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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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[–] 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.