Airtouch4 with Home Assistant - Automation and Monitoring

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Airtouch4 with Home Assistant - Automation and Monitoring

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Paul1977

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#2924788 10-Jun-2022 15:41

@K123 It could be static pressure set too low. When we had ours put in they installers left the static pressure setting at the factory default of 50, which was way too low. They finally increased it to 125 and the house warms up considerably faster now.

K123

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#2924898 10-Jun-2022 18:16

Thanks for the tip, it seems like it is worth looking into

I don't understand what this static pressure change will do, just increase fan speed? Or for you did it somehow increase the temperature of the air being blown? The installer might be able to explain it of course

timmmay

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#2924919 10-Jun-2022 19:15

I suspect it essentially means increasing air pressure and airflow volume. Best Google it, I only half remember reading about it.

If someone knows how I can check what mine is set to.

Paul1977

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#2925225 11-Jun-2022 12:20

K123: Thanks for the tip, it seems like it is worth looking into

I don't understand what this static pressure change will do, just increase fan speed? Or for you did it somehow increase the temperature of the air being blown? The installer might be able to explain it of course

@K123 It's to compensate for the air resistance of the ducting - longer ducting with more bends takes more effort to push the air through. I'm not sure exactly how it works, I suspect it's increasing fan torque rather than just RPM (I could be wrong), but however it works the end result for us was increased air volume and faster heating/cooling. This is generally at the expense of it being louder, but we haven't found it at all intrusive in our house at least.

@timmmay I found the instructions buried in the service manual, I checked mine myself to verify my suspicion that it had never been changed from the factory default, but I had the installers change it as I didn't want them trying to put any blame on me for the problems I was having with it. If you have a Mitsubishi PEAD I could dig out the instructions for you, but If I recall you have a Daiken?

timmmay

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#2925380 11-Jun-2022 20:08

Ah yes, it will be set in the heat pump settings not the Airtouch. I won't mess with it as it's working fine. Yep I have a Daikin.

timmmay

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#2925867 13-Jun-2022 07:00

Hmmm... looks like Airtouch sensors / HA say my sons room reached 154 degrees just after 2am. I'd better check if he has third degree burns this morning...

I apply a transform to most of my graphs as I get these kinds of reading occasionally, I forgot to apply it to this graph. This is what I do in Apex charts.

type: custom:apexcharts-card
graph_span: 8h
header:
show: true
title: Room Temperatures 8h
show_states: true
colorize_states: true
chart_type: line
update_interval: 15m
yaxis:
- id: a
min: ~20
max: ~25
all_series_config:
stroke_width: 2
curve: smooth
series:
- entity: climate.living
attribute: current_temperature
name: Lounge
color: '#0091ea'
transform: if (x > 35) {return 20} else {return x};

K123

44 posts

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#2925903 13-Jun-2022 09:29

Nice. I wonder if returning None would also work in place of 154

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timmmay

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#2925905 13-Jun-2022 09:41

K123: Nice. I wonder if returning None would also work in place of 154

I don't know what causes the problem, I assume it's weirdness with the Airtouch as there's nothing in the HA log.

K123

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#2926622 15-Jun-2022 00:49

For anyone who stumbles on this in the future, here are the details of the configuration. As for if it makes a difference I will report back later

Regarding static pressure, it does basically seem to be fan speed. Apparently every [ducted] Panasonic install needs it adjusted and Daikins seldom do, apparently because they automatically adjust...

However the installer manual seems to imply one must run the automated adjustment (for 1-15 minutes - very oddly broad range). Then when about to do so the Daikin person on end of the phone suggested we just change it directly, I asked and he said it just tries to work out the best value but we might as well try the full speed and turn it down later if we want. It also seems to default to 10/15 whereas Panasonic defaults to much lower.

The field setting is 20-6 with a value of 1 to 15. This video is very good: https://youtu.be/4oITe9R3b0k?t=290 explaining how this is the fan speed for high and recommending very high values. The idle setting mentioned here seems interesting too.

Because of the Airtouch we had a huge amount of issues getting the Diakin wall controller out of Sub RC to Main RC mode as the menu setting didn't seem to stick, but maybe it works after next power cycle, which we did a bunch of times. With the Airtouch as master/main the field settings are not accessible. So simple yet so complicated. When it is working Daikin is great because the wall controllers still let you turn the AC on and off and, if it is in damper mode, you can even change the temperature on it.

timmmay

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#2926632 15-Jun-2022 07:10

I vaguely recall being told that to change some Daikin configuration settings you need to disconnect the Airtouch controller or make it secondary, then swap them back. Ours seem to have stuck, but it was done by a technician.

