Best way to control a Daikin AC with IR only?

aymeric106 · July 15, 2018, 9:17am

Hello,

What is the best way to control a (old) Daikin AC unit with infra red ?

So far the option i found are

BroadLink RM Mini3 Black Bean (I saw some scripts on github to send command to it, but nothing for AC control)
Tasmota Firmware: I have a Sonoff RFBridge flashed with Tasmota Firmware, and there are some IRSend commands available for it. I guess I can add an IR module to an available GPIO ? Also, Daikin is not listed in the AC protocol supported (src code)
Logitech Harmony but seems to expensive …

I guess controling and IR AC unit is more complicated than sending a simple IRCode ?

(Note: the PI running openhab is not in the same room as the AC, cannot connect and IR emitter on it )

Thank you for your advice

christoph_wempe · July 15, 2018, 9:40am

If you feel comfortable to program your own arduino sketch you can directly use the IRremote library.
I would use some kind of esp8266 chip.

The library already supports Daikin.

github.com

markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/blob/master/examples/TurnOnDaikinAC/TurnOnDaikinAC.ino

/* Copyright 2017 sillyfrog
*
* An IR LED circuit *MUST* be connected to the ESP8266 on a pin
* as specified by IR_LED below.
*
* TL;DR: The IR LED needs to be driven by a transistor for a good result.
*
* Suggested circuit:
*     https://github.com/markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/wiki#ir-sending
*
* Common mistakes & tips:
*   * Don't just connect the IR LED directly to the pin, it won't
*     have enough current to drive the IR LED effectively.
*   * Make sure you have the IR LED polarity correct.
*     See: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/polarity/diode-and-led-polarity
*   * Typical digital camera/phones can be used to see if the IR LED is flashed.
*     Replace the IR LED with a normal LED if you don't have a digital camera
*     when debugging.
*   * Avoid using the following pins unless you really know what you are doing:
*     * Pin 0/D3: Can interfere with the boot/program mode & support circuits.

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I have not tested this yet, but I plan to use this for my own AC in the future.

christoph_wempe · July 15, 2018, 9:42am

I see Tasmota uses the same library.
Maybe you don’t have to program your own sketch then.

vzorglub · July 15, 2018, 7:38pm

It can also learn commands so as long as you have the remote you should be fine.
Search the forum for broadlink
You can also use it for other IR items, TV, dvd…
Cheap and very versatile

aymeric106 · August 8, 2018, 9:25am

Finally I bought an ESP82866 and an IR emitter.

I’ll use the library here

and use the MQTT Interface here

github.com

markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/blob/master/examples/IRMQTTServer/IRMQTTServer.ino

/*
 * Send arbitrary IR codes via a web server or MQTT.
 * Copyright David Conran 2016, 2017, 2018
 *
 * NOTE: An IR LED circuit *MUST* be connected to ESP8266 GPIO4 (D2). See IR_LED
 *
 * WARN: This is very advanced & complicated example code. Not for beginners.
 *       You are strongly suggested to try & look at other example code first.
 *
 * # Instructions
 *
 * ## Before First Boot (i.e. Compile time)
 * - Set the MQTT_SERVER define below to the address of your MQTT server.
 * - Arduino IDE:
 *   o Install the following libraries via Library Manager
 *     - WiFiManager (https://github.com/tzapu/WiFiManager)
 *     - PubSubClient (https://pubsubclient.knolleary.net/)
 *   o You MUST change <PubSubClient.h> to have the following (or larger) value:
 *     #define MQTT_MAX_PACKET_SIZE 512
 * - PlatformIO IDE:

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As it’s done in the exemple above, you have to send the IR code directly to the MQTT server.

