airtouch for ducted heat pumps

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856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2861794 4-Feb-2022 15:41

The installer manual says if the screen is idle most of the time that you can use it as a sensor.

It was all fixed today. Had to be factory reset to get weird of the weird double up sensor. All good now.

Also fully integrated into HA with it running on the tablet. So much better :D

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timmmay

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#2861798 4-Feb-2022 15:58

Nice. It'd be good if someone could write a "for dummies" guide to AirTouch with with HA. I got it installed easily, but now I want to set up programs such as:

Turn on fans to all rooms at 10am, then turn off at 2pm.
Turn on in air conditioning mode at 3pm every day, with bedroom1 set at 21 and lounge set at 22 on and bedroom2 and hallway turned off.
On Wednesdays and Friday turn on heating at 5am in bedroom 1 to 21 degrees and off at 7am.

HA looks powerful but somewhat difficult to use.

Psilan

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Ultimate Geek

#2861803 4-Feb-2022 16:16

Try this integration instead: https://pythonrepo.com/repo/mihailescu2m-hass-airtouch4-platform-python-programming-with-hardware

The standard one loses some control. But the one above also has some stupid things too.

The damper entities are unavailable with the standard integration I think

But for these to work you must choose between ITC and damper. You can't set zone temperatures in damper mode (see there is no control dot on the zone temp circles). I don't think you can duplicate the entity and have both.

Also with this integration the primary Daikin controller is my Kitchen/Dining zone. I can't turn that on from a climate card. It thinks this is a controller only, not a zone. So you just turn the entire system off / on with a switch entity instead.

This is when you change to ITC mode. I now have individual temp control in office, but no damper control.

Ignore the "undefined"

If you want on/off instead of dragging to 0% you can use switch entities on the fans but now the tablet is just getting stupid - busy. I'm sure there must be a way to make it nicer - but it costs a lot of time ;).

I think you could set up automations quite easily if you could be bothered using HA instead of the panel.

This lets you set modes, fan speeds, anything really. Tested just now and it works.

If the fan entity is in damper mode the temp doesn't change. So it's dependent on that also.

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timmmay

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#2861810 4-Feb-2022 16:25

Oh I just found in HA under configuration -> automation -> time you can set by time fairly easily. I didn't find it before.

@Psilan how do you install that module? The instructions say "copy these files to your installation". I'm running HA on Hyper-V while I'm testing things, so I guess that's more of a Hyper-V question which I haven't looked into yet. Unless the HA web interface lets you upload them? If I stick with HA i'll get a R.Pi 4 or something to run it.

Psilan

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2861813 4-Feb-2022 16:32

Not sure about HyperV, I run on ESXi. I dump the polyaire folder into the below.

\\ipaddress\config\custom_components

Restart and it's there in the standard integration area.

It has the same name, so you'll see two AirTouch 4 integrations that look identical... It's the bottom one.

You can also enable the File Editor sidebar to upload directly.

I'm going to waste a whole weekend on this now :(

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timmmay

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#2861834 4-Feb-2022 17:16

Psilan:

Not sure about HyperV, I run on ESXi. I dump the polyaire folder into the below.

\\ipaddress\config\custom_components

Restart and it's there in the standard integration area.

It has the same name, so you'll see two AirTouch 4 integrations that look identical... It's the bottom one.

You can also enable the File Editor sidebar to upload directly.

I'm going to waste a whole weekend on this now :(

Mine's on IPv6. When I visit \\xxx::xxxx:xxxx:xxxxxx57%46\config it says it can't access it. I wonder if it's hypervisor or host OS that needs something done.

I managed to install file editor. There's only eight or so files so I'll upload that later on to see how it goes. I'll probably just remove the polyaire component from the store so I don't get mixed up.

timmmay

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#2862261 5-Feb-2022 16:58

@Psilan I uploaded the files for the other component you linked to /config/custom_components/polyaire using the web interface. How do I activate it? I already had an integration with my AirTouch4 added to HA, should I delete that then somehow detect it again using the new component? I'm an absolute beginner to HA.

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Psilan

856 posts

Ultimate Geek

#2862267 5-Feb-2022 17:17

After adding the files and restarting ha. Go to the normal integration area and add new integration. Not Hacs.

You will see two Airtouch in the list if it worked. One is the new alternative.

