Australian based Vera user here. Can anyone advise if they have had any success integrating their air-Conditioner with z-wave (Vera or other)?
I have a ducted reverse cycle Daikin unit but have not been able to find any Australian controllers / thermostats. I am keen to integrate it with my Vera 2 - ideally I would like to be able to turn it on/off, change modes (cooling/heating) and change the temperature.
Is anyone aware of any plans to release anything similar in Australia?
It doesn’t ATM, only has a wired wall mounted comtroller with a separate advantage air zone controller.
I guess I could make a few calls and see if you can have an infrared remote / secondary controller installed in a room out of view and use the USB-UIRT to send the signals as you do.
Does it work well for you? Is there anything you can’t do with it or that doesn’t work well?
I have never used a USB-UIRT before, are you able to elaborate on your setup for me? What you have it connected to / configure on your home automation unit / Vera etc?
It works very well, yes. Anything you can use the infrared remote to send can be replicated by the USB-UIRT with Vera. The only limitation I can think of is: say, for example, your remote tells you it’s 25° C and you press the minus button, it will send a signal to the air con for 24° C.
With the Vera however, you don’t get a current reading, (without a separate thermostat anyway), so you can’t program a minus button, instead you would just program a range of temperatures for both hot and cold, different fan speeds, etc.
I have never used a USB-UIRT before, are you able to elaborate on your setup for me? What you have it connected to / configure on your home automation unit / Vera etc
It just plugs into the back of the Vera. I really only use it to remotely start the air con when I’m coming home, to either warm or cool the room before I arrive.
It’s a very simple system. I have a heating scheme, which sends 25° C heating at a certain fan speed; a cooling scheme which does the same thing but cold; and a stop scheme which turns it off.
With those three schemes and a mobile phone, I can do all I need to.
I got it from http://www.usbuirt.com/ with the 56kHz option so I could use it with Foxtel, ( Oz Vera user too ), too. So far I’ve only used it to send a Foxtel signal, rather than receive, (for which the 56kHz add-on is necessary), but for 5 bucks, I thought I’d cover all bases.
Thanks for the info. I’m considering doing the same for a wall AC that I have. the other limitation I see is that you cannot really tell remotely if the AC is on or off …
