I’m looking for a portable air conditioner (the kind with 1 or 2 hoses that go to outside air). The problem I’m running into is that every single one I find has some kind of “smart” controller built in. The ones with no WiFi connectivity still have buttons to start/stop the AC, meaning that a simple Zigbee outlet switch won’t work. I could switch the AC off, but it would require a button-press to switch it back on. The ones with WiFi connectivity all require “cloud” access; my IoT devices all connect to a VLAN with no internet access, and I plan to keep it that way.

I suppose I could hack a relay in place of the “start” button, but I’d really rather just have something I can plug in and use.

I can’t use a window AC; the room has no windows. I’ll need to route intake/exhaust through the wall. So far, I can’t find any “portable” AC that will work for me.

What I’m looking for is a portable AC that either:

  • Connects to WiFi and integrates with HA locally.
  • Has no connectivity but uses “dumb” controls so I can switch it with a Zigbee outlet switch.

Any ideas?

  • @AA5BEnglish
    2•8 months ago

    Not exactly the same, but I use the RM-4 with a mini-split AC in place of the remote, and it has worked well for years. You do have to place it somewhere line of site for the ir blaster but it has a very wide range

    Setup was choosing a make a model, and everything mapped perfectly. In my case, it even reads the status and current temperature.

    The one feature that I haven’t gotten around to trying is line power. I hate using batteries. However RM-4 also had a section on powering it directly that I wanted to try. In my case I have an Ecobee thermostat that I think I can grab power off of, and just mount the RM-4 on the wall right next to. However the batteries have lasted years so I never got around to it

    EDIT: or maybe not. I have a Remotec RM-4. I don’t know if it is an ancestor to the Broadlink with the same name, but it’s a beige box. It’s local-only, with no WiFi or app