Warmth pumps are taking the world by storm, and for good cause. Not solely are they many occasions extra environment friendly than electrical heaters, however they can be used to supply cooling in the summertime. Effectivity apart, although, they’re not completely designed gadgets, largely with respect to their local weather management talents particularly for split-unit setups. Lots of them don’t have remotely positioned thermostats to watch temperature in an space, and depend on crude infrared distant controls as the one consumer interface. Seeking to make some enhancements to this setup, [Danilo] constructed a setup extra paying homage to a central HVAC system to manage his.
Primarily based on an ESP32 from Adafruit with an built-in TFT show, the gadget is positioned away from the warmth pump to extra precisely measure room temperature. A humidity sensor can be included, in addition to an ambient gentle sensor to routinely cut back the brightness of the show at evening. A big wheel makes it fast and simple to regulate the temperature settings up or down. Armed with an infrared emitter, the gadget is able to sending instructions to the warmth pump to extra precisely management the local weather of the room than the built-in controls are capable of do. It’s additionally able to logging knowledge and integrating with varied home automation methods.
Whereas the gadget is optimized for the Mitsubishi warmth pumps that [Danilo] has, just a few traces of code have to be modified to get this to work with different manufacturers. This can be a welcome enchancment for these pissed off with the incorrect local weather controls of their warmth pumps, and because it integrates seamlessly into home automation methods might additionally operate in tandem with different backup warmth sources, utilized in chilly climates when it’s too chilly outdoors to effectively run the warmth pump. And, for those who don’t have a warmth pump but, you may all the time attempt to construct your individual.