Automate "Dumb" Heatpump

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#1787353 24-May-2017 11:26

At some stage I will be putting one of them paired to the mi gateway in a waterproof box out the front of the house to extend the zigbee range - they are supposed to work perfectly with the mi stuff and its non-standard varient of zigbee, not sure how well it handles the mesh healing etc.

I havent bothered to put the mi gateway fenced off, its getting software updates so chances are they are still taking care of it. Not like a chinese IP camera that leaves the factory with old software and never sees an update.

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Paul1977

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#1788588 26-May-2017 10:10

Scott3:

Regarding the dehumidifier function on heat pumps, it is pretty useless in winter.

Heatpumps have one coil inside, and one outside.

When heating they move heat from the outside coil to the inside coil (warming the house).

When cooling they move heat from the inside coil to the outside coil (cooling the house)

Dehumidify mode works the same as cooling (uses the cold inside coil to condense water from the air) except it is designed to avoid "excessive cooling" (uses very low fan speeds, and some other trick).

Result is that a heat pump in dehumidify mode will use power, dry you house, but cool it down. (perhaps some units alternate between heat and cool? - if so, sounds very wasteful in terms of power)

@Scott3 Interestingly enough, I set my heat pump on dehumidify mode for 4 hours the other day as a test and looking at the power usage during that time it barely even registered.

I'm not sure if mine alternates between heat and cool in this mode, but it seemed to possibly chill the house a bit (and you could certainly feel the cold if you stood near it) so i won't be using it at night.

I'll try it a few more times during the day when I'm not home and watch the power usage and whether it helps with condensation.

But if it is using as little power as it seems and helps with condensation; I think I'll go Off overnight, 0530 heat 16°, 0800 dehumidify, 1630 heat 21°, bedtime Off.

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#1788910 26-May-2017 19:59

My heat pump (Panasonic) does not alternate hot/cold, it just cools the house when in dehumidify mode.

It uses an extra low internal fan speed, with a fairly low compressor speed to make it less powerful cooling than the Air conditioning mode.

A separate dehumidifier is a far better solution for winter use efficiency wise, but of course that involves forking out $400+ for one...

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#1788973 26-May-2017 23:52

timmmay:

I think all heat pumps send entire state information with each command, not just up/down/off.

Indeed. Otherwise the remote would get out of sync with the unit if there was ever any interruption in the remote sending a command as the remote is a one way push only (the heat pump does not report state back to the remote).

Units with hardwired controllers are probably different as I believe you can have more than one controller, or control multiple zones etc.

Related to the original topic: I got my RM Mini 3 yesterday and it works perfectly with my Fujitsu heat pump. A single "on" command sent to the RM Mini in learn mode was enough for it to do a cloud lookup an find the right codes for my unit. Time from unboxing to fully set up in use was probably 4 minutes tops.

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#1790411 27-May-2017 22:59

Scott3:

My heat pump (Panasonic) does not alternate hot/cold, it just cools the house when in dehumidify mode.

It uses an extra low internal fan speed, with a fairly low compressor speed to make it less powerful cooling than the Air conditioning mode.

A separate dehumidifier is a far better solution for winter use efficiency wise, but of course that involves forking out $400+ for one...

Plus emptying the water reservoir manually when it gets full.

We'll see how the heat pump dehumidify goes for a couple of weeks (both power wise, and noticeable results). If it does the job to an acceptable level, and doesn't cost excessive amounts then the convenience may be worth the extra ongoing cost.

House isn't moldy or anything, just get a bit of condensation on the windows on cold winter mornings that we'd like to reduce.

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#1790558 28-May-2017 11:17

I posted this in another thread but it might be more relevant here

For those who want complete control over their heat pumps this Kickstarter project might be the answer

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambi-labs/ambi-climate-2-ai-enhanced-air-conditioning-comfor

If I get a heat pump which is on the horizon and there is no easy Alexa support, might look at this

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#1790628 28-May-2017 13:56

ghettomaster:
Paul1977:

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I'll have to check the model number when I get home, I was just looking at the Mitsubishi website and I think mine might actually be compatible with their WiFi Controller unit which I believe allows timer functions etc as well. If that will work then I'll price that as well as if not too expensive probably easier to just do that.