The IR Code to send is quite complicated to build, so I’ll modify the Server to accept all the parameters of my AC unit and build the code, like in this example

github.com

markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/blob/master/examples/TurnOnDaikinAC/TurnOnDaikinAC.ino

/* Copyright 2017 sillyfrog
*
* An IR LED circuit *MUST* be connected to the ESP8266 on a pin
* as specified by IR_LED below.
*
* TL;DR: The IR LED needs to be driven by a transistor for a good result.
*
* Suggested circuit:
*     https://github.com/markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/wiki#ir-sending
*
* Common mistakes & tips:
*   * Don't just connect the IR LED directly to the pin, it won't
*     have enough current to drive the IR LED effectively.
*   * Make sure you have the IR LED polarity correct.
*     See: https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/polarity/diode-and-led-polarity
*   * Typical digital camera/phones can be used to see if the IR LED is flashed.
*     Replace the IR LED with a normal LED if you don't have a digital camera
*     when debugging.
*   * Avoid using the following pins unless you really know what you are doing:
*     * Pin 0/D3: Can interfere with the boot/program mode & support circuits.

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All new territory for me …

What I’m worried about now is how i’ll debug the the whole thing.
I’ve never use any arduino before.
Only familiar with arduino IDE because off Tasmota, but not as real developper …

Wish me luck !

Aymeric

aymeric106 · August 21, 2018, 10:55am

Here we go … the Daikin part is working fine.
Now i want to use the same ESP8266 to send IR code to my TV, but I need help in programming the ESP8266

If you can you’re welcome

-> Need help c++ programming esp8266

Thank you

aymeric106 · August 21, 2018, 9:28pm

Thanks to you all, I managed to get everthing working with an ESP8266 and the IRremote8266 github.
Only thing to improve now is the range of my IR led emitter.
ESP8266 is 3,3V only.
I tried this https://github.com/markszabo/IRremoteESP8266/issues/203#issuecomment-299788676 to go 5v and improve the range, but I don’t have any signal with this wiring.

Any Idea how to amplify the IR led signal ?

vzorglub · August 21, 2018, 10:48pm

Very basic circuit with an npn transistor:

So we add up: 2 diodes and a transistor = 1.7v + 1.7v + 0.7v = 4.1V
That leaves 0.9v across the resistor
We want to limit the current to 100mA (The diodes will sustain 50mA continuous but we are just pulsing signal so it will be ok)
Ohm’s law give R = V/I so R = 0.9v/100mA = 9 ohms which we round up to 10 ohms (easier to find)

2 diodes will give you the range you want

aymeric106 · August 22, 2018, 7:29am

Thank you, very nice and very clear ! I have 2 questions:

1st) It doesn’t matter if the ‘ESP’ input of the transistor is 3,3V ?
-> no risk 5V can go back to the ESP GPIO ?

2nd) For the 5V source, can I use the Vin pin of the NodeMCU ESP8266 (5v when USB powered)
-> no risk of having the 5v and 3.3v GPIO output of the ESP somewhat connected ?

oh yes on last question,
I have this 2 refs of transistor (from an arduino starter kit )
PN2222, BC547
Wich one is best ?

Thank you again !
Aymeric

vzorglub · August 22, 2018, 7:49am

No, you’re safe

You can use that Vin pin no problems. No risk

PN2222 is kind of the basic reference NPN transistor. You’ll be fine with that one.
What you are looking for is the max collector current. In this case 600mA. Our target is 100mA. Well within the tolerance of the transistor.

aymeric106 · August 23, 2018, 6:23pm

Great everything is working perfectly now with the 2 leds !

By the way, with my esp8266 you need to use the VU pin to have 5v with USB plugged in, not the VIn pin.

this one
(https://www.amazon.fr/AZDelivery-NodeMCU-ESP8266-développement-development/dp/B06Y1ZPNMS/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1535048407&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=nodemcu+esp8266&psc=1)

Thanks again, now let’s brutalized my fish !

aymeric106 · April 1, 2019, 10:41am

A nice implementation with a broadlink IR remote !

Aymeric

rickitaly · May 19, 2019, 4:35pm

Hello i am trying to achieve the same result to manage a daikin IR! I had no problem to build the HW part with a NodeMCU and IR leds, with IRRemote library i can do something but i can’t understand how you tweak it to make it work with MQTT both readin/writing and which was your strategy on OH side.
Would you please share the tweaked .ino code to understand?
Thank you very much!