Hi, I've got a window air conditioner that I can control with an iR remote. I've setup a BRoadlink RM4 Pro to learn its iR commands and successfully integrated it into Hubitat. I'm looking for the ability to somehow have Hubitat know whether the air conditioner is in the on or off state.
The air conditioner remembers its previous on/off state if you pull the power cord from the wall and plug it back in, so my initial thought to put it on a remote control power outlet doesn't seem to help solve this. The remote only has a single power button to toggle on/off, so you can't specifically send an on or off command to it.
Anyone have any clever ideas about how I might be able to have Hubitat know whether it's on or off? I suppose if I were to simply ONLY control it via Hubitat, then this wouldn't be an issue, but i know it'll occasionally be adjusted by its physical buttons on the unit itself. Could I somehow have a sensor that sees if its LED display is lit up? (It's only lit when on)
You can detect if the AC is using more than nominal power (i.e., is cooling or fan running) by using an energy monitor plug. Some minor experimentation will tell you the POWER levels (draw) for when the AC is ON, Fan, and Compressor running. Would work on 120 VAC and I imagine energy. I imagine On and standby between 0 and 10 watts, Fan between 50 and 100 W, and compressor over 100 watt. But would take some testing.
Power monitoring plug would probably be best, but since you asked for clever… a vibration sensor could also work. Vibration active = AC on. Placement could be key to minimize false positives, but it is a “clever” option.
Make sure whatever power monitoring plug you use can handle the A/C's specifications. Zooz ZEN15 may be your best bet but check just to make sure. Even if the A/C is, say, 12A doesn't mean a standard 15A smart plug would be up to that task.
Thanks, everyone, for the great ideas! I ended up going with the power monitoring smart plug (using a Kasa brand one) and a rule that looks up its power usage every 30 seconds to determine the AC's current state. It works beautifully! I also like that idea about the LED monitoring device, I was shocked that this device existed. (I felt that power monitoring was better in my case because I can determine not only on/off, but whether it's cooling vs fan-only.)
Interesting side note: I can determine the fan speed based on the power draw when it's fan-only, but when the compressor is on, it seems to draw nearly identical power, regardless of fan speed.