From memory they're about $450.

Just saw in the latest Bunnings rag that they're $249, which is still quite expensive but no longer ridiculously so.

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#1790632 28-May-2017 14:01

lchiu7:
For those who want complete control over their heat pumps this Kickstarter project might be the answer

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ambi-labs/ambi-climate-2-ai-enhanced-air-conditioning-comfor

That's something that's completely different from a straight WiFi adapter though, this one is, uh, "smart", meaning it tries to learn your usage patterns and then automates them. Which in many people's cases will be near impossible because there aren't any patterns. So if you're the typical US user where you're running your HVAC 24/7 no matter what then it'll help cut your bills. OTOH for what I assume is a typical NZ user (I've never met anyone here who runs 24/7, but I assume there are some who do) you may end up actually wasting power as it runs things when you normally wouldn't.

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#1790648 28-May-2017 14:41

I posted this because the device as a Alexa support so you can just say Alexa turn on the air conditioning or make it hotter whatever

http://www.coolthings.com/ambi-climate-2-ai-control-air-conditioning/

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#1791544 30-May-2017 09:44

neb:
ghettomaster:

Paul1977:

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I'll have to check the model number when I get home, I was just looking at the Mitsubishi website and I think mine might actually be compatible with their WiFi Controller unit which I believe allows timer functions etc as well. If that will work then I'll price that as well as if not too expensive probably easier to just do that.

From memory they're about $450.

Just saw in the latest Bunnings rag that they're $249, which is still quite expensive but no longer ridiculously so.

@ghettomaster I assume you are talking about this one? Extra info here.

This is not made my Mitsubishi and is a universal aircon controller, although looks very interesting.

The actual Mitsubishi one is this one. I have mine ordered from Gavin Lowe for $195 (installation $70 extra if required, but I will be installing it myself).

I haven't yet received (or paid for) my genuine Mitsubishi one, so would be interested if anyone has any experience with the Intesis one at Bunnings and how it compares. My main concern is that, being cloud based, if they go out of business would it just stop working? The genuine one is also cloud based, but far less chance of Mitsubishi going out of business.

EDIT: The compatibility list also only mentions the FD series Mitsubishi heat pump, but in NZ the models F models went from FB straight to FH?

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#1792363 31-May-2017 14:21

neb: Mine has just shipped, I'll report on functionality once it arrives. The only downside is that it's rather more expensive than the Broadlink one.

It's arrived and I've just finished setting it up. Apart from the fact that the Android app is still a 1.00A release and a bit unpolished, the rest is really nice, it's a quality product made with name-brand components, and setup consisted of pointing the remote at the device and hitting the power button. The device read the entire multi-hundred-bit command word, figured out what the existing settings were, and duplicated the remote's config in the app. Very nice.

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#1796136 7-Jun-2017 19:32

I got one of the Rn Mini 3 devices from Aliexpress - only problem is I can't get it added to the app as a device - tried multiple times with standard and AP setup - the AP setup says it is added but then not in list - standard setup times out and prompts to try again ... anyone have any tricks or advice?

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#1796141 7-Jun-2017 19:49

You could go the Pebble Air way. I have pebbles on all my heatpumps and it just makes life easier. If I am out for night I turn the heatpumps on 30 minutes before I arrive home and the place is toasty when I get home. Also has the advantage you can share then with your partner

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#1796142 7-Jun-2017 19:51

I had to do AP setup, and then it came up when I switched the phone back to the normal wifi network. Check your wifi AP to see if the thing is associated with it perhaps?

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#1797813 10-Jun-2017 19:57

So got my RM Mini 3 setup - my Mitsubishi Heat Pump in my bedroom didnt work with the built in Air Con learning - however it did work for the user defined Air Con, able to turn on and off which is all I was after. Haven't tried it with the timer function for the Heat Pump but that would also be ideal. Also works well on the Panasonic Plasma and Apple TV in my bedroom (Apple TV remote was built in with no learning required)

For $15 I am very happy with it

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