Best Air Conditioner for OpenHAB integration in 2023

Add-ons Bindings
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I’m looking also at a Mitshubishi Heavy Industries AC , model SRK25ZS.
Although there’s a Wifi adapter card that can be installed in it and would allow me to control the AC via some cloud based software, I prefer to have local control not depending on a cloud service.

@hmerk How much did you pay for the Intesis Wifi Adapter ?
Wich Intesis Wifi adapter are you using ? The AC Cloud or the Home Automation one with the ASCII protocol ?

Thanks
Eurico

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@seime @PrzemoF

Gree is not cloud dependant. I use them only locally.

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7

Hi

I would recommend a more commercial biased system that supports nice and easy controls, then link to a robust system like #Velbus that can offer you full integration with the rest of the building, as well as work extremely well with openHAB.

One of the biggest issues we see is people not doing the ground work that you are and ending up with domestic air con systems that insist on using their web based controls, which work with openHAB, but aren’t easily integrated with the rest of the building.

Try to find a condensing unit that supports simple contact closures and 10v controls, with room FCU that have similar controls.

Daikin for example have such modules.

So do Trane and the larger manufacturers.

As always, happy to help.

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Thank you for all the replies, so far! I didn’t want to limit models in the opening post, but what I’m really looking for is:

  1. Local control, I’m not interested in anything that depends on the internet to work
  2. Well defined and documented protocol (bacnet, modbus, velbus) and if possible fully open together with implementation. KNX is not an option as it uses encrypted database and forces buying ETS.
  3. I’m OK with direct controls (4.20mA, 0-10V, VFC), but comms are preferred. Also I’d rather have a cable instead of a wifi connection.
  4. Most likely I’ll need multi-split AC - I don’t want to have X separate outdoor units.
  5. Light industrial models will be my preferred option due to modbus/bacnet comms build-in. I assume integrating them with openHAB should be doable (I’m learning to write binding at this moment). But looks like openHAB has good bindings for Daikin and finding a connectable Daikin model should be easy, so going for direct control might not be the easiest option.
    @MDAR Thanks for the link! I wasn’t looking at Trane yet.
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Don’t know, a did order a complete system with 3 indoor units (so 3 WiFi Adapters) and the outdoor unit on my roof.

My set came with the airconwithme adapters, which are a rebrand of the Intesis INWMPMHI001I000 adapters, using the ASCII protocol. (That’s why I wrote the Intesis Binding :wink: )

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Going for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and the airconwithme/intesis WiFi adapter gives you full local control and is fully supported by openHAB as we have a binding for those adapters. They might be used in different brands as well, which makes them compatible too.

See my last post, I am running a multi split system.

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Apparently newer daikin units no longer allow local control. See GitHub - Apollon77/daikin-controller-cloud: Connect and Control Daikin Cloud devices

The newer Daikin devices sold since 2020 contain a newer Wifi Adapter (e.g. BRP069C4x) which only connects to the Daikin Cloud and is no longer reachable locally. These devices are only controllable with the Daikin Onecta App.
This library allows to initially (hopefully once) retrieve tokens by using a proxy to login to the Daikin Cloud. After that these tokens can be used and refreshed to interact with teh devices.

And then there’s this: GitHub - revk/ESP32-Faikin: ESP32 based module to control Daikin aircon units

I was lucky I got my daikin unit before their move to the cloud, so it works well with openhab’s addon.

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Thanks for the warning! Now Intesis gateways are starting to look more like the best solution.

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It’s not clear to me what type of air conditioner you’re looking for. I’ve got Mitsubishi ductless split units and I control them over wifi using cheap esp wifi boards. It rocks.

There are a few different options that make use of this library: GitHub - geoffdavis/esphome-mitsubishiheatpump: ESPHome Climate Component for Mitsubishi Heatpumps using direct serial connection

I use the one integrated into the esphome tool.

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@jonnydev13 thanks for the info! I’m trying to find out what’s the best type for me. I’m adding mitsubishi + esp wifi as a potential option to my list.

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Maybe worth checking - Mitsubishi Heat Pump - have this in place for years now (4 ACs) and works like a charm. To add - EspEasy plugin contains a rewritten library (based on GitHub - SwiCago/HeatPump: Arduino library to control Mitsubishi Heat Pumps via connector cn105) which should result in faster status updates (~1s).

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@crnjan thanks for the opinion! You got it connected over a wifi or over a cable?

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@HFM How do you control them? Wifi or Cable?

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The esp module is connected with the AC unit using a cn105 connector and that is used to power the esp unit + do a serial communication with the AC unit. ESP module is then connected via wifi. Again, I’m using the EspEasy firmware for my setup (since it includes the plugin out-of-the-box) and you can access and setup the ESP module via build in web interface (+ do OTA, …), but I guess other firmwares would do the trick too.

Soldered look like

image
image1920×1440 154 KB

or

image
image744×1000 108 KB

as an example - and I just added that inside the AC and closed it down, so it’s not visible anymore (it’s pretty small so should not be that hard to find place for ESP module within AC unit).

And last but not least - there is an open git issue where people report what unit(s) they tested with.

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Don’t forget that the following contraints might be even more important of the way you are connecting with OH:

  • Number of Split to be installed might limit your choice
  • External look of the slit my limit your installation choices (my wife did not allow a Mitsubishi and I only coul install the DAIKIN with wi-fi adapter with OH binding well integrated).

At the end it is a matter of the right compromise.

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For control of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries ACs you could also have a look on MHI-AC-Ctrl

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It is wifi.

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Samsung Windfree? I have two multisplits in my house. They have a build in Wi-Fi and integrated into Smartthings, which should have binding to OH if I remember right. If not, you can integrate them via Node-RED, as Smartthings is open to 3rd party. Offcourse it will go through cloud, but you don’t need to learn BACNet or Modbus to control them, end they are really nice looking and silent.

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@PrzemoF please be aware that there are two different brands with totally different AC units that have Mitsubishi in its name:

The DIY control methods described in @jonnydev13 comment and @crnjan comment are for Mitsubishi Electric AC models.
On the other hand DIY control method referred in @absalom comment it’s for Mitsubishi Heavy Industries AC models.
In relation to Intesis Wifi Adapters they are for specific AC manufacturers and models. If you chose this local control option you need to purchase the adapter specifically for you AC brand and model that use the ASCII protocol supported by the Intesis binding (see @hmerk comment)

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@Artyom_Syomushkin Thanks for the info, but I love programming and messing with electronics - BACnet/Modbus (I’m a BMS engineer…) - no problem with that :heart_eyes:. Having in a device controlled by a cloud over internet - no way :slight_smile: The only would be the nextcloud on my own server :blush:
@eurico_borges Thank you! I was sure it’s the same company!!

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