Here is one more picture I found from early experiements I did. The green cable going up is the one that goes to the ComfoSense unit. The port where it was connected to the board is inside the unit right behind the power plug and the ESP is connected inbetween.
Ok so i would have to understrand how to figure out how to do this with the RJ45 connector… i think it’s little bit out of my expertise
Maybe a stupid question (i am an Electronic newbie), but why is the max3232 component needed? Cant you just link the ventilation unit to uart1 and the comfosense to uart2 if the esp acts as proxy?
The uart on an esp is for 3.3v TTL logic and RS232 is ±7v so you will most likely fry the microcontroller if you wire it straight to the ComfoAir. The max3232 is a bi-directional level shifter to map the voltage levels.
Ah, that’s the catch. If I’m not comfortable with soldering capacitors I could just use two of these (which also seem to use that MAX232 component but with all capacitors already in place)?
Yes this would do the trick.
I can confirm that it’s working (thanks to the guy who created this). I was wiring it wrong, let me attach a picture of the correct wiring.
I can only recommend this board, seems like it’s working fine and is very small!
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So I wonder what those numbers mean on the pcb… seems those are not DB9 pins.
Could you please share the list of your devices/boards that you’ve used?
Announcement: new feature has been added to my comfoair integration. Now you can control which fans are active: Intake, Exhaust, Both or none:
This can be useful to automate e.g. when a kitchen hood is running (only Intake should be active) or when windows are open (only Exhaust should be active).
This feature requires new parameters set up in the config file: the fan % for each ventilation level. I have found it the easiest way of making sure the comfoair will work properly even if HA is not connected but I’m open for suggestions how to do it better e.g. with parameters in HA rather than in the config file.
Great job!!!
can you share some example of the automation you described, I would like to fully understand the available options
Here is my automation for kitchen hood. When it is turned on (based on smart plug power sensor) the comfoair goes into Intake mode only, when hood is off, comfoair goes back to Both fans mode. Also returns to Both fans after 1 hour (just guessing if that is good duration for now). So the experimentation has just started. Here is my automation:
alias: Vent - fan control on Kitchen hood
description: ""
trigger:
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.14_zwave_plug_power
for:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 10
above: 50
id: hood_on
- platform: numeric_state
entity_id: sensor.14_zwave_plug_power
for:
hours: 0
minutes: 0
seconds: 10
below: 40
- platform: event
event_type: timer.finished
event_data:
entity_id: timer.ventilation_fan
condition: []
action:
- choose:
- conditions:
- condition: trigger
id:
- hood_on
sequence:
- service: select.select_option
data:
option: In
target:
entity_id: select.ca350_fan_control
- service: timer.start
data:
duration: "01:00:00"
target:
entity_id: timer.ventilation_fan
default:
- service: select.select_option
data:
option: Both
target:
entity_id: select.ca350_fan_control
- service: timer.cancel
data: {}
target:
entity_id: timer.ventilation_fan
mode: restart
I had finally set it up and it is working for Q450 model with esphome based solution. It doesn’t create a climate entity rather expose everything as sensors. Thanks for your response
Hello all,
I just had your system working with the CA350, this seems very great… but I quickly ran in a serious trouble.
Some free wires of the RS232-RJ45 interface touched and created some contacts. It seem that this event put the CA350 in a defaut mode, where neither the serial connection work and even the screen is in default when I disconnect the RJ45 and put it back on “written 8.8.8” on it which is not a known default. The fan speed can’t be controlled anymore neither.
Does anyone have encountered a similar problem and know how to reset the electronic?
I’m afraid you might have burned out some of the electronics.I would contact local distributor/service center.
Anyway, could you provide some more info: which version do you have? Which controller? Could you make a photo of how it looks like after start?
Hi @adorobis, thanks for replying.
Yeah, I have the same impression as you about a burned component. Unfortunately I wonder if I won’t have to change the full electronic card.
Here is a picture of the card and of the “888” message, which will make it clearer (all the leds of the display are on).
I’m not sure about what do you mean about controller and version?
Hi,
I’m trying to follow the same path as you, but I’m on a bit of unknown territory.
In comfoair.yaml, you type:
includes:
- comfoair.h
where do you put the “comfoair.h” file ?
Just create an “esphome” folder under “config” (if not existing) and put the file there.
I am using esphome as an addon on hassio, the folder contains all yaml definitions.
Thanks, that did it.
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Hi
EDIT: Found that using the terminals instead of the RS232 connector works.
I have this wierd problem where only the reading part works, i cannot change fan levels or any other type of value.
My setup is:
- Raspberry Pi Zero W with a MAX3232 DB9 module attached to the GPIO pins, and then a serial cable from the MAX3232 module to the DB9 connector on the motherboard of the unit.
Output:
25-12-2023 15:27:28 WARNING: Changing the RS232 mode went wrong
25-12-2023 15:27:30 INFO: Changed the fan levels
25-12-2023 15:27:42 WARNING: get_ventilation_status function could not get serial data
25-12-2023 15:27:44 WARNING: function get_fan_status could not get serial data
25-12-2023 15:27:45 INFO: Home Assistant MQTT Autodiscovery Topic Set: homeassistant/sensor/ca350_[nametemp]/config
25-12-2023 15:27:46 WARNING: get_temp function could not get serial data
...
I shaw in this thread that the WARNING: Changing the RS232 mode went wrong might be because of mixed TX/RX wires, so i tried swapping them, which wierdly did not change anything, i still only read values and cannot write. Its almost as both TX and RX is considered read, and the unit is in read-only mode.
Hope you guys can help me.
Hi, I’m having an issue with ESPHome:
As you can see, only “Supply Air Level” sensor is created, and on the right, you can see that his value changes every second.
But looking at the logs i see that all values are properly fetched:
Do you have any idea where I should start investigating from? It seems to me that this might be an problem connected to lambda.
EDIT
Apparently you have to set_object _id for the sensors and binary sensors. Having only name is not enough. So You need to do this:
ca->outside_air_temperature = new Sensor();
App.register_sensor(ca->outside_air_temperature);
ca->outside_air_temperature->set_object_id("Comfoair Outside Air Temperature");
ca->outside_air_temperature->set_name("Comfoair Outside Air");
ca->outside_air_temperature->set_unit_of_measurement("°C");
ca->outside_air_temperature->set_accuracy_decimals(1);
for every sensor in comfoair.yaml.
I will submit a PR.