Expert opinion please: A/C integration document, direct API (?) control.

[Fellhahn]

Hi everyone,

This is a bit of an ask but I'll get nothing if I don't at least try.

I'm in the process of selecting a zoned, ducted air conditioning system for whole-of-home. The biggest decision point has been the control interface, and whether it could be integrated with HomeSeer.

Today I received an email back from the product support team of what is likely to be the top choice. Attached was the document that I've attached to this post.

It details a method for providing control of the air conditioning system via TCP. The control panel/interface is essentially an Android tablet that has something like a modbus interface built into the back of it. The support team tells me their implementation of MODBUS is proprietary and not for public release. But the tablet connects to WiFi and behaves much like a normal Android tablet in addition to being an A/C controller. The TCP connection can be established to it's WiFi address on port 9004.

The document details the message format and what can be controlled or polled.

If anyone's really looking for something to do, I'd appreciate opinions on whether this is a good choice for integration with HomeSeer. I'm no programmer, so I wouldn't be building my own plugin. This would be done likely using a TCP profile from the Big5 plugin.

I asked a few follow up questions which I'm waiting for a response on, but something I forgot but need to ask is whether this particular product is sold under a different name in other markets. This is from an Australian company and frankly it's unlikely they developed an entire software package like this in-house. More likely they licensed an existing product from a larger company and have exclusivity rights to sell it re-badged in the Australian market.

The control product is called AirTouch:

https://www.airtouch.net.au/airtouch/airtouch-4/

You can view the installer manual here:

https://www.airtouch.net.au/assets/U...l-July2019.pdf

The "parent company" is PolyAire, an A/C wholesaler company that doesn't actually build A/C systems themselves, they distribute other brands like Toshiba and Samsung, as well as selling their own fittings and accessories.

https://www.polyaire.com.au/

And finally the TCP documentation mentioned has been attached to this post.

Thanks all for your time and any help.

[surfgab]

Hi Fellhahn,

Thanks for the post, especially the attached AirTouch 4 communication document. I have an AirTouch 4 and I have been keen to control it with my own home server. It was quite easy to control the AirTouch using TCP commands. For reference this is a turn off command for the first aircon on bash (Linux or OSX):

echo -n -e "\x55\x55\x80\xB0\x01\x2C\x00\x04\x80\xFF\x00\x00\x16\x8 6" | nc 192.168.0.133 9004

I am planning to build a simple mobile app that will have my presets stored and will auto control the unit so that I will not have to spend a minute or two every day configuring the unit depending on who's home and what time of the day it is. The AirTouch 4 does a lot out of the box but you need TCP commands if you want to program the open percentage or temperature.

[getoffmysand]

great info.

I was looking for one of the ICT's (individual temperature control) - https://www.airtouch.net.au/airtouch...ature-control/

found out they are either not available yet or very rare... but one I did find was a little expensive

with this info though it may be possible to make an ICT with an ESP or similar arduinio project board or module

This is looking good - https://www.banggood.com/M5StickC-ES...p-1476576.html
At that price I could buy one for every zone for what one would cost

[jimloko]

Hi Fellhahn,

Thanks for the post, especially the attached AirTouch 4 communication document. I have an AirTouch 4 and I have been keen to control it with my own home server. It was quite easy to control the AirTouch using TCP commands. For reference this is a turn off command for the first aircon on bash (Linux or OSX):

echo -n -e "\x55\x55\x80\xB0\x01\x2C\x00\x04\x80\xFF\x00\x00\x16\x8 6" | nc 192.168.0.133 9004

I am planning to build a simple mobile app that will have my presets stored and will auto control the unit so that I will not have to spend a minute or two every day configuring the unit depending on who's home and what time of the day it is. The AirTouch 4 does a lot out of the box but you need TCP commands if you want to program the open percentage or temperature.

Hi Surfgab,

How did you go with talking ot the controller? I also have an Airtouch 4 and i've been sending commands from a simple python script but most of the time i dont seem to get the right data back. For instance asking for AC Status (message type 2d) I can sometimes get a reply to the message, but maybe only after about 3 minutes? Other times if i wait long enough i get periodic '2f' messages with general info about the config, but no reply as per the protocol document.

I was wondering if you had a good experience with it, and if you get timely replies from your system?

Ultimately im making a small remote using an ESP32 TTGO with display from Banggood so i can control it at night from a dark bedroom without using the iphone!

[Craig2020]

Hi Fellhahn.

I would love to know where you got the AirTouch 4 Communications Protocol documentation from. Did PolyAir send it directly to you or is it available on their site somewhere?

