AC Controller

To control window AC units with a control interface that works with commands from buttons, IR remotes, and MQTT messages.

Talks to the HomeServer

Building The Project

To build the project from source, you will need an Arduino IDE. There are slight modifications needed to libraries downloaded from the Arduino library manager to build the project.

Likewise, there are some minor steps for the project files themselves.

Dependencies

You can use the Arduino's builtin library manager to automatically download the below.

Adafruit_GFX_Library
- 1.2.2
- for drawing on screens
Adafruit_MCP23008_library
- 1.0.1
- for controlling an 8-pin port expander
Adafruit_SSD1306
- 1.1.2
- for controlling the OLED
IRremoteESP8266
- 2.1.1
- for sending/receiving IR commands
PubSubClient
- 2.6.0
- for chatting with an MQTT server
ArduinoJson
- 5.11.0
- For parsing JSON payloads from the HomeServer
HomeAutomationLibrary
- 1.0.0
- Common features of devices within my home

Library Modifications

Adafruit_SSD1306 is, as of version 1.1.2, by default configured to work with a different screen resolution. To correct this, you must modify the Adafruit_SSD1306.h file within the root of the library.

Inside, you will see something like the below:

#define SSD1306_128_64
// #define SSD1306_128_32
// #define SSD1306_96_16

Uncomment the line for the OLED the board is using. As shown above, the 128x64 is correctly uncommented, and the others commented out.

Project Setup

Create a file called wifi_pass.secret.h, which should have something like the below

#ifndef WIFI_SECRET
#define WIFI_SECRET
#define WIFI_SSID "your wifi's SSID"
#define WIFI_PASS "your wifi's password"
#define WIFI_SERV "the MQTT server to connect to (IP address/domain name)"
#endif

Notes on the Circuit

Parts List

ESP8266 https://www.adafruit.com/product/2471
Colorful Buttons https://www.adafruit.com/product/1010
Small Button https://www.adafruit.com/product/1489
Port Expander https://www.adafruit.com/product/593
OLED https://www.adafruit.com/product/938
IR Sensor https://www.adafruit.com/product/157
Wall power adapter https://www.adafruit.com/product/276
USB to TTL Serial Cable https://www.adafruit.com/product/954
Male DC Power Jack http://a.co/fTvGf54
IR LED http://a.co/865qUtJ
(Lots of) Resistors http://a.co/6ABTFcK
Breadboard wires https://www.adafruit.com/product/153
half-sized breadboard https://www.adafruit.com/product/64

ESP Pin Setup

Pins #4 and #5 are for the i2c bus, which the MCP and OLED share to communicate with the ESP.

Pin #0 is used for the RST pin on the OLED

Pin 14 is used to read the IR Sensor

Pin 16 is used to send pulses to the IR LED

grnt426/HomeAcDevice