Split System Air Conditioning suggestions?

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  • marcuslee
    Automated Home Ninja
    • Dec 2009
    • 279

    #16
    Originally posted by Karam View Post
    Well I would imagine that the RS232 or Ethernet ASCII interfaces should be accessible via Cortex API. Probably Ethernet being easiest in the sense of not needing to connect to a serial port.
    Karam, or any others who have coded with CortexAPI (?), if one was to then use ASCII over Ethernet, and using CortexAPI as an interface, as this is beyond my realm of knowledge, what would happen on the Cortex side? ie when configuring the HVAC object, one can see the connection for a Cooling Zone valve... but would the CortexAPI coding allow the AC unit it to appear as this necessary valve?

    And getting beyond this, would there be any ability to provide the user to go via Cortex to set the fan speed of AC unit [low, high, very high]?

    Or for instance the ability to pull from Cortex the set point temp, and then retransmit that to the AC unit (eg to be able to override whatever the unit's remote might have been set the AC unit to)?

    Comment

    • chris_j_hunter
      Automated Home Legend
      • Dec 2007
      • 1713

      #17
      Marcus - not sure we understand the questions (this & the other thread) ! Apart from maybe the fan-speed one ... for that, our units have connections for a simple old fashioned off-board wall-mounted hygrometer (bi-metal strip or some such), for speeding the fan if humidity goes high, and we’ve wired a relay across the terminals of the terminal block by which it’s connected to the circuit board, so Cortex can ask for the same, too ...

      Chris
      Last edited by chris_j_hunter; 11 April 2015, 10:02 AM.
      Our self-build - going further with HA...

      Comment

      • Karam
        Automated Home Legend
        • Mar 2005
        • 863

        #18
        Marcus,

        I'm not an expert on it but as a quick response: I imagine you'd set up your HVAC object as usual and then perhaps connect the zone valve signal to a virtual zone valve. In the API the state of the virtual zone valve will be seen and this can then be translated to some command to be transmitted over ethernet to the AC unit e.g to demand heating/cooling. Similarly I can't see why you can't intercept button presses from a module connected to Cortex (i.e such that the button state changes are transmitted through the API) and then translate these to the AC unit. Should be quite easy. Again the setpoint value of a Cortex HVAC (either cooling or heating) can be interrogated through the API (though I would also imagine it is actively sent whenever a change occurs) so you'd just strip up the value and then send it in an appropriate way to the AC unit (assuming the latter has this facility).

        Just to give you a flavour here is how you would request an HVAC heating setpoint and the kind of response you would get. In this example I'm interrogating an HVAC unit in my Cortex called HVAC1:

        API< HVAC1.Heating Setpoint (output)=?
        WinAPI>
        HVAC1.Heating Setpoint (Output)=23.75

        So, "HVAC1.Heating Setpoint (output)=?" is the message I sent to Cortex via the API (which uses windows messaging system to get the string to Cortex) and then "HVAC1.Heating Setpoint (Output)=23.75" is what I got back from Cortex, telling me that the setpoint is presently 23.75C. In this case I interrogated Cortex but Cortex would send messages without interrogation on state changes for enabled objects. In other words you wouldn't need to constantly interrogate a button state or even the set point but rather you'd have your program act upon any incoming messages, i.e event driven.

        At present the messaging is conducted via the Windows messaging structure and there is a choice of two syntax types. Being simple minded I used the simple API syntax in the example above. To be honest the part I personally struggled most with is getting my head around Windows messaging when trying to implement my code in a different language to those for which we already provide the necessary subroutine exampes (see API help). On the other hand on the horizon is likely to be a web based API i.e of the form where you interact with Cortex via URL encoded messages. This is more suited for people who wish to interact over an ethernet connection directly and with syntax and concepts more in line with the world of IoT (whatever that is :-) ). Nomencelature such as REST and JSON etc. Don't know how many more ways we'll find to skin a cat ....

        Comment

        • marcuslee
          Automated Home Ninja
          • Dec 2009
          • 279

          #19
          Thanks for replies Chris, Karam. Indeed Karam that was what I was wondering about.

          Comment

          • Krondor
            Automated Home Lurker
            • Dec 2014
            • 1

            #20
            The main deiffrence between RealTime products and CoolAutomation's CoolMaster is the number of supported indoor units. CoolMaster supports up to 64 (optionally 128 indoors), while for Realtek, a device required fro each indoor units.
            Theintegration is also simpler : just plug & play.....

            Comment

            • chris_j_hunter
              Automated Home Legend
              • Dec 2007
              • 1713

              #21
              plug & play per unit, presumably - how about integration with Cortex ?
              Our self-build - going further with HA...

              Comment

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