Assuming the thermostat is controlling 120V AC:
1: There are plenty of cheap wireless thermostats for AC that you can buy off of Amazon. I have two, and they work great with space heaters.
2: You can use a 120V relay with those thermostats to control different voltages, amperages, ect.
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BTW, controlling the dial for min cool, max cool, ect, could increase efficiency. Max cool is only needed if the unit's been off, or it's a super-hot day.
There's only 3 wires to deal with as well so it's not THAT scary to make your own cable (but I'd understand why you might feel differently).
I'd basically get something like this [1] and then put it in the middle of a patch cable.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/Aeotec-Security-controller-electricit...
If you have a favorite smart thermostat you could also wire up a receptacle with a contactor between it and a cord and a 24v AC transformer wired to the line side. This would make your window unit controllable just like a central air conditioner.
If this was a remote control knob it might begin to make sense, but it isn't.
A NYC apartment with a 115V PTAC is by definition the size of a shoebox, is twisting a knob twice a day really that much of a burden?
3M command strips should be very strong/secure, while also allowing for adjustment and will detach without residue when the time comes.
.....or just screw into the AC unit somewhere discrete and hope no one notices.
> Option 2 certainly is the “jankier” of the two options, given that it relies on a second-order property (target temp) to power the unit on/off… but hey - whatever’s easier, right?
Isn't this basically how a thermostat works? I.e. there is a component that is binary on/off, and a thermometer is used to decide to switch on or off.
IMHO it's not that bad? With the disclaimer that I'm also a software engineer who dabbles very very lightly with electronics and has no mechanical engineering expertise. But the overall approach of doing this by stepper motor seems quite defensible given the security deposit constraint. The only part that seems really janky to me is that it's not physically held in place that well as noted in this paragraph:
> Ultimately, the biggest issue is that binder clips and cardboard aren’t quite as robust of a mounting mechanism as I’d hoped they’d be… and over time, the stepper motor tends to “sag” a bit, resulting in a bit too much friction between the motor, the coupler, and the underlying knob, causing the mechanism to stall out until someone manually goes and reseats it…
Involving MQTT and HA can sometimes get frustrating too; having your AC not working properly if there's a problem on a Linux machine can suck. If this becomes a problem in practice, iirc ESPHome also has a thermostat component, and temperature sensors are really cheap and easy to wire in, so you could do it all on the microcontroller pretty easily in a low-code way. But if this part is working, no need to mess with it.
There's nothing wrong with jank as long as it's not going to burn your house down the way some of his other rejected ideas would have.
Is it because of personal ownership reasons? Counterintuitive physics? Heat dissipation limitations on the roof?
Can someone with more knowledge clue me in?
But I think the main reason is that in places without central AC, people tend to want to incrementally upgrade. For example, you might get a mini split just for your bedroom, because that’s the room you require the most comfort during the hot days. Then when you start getting used to the comfort of the AC in the bedroom, you’ll want one in the living room. And so on.
Some device I can mount in proximity, that controls the AC, but preferably also has a temperature and humidity sensor included.
You could also buy an IR transmitter module from AliExpress and add a temperature/humidity sensor chip on I2C like an SHT41.
you can buy smart outlets with the correct connector, just look for 20A versions. (honeywell, at a minimum, sells one).
https://prod-edam.honeywell.com/content/dam/honeywell-edam/h...
if you turn those knobs to the off position while the compressor is running, does it actually go into some kind of orderly shutdown or does it abruptly cut power to the compressor?
I'd gladly let them keep the security deposit so that evil companies like RealPage don't blacklist me.
Speaking more seriously, I wish classes of appliances would expose some simple analog and digital interface pins in a standardized configuration to let users choose whatever automation or monitoring hardware they want. HVAC equipment does this with standardized thermostat terminals. I'd love to see that on other types of appliances, too.
The manufacturer's crappy "app" that will inevitably be abandoned and require keeping some old phone / tablet in good "health" lest you lose the "smart" functionality (or worse, any use of) the appliance.
Then current way of putting the "smarts" inside the appliance is just planned obsolescence and a recipe for all of us being eyeball deep in ewaste.
(I did get my last Sony Bravia integrated with Homekit so that I could control inputs, volume, etc. via the Home app, but that's not really what I'm looking for).
Give me an HTTPS API, require me to authenticate devices on the TV itself before it accepts their commands, and just let me do whatever. Default it to off and make it a hidden setting, but yeah just let me do the thing without having to pay tens of thousands of dollars for some professional installation to integrate with hardware I don't have and can't afford.
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/serial-projector-contr... from a quick search.
I know a few 'filthy rich' people and some of them don't even own any TV or projector, because they're totally content with a laptop screen and don't want their kids to be exposed to TVs. You will not see their wealth unless you know where to look.
Once people have money, most of them begin to think about what actually serves them and what doesn't; if you can afford anything you want, you usually become more humble and selective. There's simply no point in owning things for the sake of owning them any more. Displaying your wealth usually has far more downsides than upsides. What we see is the outliers.
Or if they do own a ultra high end TV like a C Seed N1 they hide them away inconspicuously.
https://www.cseed.com/en/indoor-tv/c-seed-n1-tv.html
It is like eating cheap and nasty junk. If you are rich you avoid it or eat it discreetly...Or your acquaintances laugh at you.
https://www.bang-olufsen.com/en/gb/televisions
Projectors cannot handle ambient light without being a fire hazard.
That seems an overstatement. I now have one in my entire house (don't have kids).
There's a fairly large TV panel on one wall in basically a sitting room. Otherwise I just use a computer. A relative basically has TVs in every room. I guess it maybe made sense when he was rebuilding anyway but it still seems excessive to me who might sit down to watch a movie or show but doesn't have live TV.
But, then, I don't have AC either in Massachusetts.
Ambient light is dealt with having nice thick blackout drapes.
This is not some rocket science, it was done for like a hundred years.
edit: actually in my former apartment I just bought a roll-down projector screen that completely covered the window. pull down - zero ambient light even in full sunshine.
Take a look at this house:
https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/5619-Walnut-Hill-Ln-Dalla...?
Sure, it has a theater room with probably an incredible projector I'd imagine. It also has a bar with a big TV behind it. It also has a game room with several TVs mounted on the walls. In both of those situations, you wouldn't really want a projection setup. A brighter TV wins out in the end.
I've seen lots of TVs mounted in outdoor living room/kitchen arrangements. They're common to find in living rooms even for people who have separate theater rooms. I've seen them mounted in garages. TVs have uses other than just pure cinematic experiences. And I say that as someone who has personally pushed TV watching to an exclusive space in my home and made a point to not have TVs everywhere. Other people like different things.
I don't want a "smart" washer / dryer / fridge / toaster. I want a standard interface I can build my own system around, or use someone else's that they've already built.