Regards
Craig.

[surfgab]

Hi Surfgab,

How did you go with talking ot the controller? I also have an Airtouch 4 and i've been sending commands from a simple python script but most of the time i dont seem to get the right data back. For instance asking for AC Status (message type 2d) I can sometimes get a reply to the message, but maybe only after about 3 minutes? Other times if i wait long enough i get periodic '2f' messages with general info about the config, but no reply as per the protocol document.

I was wondering if you had a good experience with it, and if you get timely replies from your system?

Ultimately im making a small remote using an ESP32 TTGO with display from Banggood so i can control it at night from a dark bedroom without using the iphone!

Hi Jimloko,

Yes, it's reliable and the response is immediate always. Never measured it but I would be surprised if it was more than 1 sec. I wrote a small C# app that measures the temperature and turns heating on when temperature is below certain threshold. It's too dirty code to upload to GitHub but happy to PM you if you like. I have a NUC to control my home so have not ported it to ESP32 yet. However ESP32 can also run .NET these days.

[Fellhahn]

The technical document was provided over email after contacting one of the addresses listed on their website.

I've since sold the home I installed this into. Never did get it integrated with anything as having a baby killed off most of my hobby time :P
Glad it's helped a couple of people out though.

[k8962c]

I wrote a small C# app that measures the temperature and turns heating on when temperature is below certain threshold.

Surfgab; did you monitor ITCs or some other method? If so, could you PM me your code for reference?

I found this thread while looking for options to automate/script control of my Airtouch4 controller. If anyone's had any further success with this I'd appreciate any tips.
My main motivation is that when heating only one or two zones, I find my AC unit (Pansonic) keeps running and overheats the zones, so I'm hoping to monitor each zone temperature (have ITCs), and will then turn on/off the AC unit to suit...

I also just found this which looks to use the same method with a python wrapper API written which looks promising, although doesn't look to have all functions required, but hopefully can be extended as required... https://pypi.org/project/airtouch4pyapi

I'll post back here if I have success.

[Michael McSharry]

mcsMQTT has TCP protocols for Daikin and Intesis air conditioning. I am willing to add the airTouch if somebody is willing to go through cycles of integration testing.

[fresnoboy]

The installer manual link in the thread doesn't work anymore. How does this system interface to a Mitsubishi system? Having a nice local control option for the heatpumps would be a win.

Ick - the brochure says it is running android 6! What a security disaster if true...

[k8962c]

Updated installer manual link: https://www.polyaire.com.au/wp-conte...ler-Manual.pdf
And yes, the controller shows android 6, last security update Dec 2015...

[bigjezza]

mcsMQTT has TCP protocols for Daikin and Intesis air conditioning. I am willing to add the airTouch if somebody is willing to go through cycles of integration testing.

Yes! I have an AirTouch 2+ which is slightly different API, but I do have the document from the manufacturer. I have mcsMQQT logging devices to influx and with a Sonoff 4ch/Tasmota - I would be happy to test!

[Michael McSharry]

If you have the electronic version of the document can you post it?

[risquare]

Fellhahn

Big6 plug-in is perfect for that. Big6 "speaks" TCP, HTTP, RS232, MQTT, UDP, Telnet, SSH and more. It handles HEX values directly on the output to TCP. So you can shoot out the controls directly. It takes less than 2 minutes for Big6 user to set it up and run it with Big6 in HS4. No programming skills needed. Make it 10 minutes if this is your first time using Big6.
If you want to receive the status in HEX than Big6 can handle that as well using RegEx for parsing the incoming data. This could be more challenging but a perfect job for ChatGPT. I'm using ChatGPT quite successfully when I need to setup RegEx to parse content.
Hope this helps.
Best luck,

[Michael McSharry]

While Big6 can communicate via various protocols, mcsMQTT can do the same and goes beyond to provide a direct integration that accounts for the behaviors of the product being integrated.

As a simple example, when integrating a thermostat, the control is dependent upon more than just a simple API. When changing a setpoint, a thermostat may require both the cool and heat setpoints be set. Others may not. Mode information may also be needed in the control. There may be a minimum delta that is is allowed so for some you cannot change for 70 to 71, but need to change is needs to be to 72. Some allow 70.5 and other do not.

There is much more to integration of a device in HS than just being able to support the low level protocol that is used for the communication. While Big6 marketing support is good, there is no user access to its 3rd party developers. If the sales guy cannot help then the discussion ends, or at best the feature is added to the potential list that the developers will consider some time in the future.