Heat pumps - wifi control, movement detection

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Heat pumps - wifi control, movement detection - worth it?

ben28

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#168480 15-Mar-2015 17:02

Looking at buying a couple of heat pumps.
Does any one have heat pumps with wifi control from your phone , movement detection so heat pump fires up when people are in the room, 7 day programs etc.
Are these features useful in real life?
Do you really save running costs ?

Or are they just a sales gimmick, that are a solution looking for a problem?

ben28

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#1259759 15-Mar-2015 17:26

Moved to correct subforum.

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nakedmolerat

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#1259771 15-Mar-2015 17:51

It's cool. So for me it worth the extra cost.

Whether it is useful or not, I think we know that it isn't useful at all

. The fact that you come here to 'justify' this, it shows that you know it is not worth it - except for the 'cool'ness.

ChrisNZL

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#1259791 15-Mar-2015 18:03

tl;dr - Movement detection, not worth it. Wi-fi - do you mind reaching for a remote?

My heatpumps have a timer/schedule I can set, but I never use it. Just turn the unit on or off. Doesn't take long for the heatpump to be effective.

Mine don't have wi-fi, so I have to have their remotes lying around somewhere.

Mine have movement detection but I prefer to keep it manual. If it doesn't do its job automatically very well, just gonna end up changing it manually anyway. Not hard to press a button to make it colder or warmer as needed.

I find I tweak the temps manually, one-to-three degree difference depending on the day.

If I had wi-fi it'd probably just mean I'd pull my phone out of my pocket instead of reaching for the remote on the table or whatever.

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#1259801 15-Mar-2015 18:21

ChrisNZL: tl;dr - Movement detection, not worth it. Wi-fi - do you mind reaching for a remote? ...

+1
What he said.
Another useless advertising gimmick.

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LennonNZ

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#1259808 15-Mar-2015 18:48

I have a Daikin and I got quoted (via One of Daikin's Resellers/Installers in NZ ) for 2 SkyFi Units (2 Aircons). My Quote in January was around $1800 including installation!!!

I can buy 2 of the Same Units for ~$450 Retail (So I presume The Daikin installers get them for maybe $250 in total - or less)

The Installers are trying to Rip People off in NZ.

Installation takes maybe 1 min each and is screwing in 2 wires.

timmmay

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#1259810 15-Mar-2015 18:51

WiFi would be useful if you can program a 7 day timer that way, maybe if you want to start it up before you get home, not sure I'd pay more for it. 7 day timer definitely helpful, that I'd definitely pay more for, if I can set up multiple on/off events in a day for a week. Movement detection not helpful IMHO, I have it on two and never use it.

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vexxxboy

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#1259815 15-Mar-2015 19:01

movement detection is a pain in the butt if you have pets that live indoors.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

richms

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#1259816 15-Mar-2015 19:04

I looked at the wifi mitsubishi, and it is truely wifi only, so you cant just cable it to a switch.

Goes via a cloud service, not immediate control. Wifi control changes are not reflected on the standard remote, had issues with multiple clients accessing at once. Didnt have anything useful connected to it like IFTTT, cant control it from your own software on the lan, so would have to reverse engeneer their cloud stuff.

Richard rich.ms

PoHq

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#1259824 15-Mar-2015 19:55

See my post here a while back. http://www.geekzone.co.nz/forums.asp?forumId=73&topicId=148822

Absolutely worth it for me. Mainly in the peak hot/cold times of the year. I've used it countless times this summer to cool the house down before I get home. Will be the same in the winter with heat to. I have set rules etc but agree with others it could be a bit more intelligent i.e. if room drops below x degrees switch on etc etc. And yes some sort of IFTTT integration maybe. But overall its great and is recommended.

Niel

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#1259826 15-Mar-2015 19:59

Got my aircon about 2-3 years ago, Mitsubishi of about 6.5kW. At the time there was no WiFi and AFAIK no motion sensor, but with this larger model comes a 7 day timer remote instead of the standard basic timer remote. My aircon runs 24/7 and windows are closed 24/7, to keep out flies and control humidity. The timer is too hard to set. Did it a few times, but is a pain to use. When I get home, I manually turn the temperature down (or up in Winter) and when I leave for work I turn it up (or down in Winter). I change it only a couple degrees. Could set this on a timer, but is too hard as said. At some point I'll look-up the RS485 protocol they use and wire in a Raspberry Pie to do whatever I want it to.

BTW, power consumption is not much when run 24/7. And I set it to either heating or cooling, not auto.

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timmmay

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#1259847 15-Mar-2015 20:43

After I bought my Nocria the salespeople told me "oops that model can't take a 7 day timer, sorry". That means a lot of button pushing winter mornings to get it to come on in the evening, and in the evening to get it to come on in the morning. I may automate it one day once something can send the right IR signals for me. I don't think my Harmony can do it, but I might try one day.

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JaseNZ

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#1259851 15-Mar-2015 20:49

I can control mine with my GS4 , you could probably set up rules etc but it would have to be pointing at it to be of any use.

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richms

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#1259855 15-Mar-2015 21:04

If someone wants to borrow my one of these

http://www.aliexpress.com/store/product/AllOne-modern-remote-control-Free-Shipping/1189972_1873994833.html

to see if it works on their aircon, im not using mine at the moment.

the app is aweful but seems the aircon part is the least terrible

Richard rich.ms

SumnerBoy

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#1259876 15-Mar-2015 21:39

I have my Daikin heat pump integrated with my home automation system and it is quite handy. I also have underfloor hydronic heating however, which is the main heating source. So the Daikin is just used to 'topup' if it gets a bit chilly inside (which is pretty rare). I have a cold blooded wife so when she is home the temp setpoint is raised a few degrees (automatically) and the Daikin will kick in if needed. If it is just me the setpoint drops a few degrees and if we are both out it drops right down to 16 or so degrees. Will also turn on in winter mornings if the living room is a bit chilly when we first get up in the morning.

I also have a rule for going to bed (which is auto-triggered when I put my phone on charge at night) and this will shut off the Daikin if it is running. It is quite nice to just plug my phone into the charger and know that all lighting, TVs, heat pumps, etc get shut off without having to run around checking everything. It also checks that all doors are shut and announces a warning if something has been left open.

So in short, I think it can be useful if you have the right control system. But just having wireless control on your phone does sound a bit limiting.