Browse Forums Heating, Cooling & Insulation 1 Mar 08, 2009 12:15 am Hi all,
Can anyone advise me as to what options are available for ducted air conditioning systems suitable for large two story homes that are able to be controlled via third party home automation systems. I'd like control to extend to reading and setting zone temps as well as starting and stopping AC for a given zone. The control would ideally be via RS232 or TCP/IP. I've searched forums, and google, to no avail. One of the home automation systems I've looked at (switch automation - www.switchautomation.com.au) states that it has a control module available to control advantage air systems. I can't see anything on the advantage air website about control interface options though. My builder has recommended the ActronAir, however according to the actronair sales rep I emailed they only support remote on/off via a third party home automation interface. Thanks in advance. Dray. Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automation 2Mar 08, 2009 9:59 pm Let me know if you find out some information too!
Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automation 3Mar 10, 2009 11:10 am Hi TheBoatMan,
Thanks for the lead. Looks like the system they supply (GEN III) has full RS232 control that I can integrate with from a third party automation system. The level of control is quite comprehensive too; you can individually control each zone temp and power, fan speed, etc, plus you have bidirectional communication so you can update the system via their control panel and the changes will be pushed out to your automation system via the RS232 interface... cool huh? Cheers, Dray. Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automati 4Feb 07, 2011 9:11 am Yes switch Automation does support full to way control of both Mitsubishi and Advantage Air with temperature feed back over RS232 or TC/ip (depending on the model). we can also do zone control of other systems.
Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automati 5Feb 13, 2011 8:56 am Bear in mind most units only have 3-4 fan speed settings. If you shut off zones the Gen III system will want to 'dump' air into an area. The Actron (high end) systems actually vary both the compressor output and airflow - bees knees as far as I am concerned. Most (I'd say 99%) manufacturers will have some form of on/off interface but not actual control of the system. Actron Air for me. Note: Gen III is a third party system also and nothing to do with the unit itself - I am certified in their design but not convinced as it does not control the unit directly. You get what you pay for! Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automati 6Nov 27, 2011 11:54 am I have created a Java application that talks to a Gen III system via it's automation module. It's all properly layered, but the end result is that I have a simple website that I can control the Gen III system from - with dynamically updating zone temperatures and status! It is currently for my own home use only, and as such isn't nicely bundled up or anything.. but it works quite well. It also has its own system of scenes that is much more comprehensive than the standard ones. I get away from using the java serial comms libraries by using a serial-to-tcpip program (ser2net in linux). The GenIII automation interface has its foibles, but it's pretty good..... and with a bit of fiddling you can get around most of them. There are still some things that you weirdly can't control - like their scene system, and the system time, and you can't get access to the GenIII outside air temperature indicator, which is a bit of a pain (if you know the system password you can see it on the panel). I get around this by sourcing the temperature from my alarm/automation panel. Re: Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automati 7Nov 28, 2011 8:59 pm I put in 8 split system airconditioners hooked up to a single outdoor unit. It is a Toshiba SMMSi mini VRV system. There is a control line (F1) that runs from each system back to the main outdoor unit. You can buy an RS232 interface (called a coolmaster) that is natively supported by the HAI OmniPro security/automation system and each room shows up in the automation system as a separate thermostat through the 1 interface unit. You can then control the temperature individually or as a group, so you could have a rule that turns off the AC when you arm the alarm system, and you can turn it on via a web interface or mobile phone prior to arriving home. Well - that's the theory - I'm half way through the install process. my house blog: http://sugarloafdrivebuild.blogspot.com/ Apple-ification of the thermostat 8Nov 28, 2011 9:42 pm The inventor of iPod - Tony Fadell, recently hit the headlines for having invented a self learning, self programming thermostat called Nest. It does it using Artificial Intelligence. The thermostat is as beautiful, simple and elegant as any Apple product (although it's not an Apple product. The inventor is now an Apple alumni). Nest interfaces with your home wifi and iPhone. Wired magazine even hacked it to work with Siri. It will be available in the U.S. before Christmas 2011, but it's just a matter of time before it gets here in Australia. Installation is DYI. I saw all their youtube clips and I'm totally sold. 13-08 Moved in 13-05 Build restart 13-04 VMIA compensation 12-08 Builder liquidation 12-03 Fixing 11-12 Lockup 11-11 Frame 11-09 Slab 11-09 Start 11-07 Contract 10-11 2K deposit 10-06 Titled land Controlling an Air Conditioning system via home automation 9Nov 29, 2011 4:52 am Hi The only problem with the Nest in Australia is that most of the systems sold here use proprietary control panels, while most systems sold in the US use 24v ac control. This system just has a series of circuits that are turned on/off for fan, heat, cooling etc so it is easy to use different thermostats. In my old house I had a pretty ancient AC system that used an old Honeywell dial thermostat. I was able to replace this with a C-Bus thermostat because it just had a series of circuits to be switched. This would also work with a Nest, I guess. For most people I guess a reasonably capable panel from the manufacturer is enough. If you are trying to do home automation then it is worse than a simple Old fashioned approach. Paul Anybody know any good and reasonably priced Air conditioning contractors/companies that could install a ducted air conditioning system in the Central Coast NSW for a small… 0 8994 Building Standards; Getting It Right! 1. optional, you can but normally just use the earth from the main switch board 2. should be enough but the distance determines voltage drop - sparky should work it… 1 28812 We already paid for somfy motors for the blinds. The quote above was purely for “pre-wiring” so the blinds company can install the motors and blinds. That’s why we… 5 16275 |