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#2862289 5-Feb-2022 19:09

Thanks @Psilan. Unfortunately only one Airtouch integration shows up. I've put two screenshots of the custom component uploaded below.

Integrations Available

File Editor

Through Windows Explorer

Psilan

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Ultimate Geek

#2862290 5-Feb-2022 19:13

Weird. That's all I did.

I am running HA Core 2022.2.1. That could be the difference.

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timmmay

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#2862299 5-Feb-2022 20:34

I upgraded and I have it now :) It's listing fan (looks like zone control) and climate (temperature setting) for each room. Helpfully it shows the temp to 0.1 degrees. Percentage settings is done with the fan control. Overall it looks better than the other Airtouch 4 control. I'll have a play and learn how HA works as I get time, thanks :)

K123

44 posts

Geek

#2888047 18-Mar-2022 10:31

@Psialn really useful information thanks. I am very likely about to pull the trigger on the Airtouch4 with a Mitsubishi HVAC and pair it with my existing Home Assistant setup. It is big money so I'm still working out the details.

Does the AirTouch4 tablet allow any ability to use native Android? Mostly it would be great if it also displayed a Home Assistant dashboard.

https://github.com/mihailescu2m/hass-airtouch4-platform looks better than https://www.home-assistant.io/integrations/airtouch4/

Essentially looks like the latter includes only:

one climate entity for each group with ITC installed, which controls the group temperature

But the custom one adds

one device for each AC unit installed
one climate entity for each AC unit installed
one fan entity for each group defined, which controls the zone damper

... I think.

I think I read the Damper vs ITC temperature mode was a AirTouch thing (not just the HA integration) but I cannot remember where I read how this works.

So you have an ITC (the sensor/button) in each room? I am worried by quote excludes these and they might be essential for Home Assistant integration

Psilan

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Ultimate Geek

#2888053 18-Mar-2022 10:42

Airtouch4 zones without ITC is crap. I wonder why they quoted that. I would ask them why they think you don't need it, and have them explain the ITC function. I have 1 per zone, but my tablet is my temp in my main area. I would even like an ITC there.

Yes Damper/ITC is a mode switch due to AirTouch. I just leave in Damper generally. We usually just have one room running at 100% as it is only my wife and I. The return vent is in a good location for this method.

Yes, you can close the app on the tablet and install whatever you like. It is on a very old version of Android OS though, so you miss out on apps that have OS version requirements. HA runs fine, but there were a few apps I wanted that were not listed in the Play store :(

I have however found the HA integration a bit useless for me. I don't really need it. Once I stop working from home I will however set up some automations based off my temp sensors. Dogs live inside and get cooked in Summer.

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timmmay

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#2888055 18-Mar-2022 10:49

@K123 have a read of this thread. I like the AirTouch but it's not perfect. One key thing we find is that we get overheating spill zone because the AirTouch leaves dampers in the other zones open 10% for an extended time to prevent overheating the other rooms. The Airtouch installer manual has a section on how to create a bypass in the roof which could reduce this problem. Another way to reduce the problem is to ensure your heat pump isn't oversized - being able to ramp the power down really low would work as well. We have a 12kw Daikin but the minimum power is about 5kw, which a lot if you're just trying to keep a couple of bedrooms warm at night. I went into the lounge at 2am the other day and because of this it was 27 degrees.

I mostly use ITC / Individual Temperature Control of rooms 95% of the time. When I turn the system on for ventilation of the rooms I use the damper percentage mode.

I'm half considering writing my own software to monitor and control the system using damper percentages directly so I can have a bit more control of how it works. Unfortunately I'm not sure I have enough free time to do that.

K123

44 posts

Geek

#2888072 18-Mar-2022 11:08

Good to hear thanks. I will check the quote

HA on the tablet will be nice.

This Reddit user seems to just turn zones on and off without any ITC because his house doesn't need precision balancing https://www.reddit.com/r/diynz/comments/idtjof/zoning_ducted_heating_airtouch_4_systems/g2ds0ht?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3

I read the scheduling is lacking in AirTouch4 and also HA is smarter with regards to if we are home etc. I thought I would use it for three things:
- scheduling of basic on/off
- remote control if AirTouch4 cloud goes away in 5 years
- maybe smart toggling of zones that only need heating sometimes

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