Controlling IR Devices From Home Assistant - Part 1

The AC units in my home (Electra) are IR controlled, and I wanted a simple way to control them from Home Assistant.

I could use some chinese pre-made devices like the Broadlink RM-Mini but that will force me to use their closed-source app. And also I think the less chinese malware on my phone and network is probably for the better…

So I’ve tried installing ESPHome on an esp8266 device with an IR Led and a receiver on a breadboard, which worked great using the coolix component.

Coolix AC on Home Assistant, the 0º should have a value when using a temp sensor.

Next I looked for a ready-to-use solution on the esp8266/esp32 platform that I could deploy around my house, but I couldn’t find any.

I did find the Lolin IR controller which is a board that sits on top of a D1 Mini board. Which is tiny and uses 4 IR leds and a transistor for amplification, it also comes with a receiver as well.

Lolin IR Controller

It works well but doesn’t have the full range of the original remote, from my AC unit it has around 2 meters of range.

In conclusion this solution is great for my application but it’s missing a temperature sensor and larger leds, maybe in a future project I’ll design myself a similar pcb with a built-in ds18b20 sensor and some beefier leds. A 3D printed case could also be a nice addition.