I have 8 Panasonic mini splits installed throughout my house. Panasonic does not provide a single thermostat control for multiple units. Each unit has it’s own hand held remote. I’m looking for an IR to z-wave device that would give me control of each unit through VERA. There is a device sold in Europe called the “Z-Wave Remotec AC IR extender”, but that device is not compatible with U.S. VERA unit. Does anyone know of device sold in the U.S. that would be similar to the Remotec device sold in Europe? Thank you.
While researching my options, I came across a company called TKB. Their reply to my inquiry about a z-wave to IR controller was as follows. Regarding the Z-Wave to AC IR Extender you require, yes, we have the type with US frequency 908Mhz. So Remotec does make a version for the U.S. market. Now my only question would be, since I have 8 mini-splits, will I be able to control all 8 of them with my Vera 3 z-wave controller??? I’m assuming that I would be able to do this, since Vera allows control of multiple devices of the same type. Of course I would need to purchase 8 of the IR extenders. I will definitely have to work on my wife for this one. I was told that if I purchase 8 of the units, the price would be $80 each plus $40 shipping. So, I’m looking at $680 in order to be able to control my mini-splits from a remote location. Ouch!
Do you have a link to information about the mini-splits?
Are these 8 separate units? If so you may want to check up on what sort of crankcase heaters they use and how they are wired up - they could be costing you $800 dollars a year (depending on your locale) just to have them sitting there:
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php/topic,13025.msg96243.html#msg96243
Hello !
do you already study about the sqblaster from squareconnect ?
I have one controlling my split thru vera3 without no problems…and I have a beautiful interface on my iphone and ipad for this.
yes, you will be able to control them all thru Vera UI. if you get 8, you’ll get 8 thermostat devices on Vera and you should be able to create scenes to control the ACs. In any case, it’s probably better to just buy a few to test first before investing that much. Can you provide a link to the US version of the product?
the product you are speaking about is this ?
To: MackBlanch The link to the mini splits is as follows: http://shop.panasonic.com/shop/heating-and-air-conditioning-wall-mounted I have 7K, 9K and 12K btu wall mounted units in 8 different rooms in my house.
To: Piwtorak The link to the zxt-120 IR extender is as follows: This product is no longer available.
To: Piwtorak As for the sqblaster, I have not tried it. I was under the impression that it was to be used for AV equipment only. Thanks for the suggestion, I will have to check that out.
To: a-lurker The outdoor units, of which I have 3 due to not being able to run all the copper lines from a single location are Panasonic heat pumps with a variable speed motor. They are supposed to be the most efficient units that Panasonic has available at this time.
I just ordered 2 of the Remotec zxt-120 units from the Z-wave Super Store. The price was $80 a piece with free shipping. TKB Home wanted $80 a piece for 8 units, plus $40 shipping. I didn’t really want to buy all 8 at once, not until I know they are going to do what I’m looking for. So with the free shipping from the Z-wave Super Store, I can buy 2 at a time and still get free shipping. They should be arriving Tuesday or Wednesday this coming week. I’ll let you know how I make out.
do you know if they have them in stock? (super store) ?
I’m assuming that they do have them in stock. They gave me a delivery date of 10/29/13.
did you mean to say 1/29? ???
Yes, I meant to say 1/29. However, 1/29 has come and gone and there was no UPS truck at my door today. When I go to the Superstore website to check on my order status, it is listed as processing. So I’m assuming they don’t have it in stock. >:(
I did receive my zxt-120’s the other day. Pairing with VERA was very simple. VERA and the zxt-120 are working together very nicely. The problem I’m having is getting the zxt-120 to talk to my A/C unit. I’ve tried all the codes for my brand of A/C, but none of them work. However, I’m not too sure if I’m entering them in the correct place from the setup screen from within VERA’s dashboard.
I still don’t have the zxt-120 talking to my mini-split. My next step is to enlist the help of my son, who is a systems administrator for one of the school districts here on Long Island.
Okay, it wasn’t easy but with the help of my son, he did manage to get the zxt-120 to talk to my Panasonic mini split. At this time the only thing I’m able to do is turn the unit on and off in heat mode. I’m actually pretty happy with that considering the trouble I was having getting this thing configured. The best I can tell anyone looking to do the same is as follows. First of all, let me say that I have version 1.2 and at this time there is not a code list available. We did however, try all the codes for version 1.1, but none of them worked for me. Now of course the first thing you have to do is get the unit included in your VERA network. That was the easy part. After the inclusion process, you will need to go to the “Device options tab”. Next click on “Add configuration settings” and enter parameter #27, byte 2 dec and 000 for desired value. You will then need to “X” out of that page, Save and continue. Watch the led on the top of the zxt-120 to confirm that it did receive the new configuration. This should take less than a minute. The 000 puts the unit into learning mode. Once that is complete the next step is to click on “Add configuration settings” again and enter parameter #25, byte 2 dec and 0 for desired value. You will then need to save, continue and confirm that the zxt-120 did receive that configuration. You will then point your remote at the top of the zxt-120 and operate the “off” button to learn that code. The zxt should flash 2 times to let you know it was a success. The next code I had my unit learn was to turn on and put the mini split into heat mode at 22 degrees C. You have to follow the above steps for each code that you want the zxt to learn. Sometimes you may have to repeat the learn procedure a couple of times before it will take. I even had VERA tell that it failed when learning one of the code, but it still worked. Another very important thing we learned while doing this, was that you must set the remote at the same value that you are trying to teach the zxt. In other words, when we were teaching the zxt to turn on in heat mode at 22 degrees C, we had to first set the remote to that setting. All I can say is good luck to anyone trying to do this, but don’t give up, it should work. It may not do everything that your original remote can do, but it will do some of it. There are still many things that we would like to teach it, but we just haven’t figured out how to do them yet.
I may have spoke too soon. I can get the zxt-120 to turn my mini-split on and off, but there is no fan action. Doesn’t do much good to have the unit making heat, if there no fan to blow it into the room. I guess my next step is to contact Remotec support to see if they can offer any help.
Now as for my issue with the zxt-120, it looks like it’s not going to work for my brand of A/C units. I have the Panasonic mini split heat pumps and the only thing I can get the zxt-120 to do, is turn the unit off and tell me the room temperature. I can also get the zxt-120 to put the unit into heat mode, but I can’t get it to turn on the fan at the same time and there is no learnable code for fan mode. If only I could get one of the codes from the built in code library to work, my problems would be solved. Oh well, live and learn. If I ever get this thing working, I will let you know. 