and a Modbus converter XY-017 and the yaml from @Mosibi.

[buitre-buitaker]

Hi!

Nice, this setup is based on esphome, isn’t it?

[dbaq (Didier Baquier)]

Everything works flawlessly for me as well except for the display, it is in Celsius instead of Fahrenheit. Have you found a way to not have Celsius at all?

[epikarus (June Hong)]

This is my display board for my unit. CN3 is not connected but CN2 is connected to a a wired wall control unit (see bellow)

While this board is connect via wire, you can see that there are pads labeled CN3. I’m thinking i could connect a usb port there. I have a soldering iron and a bare wire usb port coming. Assuming that this even works, which pad (1 - 4) should i wire the data+, data-, ground, and power wires to? I ordered SLWF-01Pro off Aliexpress, but in the mean time could I try to use a Wemos D1 mini to wire it up to these pads and make it work? If so some guidance would be appreciated. Thank you

[buitre-buitaker]

Hi!

Nice, this setup is based on esphome, isn’t it?

[Mosibi]

That is indeed Esphome based. He mentioned my yaml file, which you can find on GitHub - Mosibi/Midea-heat-pump-ESPHome where you will also find a reference to a ready made solution

[buitre-buitaker]

Thank you @Mosibi, in fact, I tried time ago you solution and it worked.

Now, I have a direct serial to modbus attached to HA hardware, and I would like to migrate your Esphome modbus configuration to native modbus configuration in Home Assistant.

What the hell both modbus configurations aren’t compatible?

I am not able to migrate most of the registers and controls…

Do you know if there is a straight way to migrate an Esphome modbus configuration to native HA modbus configuration?

Any tutorial, YouTube video or forum post…

Thank you!

[Mosibi]

Sorry can’t help you on that one. I never had interest in doing the modbus part in home assistant, I wanted a solution that I am able to manage, even if HA is down.

[Darkyputz]

Dont forget the Dudanov usb key…
It works perfect including the follow me that i use with xiaomi temp sensors in the room…
Even display turn off and whatsnot
Just download the file he offers on his page and get it done by jlpcb…5 of them is incl shipping 15 bucks to the usa

[gisbertg (Gisbert)]

@Mosibi

When I try to use your dashboard, I get the following error message. “No card type configured”
How can I fix this?

[Mosibi]

That sounds like a indentation issue. yaml is very picky about to less or to many spaces or tabs instead of spaces.