About

This site provides integration services to Google Home, linking smart devices accessible over a Home Autmation Hub service, linking to an MQTT server, to Google's Cloud-to-Cloud service. This site is an experiment on developing "smart devices" using homebrew devices.

Hardware

Primarily, the hardware I'm using is an ESP32 connected to Wi-Fi, using an MQTT server to monitor subjects and return readings.

Daikin A/C Remote

By reverse engineering the IR protocol on my Daikin air conditioner, I was able to use an ESP32 to emit the necessary IR codes to the unit to set temperatures and change modes. Did you know the ESP32 has dedicated hardware for sending and receiving IR remote commands?

The Daikin remote uses two of these components; one for transmitting and one for receiving. It will monitor commands it receives from the REAL Daikin remote, and report the changes to the MQTT server, so Google Home will be able to query the current state of the air conditioner. When it receives a mode or temperature update from MQTT, it will construct the IR command to send and use the component to transmit that command to the Daikin using an IR LED.

The Daikin remote also has support for a DHT11 temperature and humidity sensor. It will take a reading every 5 seconds and update an MQTT subject with each value. Google Home is able to query this MQTT subject as part of the status query to the air conditioner, so it knows the current ambient temperature and humidity in the room where the sensor is located.

LED Strip Light

Using a WS2812 (or compatible) LED strip, it does nothing becuase this project hasn't been started yet. This will be happening soon. I'm going to try to use scenes for triggering animations and colour patterns.