Control Your Non-smart Ac With Alexa/ Google Home/ Siri

About the project

Modify the remote on your existing AC (or other appliance) to turn it into a smart AC using Arduino, Adafruit, and IFTTT.

Project info

Difficulty: Easy

Platforms: AdafruitArduinoGoogleIFTTTNodeMCU

Estimated time: 2 hours

License: GNU General Public License, version 3 or later (GPL3+)

Items used in this project

Hardware components

NodeMCU v2-Lua based ESP8266 development kit NodeMCU v2-Lua based ESP8266 development kit x 1
Half-size Breadboard Half-size Breadboard x 1

Software apps and online services

Adafruit Adafruit
IFTTT IFTTT
Arduino IDE Arduino IDE

Hand tools and fabrication machines

Solder Iron Solder Iron x 1

Story

I've always wanted to have a Smart AC so I can turn it on when I'm on my way home and arrive to a cool place. I couldn't just use a smart thermostat because I don't have central Air. I instead modded my AC's remote to be triggered by an Arduino.

The general steps are as follows:

Remote Mod / Arduino Setup

  • I modded my AC remote to always have the power button pressed
  • I removed the remote's battery and connected it to Arduino
  • I included 2 LEDs. A red one to tell me when the project was online and a green one to tell me when the button had been triggered


Adafruit & Arduino IDE Code

  • I created a button on here and assigned it to a feed. When that button is pressed, it passes a value of 1 to the feed
  • I connected the feed to my Arduino code using Adafruit's API
  • The API function listens for new data from the feed. I wrote a function in there that said IF the feed sends a value of 1 ----> Arduino should send power to the remote, therefore firing off the power button. It should also turn on the green LED so I see it was activated.

IFTTT:

  • I made an applet on IFTTT and connected it to Adafruit and Google Home
  • IF Google home is told "Turn on the AC", THEN IFTTT will send a value of 1 to the Adafruit feed therefore triggering the Arduino
  • This can be repeated for Alexa, Siri, Home Assistant, etc...


The steps are outlined in this Video:


Schematics, diagrams and documents

Diagram

Code

Remote_AC_Adafruit

config.h

Credits

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