Hello SmartThings people, i’m hoping someone could help me with a home automation aircon hack.
As part of my home automation project i’m trying to “smartify” my old dumb ducted aircon. Want to be able to at least on/off control it via Alexa or a phone app. I’m actually not invested in the SmartTHings ecosystem atm, but do have some z-wave devices and a hub, and an alexa.
P.s. im in Sydney, Australia. We have annoying non-standard aircons here.
The aircon is a 10yr old Temperzone ducted multi-zone system which has a proprietary interface (no popular smart thermostats are compatible, i’ve checked), and also doesnt come with an IR remote. The only way to control it is via a physical wall panel (and this sends signals to a control box that’s in the roof void).
I was hoping to achieve some simple on/off control via some home-automation switch/device for this system, preferably with voice control.
The wall panel has a momentary-press button for on, and another one for off.
Would there be some Alexa/z-wave enabled device that would allow me to manipulate these on/off signals? I dont mind doing some wiring/hacking, etc.
Pictures of wall panel are here:
The on/off buttons work with the contacts labelled SW1 on/off.
Not sure how the signal is sent, i imagine its some type of 12v pulse? A fair bit of pressure needs to be applied to the rubber buttons for the press to register. Can i get some remote-controlled device to send this pulse if i wire it to the switch contacts?
Any ideas?
thank you!