I think our indoor units are almost identical, you might be able to swap the circuit board from a wifi enabled model. I can take a picture of my indoor unit circuit board if you’d like.
It would be great! I tried to find any similar boards in my country and on aliexpress with wifi led or usb wire, but without any success. Wrote to midea directly but they didn’t reply at all. It only remains hope for the official service center, with which I correspond, I will try to purchase and replace boards through them.
I’m a refrigeration technician myself, I can order parts through my employer. I might be able to help out if the official service center isnt helpful.
I’ll take some pictures later today!
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As promised, here are some pictures of the indoor unit
Make/model of the indoor unit is Inventor AR2MVI-12WiFi, installed 07-2020
Indoor Unit without front panel, I think more manufacturers use this “chassis” and only the front panel covering the filters differs. Maybe someone can confirm this.
PCB overview:
PCB, some numbers/information
I hope this helps, if you have any questions or need a closer picture or something like that dont hestitate to ask. If you search AliExpress for EU-KFR266 you’ll get some hits, so you might succeed there. Pay attention to the components on the PCB, there are different versions on AliExpress.
Found some display units here:
Thanks for your participation! I wrote to this supplier on aliexpress, but they have only boards on the picture that same as mine (4 on the photo). Yes, based on your photos, the only visual difference is in the top bar. From the inside, my air conditioner looks just like yours, one to one. In the evening I will reach the internal board, examine it and compare it with yours. Thank you! I will try to negotiate with the service center and if it doesn’t work out, I’ll ask you for hel
Update from me, I compiled the mideahvac binary using ESPHome, just to be sure I edited the config to add the midea-climate-support repo. After uploading the binary I noticed that the log gets flooded with TX Queries. The blue light on my ESP-01 is constantly blinking. However:
I am able to control my AC Unit from Home Assistant, switching modes, setting the setpoint all works.
Two problems:
The indoor unit is beeping constantly, the frequency of the beep matches the frequency of the blinking ESP-01 LED. Its similar to the problem @yodi has, however I am still able to control the AC while its beeping constantly, but I am not able to turn the unit off! Not from Home Assistant nor with the IR Remote. When I disconnect the ESP from the indoor unit the IR remote is able to turn the unit off.
The logfile when controlling the unit looks like this:
[01:58:17][D][midea_ac:050]: TX: control
[01:58:17][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 02 40 01 63 00 7F 7F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 D4 B7
[01:58:18][W][midea_dongle:030]: RX: frame check failed!
[01:58:18][D][climate:010]: 'Werkkamer' - Setting
[01:58:18][D][climate:014]: Mode: HEAT
[01:58:18][D][midea_ac:050]: TX: control
[01:58:18][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 02 40 01 83 00 7F 7F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B9 B2
[01:58:19][W][midea_dongle:030]: RX: frame check failed!
[01:58:19][D][midea_ac:050]: TX: control
[01:58:19][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 02 40 01 83 00 7F 7F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B9 B2
[01:58:20][W][midea_dongle:030]: RX: frame check failed!
[01:58:20][D][midea_ac:050]: TX: control
[01:58:20][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 02 40 01 83 00 7F 7F 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 B9 B2
The logfile when doing nothing looks like this, both with unit turned off and unit running. When the unit is turned off it does not beep constantly, however the LED on the ESP is blinking.
[01:48:39][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:39][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:40][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:40][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:41][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:41][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:42][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:42][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:43][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:43][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:44][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:44][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:45][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:45][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:46][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:46][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:47][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:47][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:48][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:48][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
[01:48:49][D][midea_ac:053]: TX: query
[01:48:49][D][midea_dongle:094]: TX: AA 22 AC 00 00 00 00 00 03 03 41 00 00 FF 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 84 68
and this goes on and on and on…
HA does not receive status updates. I can not see the temperature, it just shows zero degrees. I am not able to see the current mode. The climate card keeps looking like this:
@aceindy Do you have any idea what could cause this behaviour?
Here are some pictures:
@nvschilleman Hmm, i don’t think i can be of real help here, I have been monitoring the development closely, but was never deeply involved, as it was already in an almost finished state (and i am now working on my own pellet stove project)
So the only thing i can suggest is to ask on the original devs on Telegram…
Hi @aceindy,
I’m writing as i finally received all the little stuff needed to control my Giatsu (midea rebrand) splits.
I’ve got the ESP8266 and the ESP01, also the flasher (2x) and did the soldering on one of them to be able to flash.
Now, since the pull request is not implemented in the main git repo yet, I have to find a different way to compile and upload into the ESP.
I see you are mentioning some command lines (if Python is installed), I’ve installed Python for Windows (3.9) and now I am a bit stuck on what to do. I gather I should open the Python 3.9 64bit application and use the commands there, but I’m not sure to understand if a previous download is needed for the ESPflasher or anything else.