@K123 your post is a little confusing as you mention both Panasonic and Daikin, and your abbreviations Sub RC / Main RC could use expanding if you want it to be useful to others. Maybe expand on it a bit to say what works. I'll copy it into the main reference thread for the Airtouch at some point as well.

timmmay

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#2932023 20-Jun-2022 11:11

(Solved - see below)

I run home assistant core (currently v2022.06.06), on a R.Pi4. It's been working fine for a few months. Today I noticed the automations weren't working, this is in the logs.

> more home-assistant.log
2022-06-20 11:04:15 WARNING (SyncWorker_0) [homeassistant.loader] We found a custom integration polyaire which has not been tested by Home Assistant. This component might cause stability problems, be sure to disable it if you experience issues with Home Assistant [This message is normally there]
2022-06-20 11:04:17 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.polyaire.airtouch4] (Re)connecting...
2022-06-20 11:04:24 INFO (MainThread) [custom_components.polyaire.airtouch4] Disconnecting...
2022-06-20 11:04:24 ERROR (MainThread) [custom_components.polyaire.airtouch4] Cannot connect to AirTouch host, giving up... [ This message is unusual ]
2022-06-20 11:04:32 INFO (MainThread) [homeassistant.core] Starting Home Assistant

I've checked the IP address of the Airtouch, it hasn't changed, and both my PC and my R.Pi can ping the Airtouch IP. My network hasn't changed, the last Fritzbox 7590 firmware update was in March.

When I look at the integration Airtouch is not available.

Any ideas how to diagnose the root problem and get automations working again?

timmmay

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#2932160 20-Jun-2022 13:51

I worked this out. I have a new Brother Laser printer that was reporting that it couldn't connect to. I'd changed the IP address of the printer. I deleted the old Brother integration, added a new one, and Airtouch started working again. Best guess is maybe an IP conflict.. but not sure.

K123

44 posts

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#2937400 2-Jul-2022 06:51

The default fan speed setting varies by brand and customers may need to ask their installer to increase this to compensate for the resistance (static pressure) of the ducting. If the fan speed setting is too low, the house may be slow to heat/cool, if the fan speed setting is too high the airflow will be too loud as it also increases the speed of low and medium options too.

As a rule of thumb, Panasonic seem to be very low defaults whereas Mitsubishi and Daikin have higher defaults (which may mean your installer isn't accustomed to adjusting it).

Increasing my Daikin setting to the maximum has helped

The details below are really only to supplement what your installer should know.

"Main RC" / "Sub RC" is Daikin terminology. You can daisy chain multiple Remote Controllers (of which the AirTouch is one) _but_ an installer needs to manage which is the primary/main. It must be the Airtouch for the Airtouch to work, it must be reverted to a Daikin controller to edit field settings. The process is convoluted enough that my (Mitsubishi specialist) installer took many hours swapping in and out the Airtouch as the primary/main RC.

K123:

For anyone who stumbles on this in the future, here are the details of the configuration. As for if it makes a difference I will report back later

Regarding static pressure, it does basically seem to be fan speed. Apparently every [ducted] Panasonic install needs it adjusted and Daikins seldom do, apparently because they automatically adjust...

However the installer manual seems to imply one must run the automated adjustment (for 1-15 minutes - very oddly broad range). Then when about to do so the Daikin person on end of the phone suggested we just change it directly, I asked and he said it just tries to work out the best value but we might as well try the full speed and turn it down later if we want. It also seems to default to 10/15 whereas Panasonic defaults to much lower.

The field setting is 20-6 with a value of 1 to 15. This video is very good: https://youtu.be/4oITe9R3b0k?t=290 explaining how this is the fan speed for high and recommending very high values. The idle setting mentioned here seems interesting too.

Because of the Airtouch we had a huge amount of issues getting the Diakin wall controller out of Sub RC to Main RC mode as the menu setting didn't seem to stick, but maybe it works after next power cycle, which we did a bunch of times. With the Airtouch as master/main the field settings are not accessible. So simple yet so complicated. When it is working Daikin is great because the wall controllers still let you turn the AC on and off and, if it is in damper mode, you can even change the temperature on it.

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