Smart home / AC controller fitting.

[LoneCelt]

Hi folks,

I have Carrier brand AC units in my condo. I want to be able to control them using wifi (and from that through Google Home).

From some rudimentary web searching, it looks possible even easy. Carrier themselves offer wifi controllers for retrofit and there are other aftermarket solutions such as Nest etc.

 

Where I am stuck is getting a professional to instal the wifi components. What I need is a good A/C technician. Does anyone have a recommendation, please.

Many thanks,

LC 

[Billy Shears]

I use these guys to clean and service my A/C, they do a good job. No idea if they could do what you're proposing, but give them a call and ask, the boss speaks near perfect english.

https://www.rca-airconditioningservice.com/

[LASportsNut]

3 hours ago, LoneCelt said:

Hi folks,

I have Carrier brand AC units in my condo. I want to be able to control them using wifi (and from that through Google Home).

From some rudimentary web searching, it looks possible even easy. Carrier themselves offer wifi controllers for retrofit and there are other aftermarket solutions such as Nest etc.

 

Where I am stuck is getting a professional to instal the wifi components. What I need is a good A/C technician. Does anyone have a recommendation, please.

Many thanks,

LC 

I use the Nest at home in the USA.  I highly recommend it.

The Nest is a thermostat that you control in the house or by your smart phone (or computer).  

There are no wifi components other than the thermostat that is sinked to your phone which shares the wifi address and password with the Nest.

[LoneCelt]

1 hour ago, LASportsNut said:

I use the Nest at home in the USA.  I highly recommend it.

The Nest is a thermostat that you control in the house or by your smart phone (or computer).  

There are no wifi components other than the thermostat that is sinked to your phone which shares the wifi address and password with the Nest.

 

Yes, that's really what I am after but I need someone to do the last mile, so to speak. In other words how did you get the Nest to speak to your heating / ac system? Was it complicated?

[LASportsNut]

14 hours ago, LoneCelt said:

 

Yes, that's really what I am after but I need someone to do the last mile, so to speak. In other words how did you get the Nest to speak to your heating / ac system? Was it complicated?

No it is very easy.  On the back of the thermostat or in the packaging, there is a QR code.  You scan it and follow the instructions. 

My brother does heating and air and installed the thermostat for me. However the instructions looked very simple.

I did the connecting to the WiFi part and it was very easy. It takes about 1-2 minutes.

[LASportsNut]

I also purchased the Nest Smoke/Carbon Monoxide Detectors.

It creates a network in the house and if anything goes wrong I know immediately with their alarm system.  If I am away I am contacted by a notification to my phone.

[momo5]

1 hour ago, LASportsNut said:

No it is very easy.  On the back of the thermostat or in the packaging, there is a QR code.  You scan it and follow the instructions. 

My brother does heating and air and installed the thermostat for me. However the instructions looked very simple.

I did the connecting to the WiFi part and it was very easy. It takes about 1-2 minutes.

Yes, the Nest thermostat connects to the HVAC like any other thermostat.   It’s very easy to do.  

[Btc755]

15 hours ago, LoneCelt said:

 

Yes, that's really what I am after but I need someone to do the last mile, so to speak. In other words how did you get the Nest to speak to your heating / ac system? Was it complicated?

I have one and installed it myself without any issues.  The first step is to verify your wall mounted thermostat is compatible with the Nest.

 

[LoneCelt]

 

Just a quick update, some readers might be interested in the elegant and affordable solution.

I was looking seriously at the Nest units, while possibly available here THB 8600 for one stat and I really needed two. Also Google stopping support from them for next year.

My air con is Carrier a well known brand, they do sell a wifi dongle but that was going to be more expensive and the installation tricky, in my case likely to need some ceiling redecoration.

The simplest and cheapest solution would have been to install a smart plug feeding the units. I was reluctant with that, a/c is a high power instrument and regular smart plugs would probably be a fire risk.

What I finally ended up with were these:

Tuya Smart Wifi IR Air Conditioner Controller Thermostat 

At under THB1000 they do exactly what I want. No invasive installation preprogrammed for most popular makes or it learns. Easy to link to Google Home (or Alexa).

This now gives you the ability to control your a/c through your phone or smart speaker. Routines can be set up to start / stop at certain times.
Want to turn it on / off from the pub, no problem. Anything you can do with your original remote and more.

Two small caveats. Firstly as supplied it powers by USB and no adapter supplied but they are all over the place for a few baht. Secondly, mine was a little tricky to install, they don't like new routers. I have a new router supplied by True and it was a nightmare. However I had a cheap travel router and it connected straight away via that. I will sit down soon and get it onto the True router, properly.

Otherwise it's working better and saving me a good deal of electricity while giving me better control of the environment so very happy