Sliding Door and A/C

[Peter18455]

I was in Hawaii and the hotel I stayed at had a method of turning off the A/C when the sliding door is open... I have door sensor " but not sure how I can configure Homeseer to turn A/C back on when door is closed.. Remember the A/C might not be on.. So closing would turn it on which was nt he case before.. Any ideas would be appreciated

[Rupp]

If you have a communicating thermostat (ie Z-Wave, X10, Insteon, etc) you could setup an event that could set the setpoint higher is the door is open and reset it to "normal" when the door is closed.

[drozwood90]

Like Rupp said, set the thermostat for OFF and AUTO.

--Dan

[Uncle Michael]

I was in Hawaii and the hotel I stayed at had a method of turning off the A/C when the sliding door is open... I have door sensor " but not sure how I can configure Homeseer to turn A/C back on when door is closed.. Remember the A/C might not be on.. So closing would turn it on which was nt he case before.. Any ideas would be appreciated

The key here is to track the state of the HVAC settings in HS. I use a virtual device (2 actually). One is called (cleverly) 'Heat' and the other 'Cool'. I have events set up so they track the state of the HVAC system automatically.

If you create an event that is triggered by the door changing to open, with a condition that 'Cool' is On, then you can do whatever you want. I think Rupp's suggestion of raising the set point is a good one. Then you could have another event triggered by the door changing to closed to set it back.

(The last time I was in Hawaii our room AC also reacted to the door opening - but it didn't react to the door closing! So, we had to remember to reset the AC to On after we closed the door. I would definitely not recommend that setup.)

[Peter18455]

Michael ..thanks for the response but don't get how you would handle this... can you get me examples.. I have a 2 GiG Z-Wave thermostat... So when I open the door I want to turn of Heat and/or A/C whichever is on... it is the closing... how do I get it back to the same setting... I am concerned opening and closing when the unit is off..... I don't want to turn the unit on..and or to Auto when I close the sliding door... Can you send me an example as to how you think I could handle it.. Thanks How do you setup this virtual enviroment??

[Uncle Michael]

This sounds more complicated than it is when trying to explain it in words. I've divided it into multiple parts in the hope that I don't make this too confusing.

Part1: Create 2 virtual devices. Give each a device type of virtual and name them. For reference I'll assume they are named as T11 - Heat and T12 - Cool.

Part 2: Create 3 events. I'd suggest they all have a trigger designed to run them whenever the thermostat mode changes, then apply conditions.
So, one will have the condition that the thermostat mode is heat. It will turn T11 On and T12 Off.
Another will be the same but have the condition that the thermostat mode is cool. It will Turn T12 On and T11 Off.
The third will turn both T11 and T12 Off when the mode is off.
(Alternatively, you could have one event and use If-Then logic in a script rather than multiple events with conditions.)

Part 3: When you open the door, adjust the thermostat set point based on the state of T11 and T12.

Part 4: When you close the door, reset the set point, again based on the state of T11 and T12. If the set point is subject to adjustment in the course of a day, you could also store the current set point in the device value of one of the virtual devices before making an adjustment when the door opens, so you can reset it to the same value when the door closes.

[sdanks]

Be sure to check and see if it is ok to turn your AC on and off like that. Some AC units want time for the compressor to reset. Otherwise, you can burn up the motor turning on and off that fast. If you want to do this, you should probably start a timer to make sure there is enough time lapse before starting it back up, unless the AC unit does that for you.

Just my 2 cents worth.

[Dave W]

Piggy backing on sdanks thoughts. I don't think you would want to cycle the A/C when someone is simply exiting through the door. So a flag and timer could be used to ensure the A/C is switched off only after the door is held open for X seconds.
$0.02

[RAM]

Be sure to check and see if it is ok to turn your AC on and off like that. Some AC units want time for the compressor to reset. Otherwise, you can burn up the motor turning on and off that fast. If you want to do this, you should probably start a timer to make sure there is enough time lapse before starting it back up, unless the AC unit does that for you.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Yes, you don't want to try and restart an A/C compressor while the pressure is still built up inside. Some A/C units have a delay built in. I know mine has like a 5 minute delay. It messes me up sometimes when I turn the thermostat down during the summer and wonder why I don't hear the outside unit kick in. then I remember the timed start delay.
If yours doesn't have a built in delay, you will want to build one into your event/script. Also the idea of a delay so as to not trigger when someone just opens and closes the door when using it to go in or out is a good idea.