contexts
The recent Changsha weather storm, indoor reached 34-35 degrees, the weather forecast maximum temperature on 40 degrees, so hot weather, leaving the air conditioning, basically a sweat, the whole body wet, especially difficult, and then had to turn on the home of a nearly 10 years of old fixed-frequency air conditioning, the input power of 970W, OMG, nearly one hour, assuming that one day blowing 10 hours, that is, 10 degrees of electricity. The power input power is 970W, OMG, nearly one hour of electricity, assuming 10 hours of blowing a day, that is 10 degrees of electricity, a month of thirty days, 10 * 30 = 300 degrees, Changsha electricity is 0.588 close to 60 cents, 300 * 0.6 ≈ 180 dollars of electricity costs. Comparison of the new national standard inverter air conditioning, a night of 3-4 degrees of electricity, the heart is not balanced, you re-install a bar, think a waste of money, after all, the air conditioning is good, just a while ago to do the cleaning, do not install it, and is a power user.
With this in mind, went and researched if there was a way to save electricity. Combined with the IoT devices that you already have in your home, you did research an option.
Without further ado, let's start with the rendering
principle
First of all, we need to know how an inverter air conditioner operates. Why does it save electricity?
Inverter air conditioners can save electricity, the main reason is that you can monitor the current environment temperature changes, to adjust the operating power, so that the current environment has been to maintain a certain temperature operation, and not always in the full power operation of a state.
On the contrary, the fixed-frequency air conditioning power consumption reasons, can not adjust the power of cooling, has been running at full power, below the set temperature of 2 degrees before stopping the operation (this each machine may be different). Fixed-frequency air conditioning is not sensitive enough to the temperature, cooling is too cold, not inverter so sharp, adjust the power at any time to achieve a constant temperature comfortable state.
Initial program
After knowing the principle, first we use the simplest option for the initial remodeling. Here the first thing you need to use some smart home devices, my family uses Mijia, here using Mijia devices for demonstration.
Equipment used
- fixed-frequency air conditioner
- Xiao Ai Speaker Play added version (supports infrared function, sends out infrared commands to control the air conditioner, acts as an air conditioner remote control)
- Mijia Smart Socket 3 (you can view the current power of appliances, power statistics)
- 16A to 10A socket adapter (air conditioning is generally 16A socket, here is converted to 10A to get Mijia smart socket use)
- Mijia Thermo-Hygrometer 2 (temperature and humidity of the current environment)
- Floor fan (cooler air + fan for a cooler body feel, fan oscillating head plays a key role when the air conditioner reaches a certain temperature and stops delivering cool air)
Steps:
1, download the Mijia app, the Mijia devices will be accessed in, here we first access the small love speakers, smart sockets and Mijia temperature and humidity meter.
2, in the small love speaker app, open the infrared remote control to add air conditioning (used universal remote control know, here is a key to test, so as to match the remote control adapted to your air conditioning, here no longer repeat)
3. Setting up Mijia automation
My AC is colder at 26° and I want to keep it to just 26-27°, so here's the setting:
The current temperature of the room is higher than 27 °, by the small love speaker issued a command to set the air conditioning to 26 ° (air conditioning full power cooling, the power from the switch can be seen in the power of about 970W)
The current temperature of the room is below 27°, and a command is issued by the Little Love Speaker to set the air conditioner to 29°. (Because the current room reaches 26°, and is set to 29°, the air conditioner's own program detects that it does not need to cool the room, so it goes from 970W to 20-30W, and only blows air to change the air.)
4, let Ai, turn on the air conditioning, turn on the fan and set the head shaking
5. Observe the power consumption of the air conditioner in the Mi Home app, and observe the actual running status of the air conditioner.
6, why is it called the initial program, it is because of stepping on the pit, Mijia's small love speakers and thermohygrometer is based on Bluetooth Mesh networking, the thermohygrometer transmission temperature is not so fast, not so sensitive, the indoor reached 29.3 degrees °, Mijia APP in 28.7 ° , the temperature difference does not matter in fact, but what is unacceptable to the people is that the thermometer can not be triggered by 100%, so in the weather In such a hot situation, with the doors and windows closed, the room is over 29 degrees, stuffy and hot, this experience is worse. Maybe another thermo-hygrometer from Mijia will sync a little faster than my 22 year old one, but at least this old one is unsatisfactory for my current requirements.
7, since the temperature and humidity meter passively uploaded, the trigger is relatively slow, or even do not trigger the situation, tried, the Mi Home APP and can not be set up to poll the temperature at regular intervals, for example, I need to detect the temperature every 2 minutes, if the temperature is between a certain point, send me the air conditioning infrared command.
Current Programs
In the case of the initial program is not satisfactory, remembered once installed soft routing inside the HA (home assistant), HA can intervene in various IoT home platforms, such as Apple's HomeKit, the United States, Graffiti, Xiaomi, etc., it can be understood that the HA has a driver that contains these platforms, and between the different platforms, you can device linkage.
HA how to access the Mi Home, here no longer repeat, you can see this: "Everything can be HA? teach you to access a variety of smart devices to the Home Assistant graphic tutorials" /read/cv22291031/
The device is still the same as before, but the trigger form has changed
Steps:
1, deactivate the 2 new automations that were created in the Mijia app
2. Log in to HA, click Configuration, click Scenario Automation
3. 2 new automation
a. Temperature greater than 27°, air conditioner set at 26°
b. Temperature less than 27°, air-conditioning set at 29°
Here, some clarifications are needed for some settings
①, HA's time triggers need to carry out an explanation, here set 5 seconds to execute, not every 5 seconds to execute, at first I also think so, in fact, the current time if 5 seconds, such as 12:00 05 seconds, 12:01 05 seconds, that is, the equivalent of one minute to execute.
②, in the environmental conditions, in addition to the temperature and humidity meter temperature, but also set the comfirm target temperature instructions, here means that the air conditioning has the current temperature and target temperature, the target temperature is the temperature we set, here plays a role in the air conditioning does not reach the target temperature, do not let him minutes to send me infrared commands to set the target temperature, only set once can be. Otherwise, the air conditioner will drip every minute, very annoying.
4. Observation after setting
In each HA scenario automation can track the status of the run, such as the environmental conditions in the figure below, and only execute the action if both are true
reach a verdict
Follow-up found that the use of HA for active polling program works better, and is automatically adjusted with the indoor temperature of the air conditioning target temperature, from the results of the intelligent switch, 8 hours 3 degrees or more than 1 degree, so far more than half of the power savings, and the air conditioning is also intelligent, both with fixed-frequency air conditioning is not easy to build the advantages of bad (bad repair is also cheaper), but also has the frequency conversion of power saving and automatic adjustment of the temperature with the environment The advantages of inverter.
Other options that should also work
Here's a guess at other options, which may also be theoretically feasible, and you can please choose what works best for you
1. Air conditioner set to cool for 30 minutes and rest for 30 minutes
2、Use the air conditioning companion to set
3, money ability, direct replacement of an inverter air conditioner (the most economical not to toss)
4. On the basis of the initial scheme, change to an advanced, fast-synchronized thermohygrometer (the threshold will be much lower)