I have a couple of Air Conditioners that would be better shut off during parts of the day when not needed and I would love to automate turning them off and on.
They always start up the same way and they can be remotely controlled via standard simple IR.
However, I cannot seem to find a simple IR blaster that can work with HA.
If anyone has found one or has some pointers I would love to hear it.
Posted Mar 5, 2023, 8:57 PM UTC
Broadlink is really solid, I have all my Air Conditioners working with Broadlink and SmartIR
Awesome! Thank you for the link, and it looks like they also link to known good products as well.
What is the benefit of the SmartIR integration vs. the native Broadlink integration?
I don't think we make do a 1:1 comparison since they are not the same, we use SmartIR just to integrate our Air Conditioner with HA using BroadLink. You still need to add BroadLink as usual to be able to use SmartIR.
As you can see here there's a list of brands listed here that point to a code and if you open the file with that code name it's just a JSON with a list of IR commands that will interact with your AC.
Ah ok! Thanks!
±1 for Broadlink
Using RM3 with Fujitsu AC and SmartIR integration.
ITach devices work great. A little pricy but I’ve been using them years running parts of my home theatre. Long before HA.
Also use iTach after using Broadlink devices. They do the same thing but iTach is much more reliable
Broadlink on HA doesn't have the easiest setup but it's really stable. I also use it to control some RF covers and it's been flawless for years.
Yeah the learning was a bit intimidating at first but once you get it started it's a lot easier to do more.
Using one to turn on/off humidifiers and our pellet stove.
Good to hear. I’ve had one sitting for a while waiting until I have time to focus on it because it does seem like it will take a bit.
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Any chance you can point me to the device you purchased? I’ve been looking for a zigbee or zwave device that can learn codes!
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Zigbee and Tuya are like brand names, smart is a buzz word. I get 360 results when searching AliExpress for "Tuya Zigbee Smart IR"
Always get lots of hits on Ali, but at least for me the first three hits are what you're looking for.
Not the cheapest one, but the very first hit with those search terms SEK 128.49 37%OFF | Tuya ZigBee Smart IR Remote Control Universal Infrared Remote Controller for Smart Home works Support for Alexa Google Home https://a.aliexpress.com/_mtXQV1M
Despite there being multiple versions on Ali express it looks like only the ZS06 may be supported in Z2M. https://www.zigbee2mqtt.io/devices/ZS06.html
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Broadlink or build your own with esphome
I did the latter, super easy. Just a ESP32 with the IR hooked up directly to it. I had an ESP already in use near where I needed the IR, so I just connected to it and updated the YAML.
May I ask were you got the IR stuff from?
Just am IR LED (~€0.15) directly hooked up to the ESP, nothing fancy.
What if you use few nfc chips?