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Comment by globular-toast | Hacker News Reader

I'm hoping to get a mini-split system installed soon and thought I might as well look for something with HA integration. It's not easy. Some manufacturers like Samsung actually want to charge you monthly for cloud integration! Completely out of the question obviously. I came across this, and Mitsubishi is supposed to be good anyway. I would prefer something that's actually supported but I can't seem to find any other options.

I could also very easily wire my units in so no need for WiFi. Maybe I can find a wired ethernet module.

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I used this guys thing https://clima.protoart.net/ after someone mentioned it in an HN comment last summer, then used claude to extend it this summer. A year in, I’m very pleased. Matter or thread would be nice, but these are super straightforward out of the box and totally local.

The manufacturer documentation [0] for everything is great and it was perfect for my goal of getting them to show up in Savant as native thermostats [1] (likely beyond typical scope for split units).

[0] https://protoart.net/knowledgebase/me_cn105_ata_wifi_http_ap... [1] https://github.com/samstevenm/minisplit-local-public

I have a Daikin system. I use Faikout(ESP32 that controls the heads via the debug port) to control my units from home assistant. Works great!

Their official service needs an app and cloud access to control it. And I absolutely refuse to do that.

https://codeberg.org/RevK/ESP32-Faikout

My ideal system would be something that does matter over thread with zero external internet access. Matter over thread devices are all standardized so no proprietary app required, and the newer iphones have a thread radio built in so you can control them without even a hub.

Wifi with a firewalled network is a lot easier to debug, which is how I do it in my house.

There's no Internet from the IoT SSID.

I have my AC connected using Matter (over WiFi, not Thread) using esphome-matter, a relatively new extension to ESPHome + a small open PR [1]

Since it's running ESPHome you can easily verify everything it's doing.

Thread would be even better but this is good enough for me. 100x better than the original cloud app it came with. Still no proprietary app required, works on every platform.

[1] https://github.com/DavidvtWout/esphome-matter/pull/53

The non-ducted systems will usually have an IR remote. You can buy devices to blast IR at it and HA has good support for that. This is what I use.

Fwiw I have a Samsung AC system and Claude was able to one-shot a custom web dashboard to control it.

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