Best third party product to add "intelligence" or timer to any air conditioner

Forums › Home Workshop DIY › Best third party product to add "intelligence" or timer to any air conditioner

timmmay

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#177890 18-Aug-2015 09:08

I'm tired of having to reset our air conditioners twice day - in the morning I set it to come on late afternoon, in the evening I set it to come on in the morning. I want to automate this with my Fujitsu Nocria and Daikin heat pumps, which are 3 and 5 years old.

What's the best automation product? Sensibo (US$239 for hub and two controllers), Pebble (which was announced but I can't find anything about it), I suspect there are others out there. Also potentially interested in DIY options, within reason - if it involves any soldering I'm probably not interested.

UPDATE: I purchased two Broadlink RM Pro Units, so I no longer need advice thanks.

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#1368378 18-Aug-2015 09:29

I use a Pebble Air http://www.buypebbleair.com/about since 3 months and I am really happy with it.
It cannot do things like "if this then do that" yet but it has a weekly timer feature and is designed to be controlled via smartphone.
What I particularly like about this system is that it runs on mains so I don't have to worry about batteries. I use it with a 4 year old Mitsubishi HP without issues.

I just hope they will bring new features to their app to make the system even smarter like geofence triggers or things like that but it does the job for now.

wasabi2k

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#1368392 18-Aug-2015 09:37

$250?!

timmmay

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#1368506 18-Aug-2015 11:35

$250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

bazzer

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#1368523 18-Aug-2015 12:02

timmmay: $250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price.

timmmay

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#1368543 18-Aug-2015 12:33

bazzer:
timmmay: $250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price.

Sure, but why would I pay $500 when I could pay $363 when the functionality and apparently quality are similar? Sensibo seems better to be honest.

jarledb

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#1368544 18-Aug-2015 12:37

timmmay:
bazzer:
timmmay: $250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price.

Sure, but why would I pay $500 when I could pay $363 when the functionality and apparently quality are similar? Sensibo seems better to be honest.

I like that Sensibo has IFTTT, in the summer its good to know when the outside temperature is low enough that its time to open doors and windows, and turn off the aircondition :) Together with my Netatmo sensors the Sensibo would be able to turn off the aircon when that happens, and that would in turn notify me to open up the place :)

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bazzer

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#1368605 18-Aug-2015 13:45

timmmay:
bazzer:
timmmay: $250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price.

Sure, but why would I pay $500 when I could pay $363 when the functionality and apparently quality are similar? Sensibo seems better to be honest.

My bad, I should've quoted tighter and got rid of the Pebble stuff. I was referring to your comment about Sensibo stating that "it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality".

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sbiddle

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#1368614 18-Aug-2015 13:54

I'm keen to build my own Arduino solution as a project when I get some time.

lxsw20

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#1368620 18-Aug-2015 14:06

timmmay:
bazzer:
timmmay: $250 x 2 = $500, the Pebble is out. The US$239 for two is a better deal, but it's still not cheap for an IR blaster with some limited functionality.

You'll remember the quality long after you forget the price.

Sure, but why would I pay $500 when I could pay $363 when the functionality and apparently quality are similar? Sensibo seems better to be honest.

Where are you getting $363? The price I get for the 2 AC unit to NZ is $418.16

timmmay

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#1368639 18-Aug-2015 14:39

lxsw20: Where are you getting $363? The price I get for the 2 AC unit to NZ is $418.16

From the Pebble website, $249 each, I don't see a cheaper option to buy two.

bazzer

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#1368665 18-Aug-2015 15:10

timmmay:
lxsw20: Where are you getting $363? The price I get for the 2 AC unit to NZ is $418.16

From the Pebble website, $249 each, I don't see a cheaper option to buy two.

He's talking about your $363 for the USD$239 Sensibo kit (which is presumably a straight conversion @ 0.6584?).

If you try to pre-order on their website, it defaults to NZD and converts to $418.16 including shipping of $32.32. Maybe that's a Paypal conversion, because it's using a terrible exchange rate. Still, it will be more like $400 including shipping I guess. If you switch to USD it's $239 + $20 shipping = $259 = NZD$400+.

timmmay

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#1368724 18-Aug-2015 16:42

$400 is a fair bit to avoid pushing a few buttons a day. Not sure my wife would consider that good value for money.

bazzer

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#1368750 18-Aug-2015 17:37

timmmay: $400 is a fair bit to avoid pushing a few buttons a day. Not sure my wife would consider that good value for money.

Does she push the buttons?

timmmay

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#1368831 18-Aug-2015 20:43

bazzer:
timmmay: $400 is a fair bit to avoid pushing a few buttons a day. Not sure my wife would consider that good value for money.

Does she push the buttons?

No, but she's happy to tell me I have to do it!

Swanny

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#1368860 18-Aug-2015 21:32

sbiddle: I'm keen to build my own Arduino solution as a project when I get some time.

I was working on one based on a PIC. Never did get it finished though.

IR codes for a heat pump are quite lengthy!

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