So I’m basically ready, with the little board plugged in, python installed and the following code in notepad:
esphome:
name: giatsu
platform: ESP8266
board: esp01_1m
uart:
tx_pin: 1
rx_pin: 3
baud_rate: 9600
midea_dongle:
midea_dongle_id: Aria Salotto
midea_ac:
name: "giatsusalotto" #use and unique name
beeper: true
wifi:
ssid: "aabbcc"
password: "secretpassowrd"
# Enable fallback hotspot (captive portal) in case wifi connection fails
ap:
ssid: "Giatsusalotto Fallback Hotspot"
password: "secretpassword"
captive_portal:
# Enable logging
logger:
baud_rate: 0
# Enable Home Assistant API
api:
password: "secretpassword"
ota:
password: "secretpassword"
what to do now?
Again, sorry for all the questions 
Thanks!
Create a (temporary?) folder somewhere to store your files (in my case c:\workshop\esphome, but any folder will do).
After that execute the following commands
cd c:\workshop\esphome
pip install esphome
pip install esphomeflasher
pip install --upgrade git+https://github.com/dudanov/esphome.git@midea-climate-support
esphome mideahvac.yaml wizard
esphome mideahvac.yaml compile
esphomeflasher
and in esphomeflasher, use the earlier
compiled bin:
C:_workshop\esphome\mideahvac.pioenvs\mideahvac\firmware.bin
@aceindy Thanks a lot!
It seems I managed to install everything and compile a firmware (I followed the wizard screens, not sure if the right platform was taken by default by doing so, as I’ve been asked to select only the platform (ESP8266) and the board (ESP01_1m), together with the wifi info and OTA password)…
The firmware has been generated and I also flashed it using the modified ESP8266 (I had to install the driver first though, otherwise no COM port was showing up (downloaded from here: https://parzibyte.me/blog/2020/02/09/instalar-driver-esp8266-windows/).
The flash went also fine, it seems
Now, before connecting the little thing to the AC split, is there a way to check if it’s working as expected?
I have the other ESP8266, not modified, and I should be able to read from it. How could I do it?
Again, thanks a lot for all your help!
UPDATE:
I just checked the connected devices to the router and I can see that the little thing is indeed connected
Next (last?) step I suppose is to connect the ESP to the AC, I’ve got the voltage converter and some cables to connect directly to the 4pin plug of the AC. Let’s see
UPDATE2: I checked the AC connection and I have one question and one problem:
- The question is how the wiring should work? I have only a 5v print on the board of the AC where the USB cable was plugged, nothing for the rest. How should I connect the wires?
- the esp8266 and esp01 together are too bulky to fit the little slot where the usb adapter was. I will have to cut the black support housing the 8266 pins, let’s see what happens…
Sounds interesting, I’m curious to see what you come up with.
Update2, second question: you can unsolder the pin housing and solder the chips together. Take a look at Rene Klootwijks manufactured dongle, it is like that. https://github.com/reneklootwijk/mideahvac-dongle
@kokuo81 5v and gnd are easy to find by measuring (they are the outer ones on the usb)
‘tx’ and ‘rx’ are a little tricky, but those you can just try…if it doesn’t work just swap tx and rx (you can’t damage it if tx and tx are swapped)
Hi @aceindy,
Thank you for the hint!
I have unsoldered the pin housing and “connected” the ESP8266 directly on the pcb of the ESP01 (not soldered, just plugged).
I connected the pins to the connector (RX/TX totally random) and connected everything to the Split. The ESP8266 lights up and , checking my router, it’s connetced.
Also, I can see it appearing in my HA config as new device.
This is what I have now:
What should I do now to operate it as an AC?
Thanks (almost there)!
@kokuo81
Euh, i think that is it…
Have you checked out that 1 device??
from there you can also generate yaml to add to to lovelace
title: mylovace
views:
- path: default_view
title: home
cards:
- type: thermostat
entity: climate.mideahvac
@aceindy
It seems I don’t have that device recognized as AC.
I mean, I have the device in ESPHome integration, but I can’t integrate it.
If you check the last image I posted above, it reads midea_ac is not found in the ESPHome.
I’m a bit stuck there, as I still didn’t understand how to have Home Assistant using the ESP device as an AC.
Thanks!
The yaml you show is used only for compiling the esphome binary and after that is not used anymore. Since you mentioned you compiled and flashed the esp already, you don‘t need to do anything else on esphome anymore.
HA should recognize the esphome as AC and add the entity for it …
Just for the sake of trying…can you swap tx/rx ??
(my esp shows a red ‘power’ led and a blue every now and then flashing ‘data’ led)
Ok,
Switched the TX/RX but nothing changed.
This is what I have:
Also, I didn’t put the Midea_ac bit while compiling (as it compiled the thing with the wizard and didn’t ask for that bit).
Furthermore, I’m using Hassio on a rasp, but I’m doing all the compiling part on my PC with windows 10.
Dunno if that could affect something…
Thanks!
i think you need that (as the compiler reads the yaml during compiling)
If it says the ‘component not found’, you probably miss dudanov’s repository…
(when i open the yaml with esphome it does not complain, but i also added the dudanov repository in the config)
that should be ok ( i also compiled it initially on W10), as long as it uses dudanov’s repository
