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Home Assistant is open source home automation that puts local control and privacy first. Powered by a worldwide community of tinkerers and DIY enthusiasts. Perfect to run on a Raspberry Pi or a local server. Available for free at home-assistant.io

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Looking for a portable AC with local control (self.homeassistant)

submitted 7 months ago by corroded to c/homeassistant

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I'm looking for a portable air conditioner (the kind with 1 or 2 hoses that go to outside air). The problem I'm running into is that every single one I find has some kind of "smart" controller built in. The ones with no WiFi connectivity still have buttons to start/stop the AC, meaning that a simple Zigbee outlet switch won't work. I could switch the AC off, but it would require a button-press to switch it back on. The ones with WiFi connectivity all require "cloud" access; my IoT devices all connect to a VLAN with no internet access, and I plan to keep it that way.

I suppose I could hack a relay in place of the "start" button, but I'd really rather just have something I can plug in and use.

I can't use a window AC; the room has no windows. I'll need to route intake/exhaust through the wall. So far, I can't find any "portable" AC that will work for me.

What I'm looking for is a portable AC that either:

Connects to WiFi and integrates with HA locally.
Has no connectivity but uses "dumb" controls so I can switch it with a Zigbee outlet switch.

Any ideas?

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[–] robolemmy 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I’m not any kind of expert but I seem to recall that turning air conditioners off and on with a switched outlet is a bad thing… something to do with how they start and stop the compressor.

Also, unless you have no choice, stick with the dual hose models, because the single hose ones end up pushing conditioned air out the window. Even if a single hose model has a theoretically higher efficiency, it won’t translate to the real world because it’s blowing cooled air out the window.

Hacking something to replace the unit’s power button is probably your best option

[–] corroded 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I have heard the same thing about ACs, but I think it depends on the unit. The window units that I use have a switch on the front that literally just turns them off; there's no delay time for the compressor. It's the same as pulling the plug.

I've used single and dual-hose portable ACs in the past, and I only have dual-hose units now. This is purely anecdotal, but when I had single-hose units, they would maintain the temperature throughout the day as it warmed up, but they didn't do a great job of cooling. A dual-hose AC with a similar capacity was actually able to lower the temperature.

[–] Shabby4582 1 points 7 months ago

I have two window units and a switch on the wall wired in to turn power on and off to them like yours. It would be the same as pulling the plug. I added a Shelly relay to each of them to turn them on and off via home assistant.

I can’t change any settings on them as they are physical dials on the front of the unit. However, I generally keep the dials the same and just turn them on and off with the relays.

There’s a warning not to turn the units off and then back on in 3 minutes (I’ve seen this on quite a few units), but I think lots of units only enable the fan if they are switched on in that time frame as a precaution. The compressor comes on after the warning period passes. No idea why.