Who would have thought 10 years ago that you’d be reading an article about how to make your dumb air conditioner smart?
Nobody wants to have to dump their air conditioner if they do not need to.
The trend of reusing your old household items in a smart way is something that keeps growing more rapidly than I had previously presumed.
I was, only recently, discussing how old ceiling fans can be made smart by using Bond technology.
Likewise, making your dumb air conditioner smart is possible using smart plugs! Purchasing a smart plug can get quite dicey. Yet, there are a couple of alternatives to consider and considerations that you have depending on your situation.
First, let’s dig into the reasons why you’d want to consider even going for this transition even when you’re perfectly pleased with your current air conditioner.
Why Make Your Dumb Air Conditioner Smart?
Window air conditioners are expensive, ranging from $200 to $500. They do makeup by lasting quite a long time–it is not uncommon to see them work for five to eight years. The ideal way to cool a few rooms in a residence is to purchase one per room, multiple components. But that leaves you running around to control them. You’re constantly running around to turn them off to conserve electricity. When you are home, your home might be comfortable as soon you turn your air conditioners and they have a chance to cool things down. However, if you’re far from home , you might not want to run them.
Some newer A/C units have alternatives for voice and remote controller, but buying an air conditioner for this feature does not seem sensible if the one you have works nice and is energy efficient. Therefore, the best thing will be to make your dumb A/C smart by adding a smart plug. Using a smart plugin, you employ a program or voice-control to switch on/off any air conditioner in the house or apartment. And it is possible to power them remotely when you are en route home, which means that your home is cool when you arrive.
Smart plugs
are cheap, ranging from $15 to $30, and could be ZigBee, Z-Wave, Wifi, or Bluetooth-based. Most work with Alexa or Google Assistant, and they can be easily controlled by you on the cell phone. The ideal use for smart plugs is voice automation and control, but it’s likely to cost less too. But not every A/C unit can be used with smart switches, therefore the first thing that you have to do is check if yours will use smart plugs.
How To Test If Your Air Conditioner Works with a Smart Plug
Your A/C unit needs physical toggle switches or dials, similar to this one, to do the job.
Smart plugs are gadgets that work on simple principles;
- Plug in a device –like a coffee maker or lamp– into the smart plug.
- Plug the smart plug into the electrical outlet. You can program and get a handle on the plug with its smartphone program.
- When you turn the smart plug away, it cuts power to anything that is mounted on it. It’s the same as unplugging the lamp or coffee maker. When you turn the smart plug on, you’ve “plugged the lamp “
But that exact principle of rebuilding and cutting power restricts smart plug capacities. Perhaps not all appliances will make use of a smart plug because some use an electric switch. Electric switches store the condition of on/off on a circuit board, and that memory has been lost when power is lost. Mechanical switches let power through predicated on their state, just like a standard light switch.
The first thing that you want to perform before buying a smart plug for window A/C is to inspect the power buttons. Is it a pushbutton using an LED display? Or just a mechanical switch which flips into a different position to on/off this type of toggle or dial?
Soft buttons and an LED screen are for an electrical switch, and it will not make use of a smart plug.
If it is a soft push button, the unit won’t use a smart plug. If it is a mechanical switch, then you are able to make it smart. There is a very simple test to assess it if you still aren’t sure. Turn your A/C apparatus on and then unplug it. Wait five seconds, then plug it back in. If your A/C unit fired up without you pressing any buttons, then it is going to support a smart switch.
This will work with portable air conditioners, too. However, a similar limitation applies: you will need a portable air conditioner that has switches–the one that will turn on the minute you plug it without having to press the button.
Once you’ve determined whether your air conditioner does use smart plugs, it is time to get one. We’ve got several recommendations for smart plugs, of course, in the event that you are interested, then you need to consider one based on Wi-Fi. A slim Smart Plug, like the Eufy Smart Plug Mini, may fit your distance best in case an A/C unit’s plug is large and unwieldy.
How to Make Your Dumb Air Conditioner Smart with Your Smart Plug
Once you’ve got your smart plug, getting everything ready is an easy process. If you have put in your window A/C unit as standard. Plug it into your smart plug and then in the wall socket. Download and install the smart plug’s app.
The installation process for your own program and the smart plug will vary depending upon your smart plugs. Listed here are guides to the Kasa, Eufy, and Belkin smart plugs. It’s merely setting up a smart plug. When you have done this before you should know what to do, of course, for almost any device.
Once you have the smart plug set up, you might need to incorporate it using Google Assistant or Alexa.
Whenever you connect with a smart plugin with a voice helper, think through the name you provide each plugin and remember to add them to some room or group. This will definitely make controlling them even easier.
You can create a routine to automatically turn on and off your A/C unit at certain times of the day or night when you are done linking it to your voice assistant. We recommend doing so through the Google Home or even Alexa app and not the smart plug app. If you follow this advice with your devices, then you’ll know which app to go to once you need to correct a routine. It’s more suitable than trying to remember to use the Kasa app for smart plug sockets, or the Philips Hue program for lights, etc.
Smart plugs aren’t a perfect automation solution. You can’t adjust the temperature or rate. And if your A/C unit is too old; it does not cool an area anymore or uses up too much power, you should consider replacing it instead of purchasing a smart plug. However, if your window air conditioner works nice and it doesn’t overly rely on power, and everything you need works great, then smart plugs are a great way to incorporate voice/remote control and automation, and would cost less than investing in a smart air conditioner.
You need to use the same tip to make other appliances smart too. You could even set up some “smart” fans to keep your home cool without running the air conditioning.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Do smart plugs work with air conditioners?
Smart AC Controllers
They provide 7-day scheduling and location-based geofencing, which can be controlled through an app on your smartphone. Yes, they are also compatible with Alexa, Google Home or IFTTT. One difference is that they work really well with split air conditioners as well as window air conditioners.
- How can I control my air conditioner remotely?
To use the air-conditioner easily, you need to be aware of the functions of each button on the remote control.
- To start using the air conditioner, press power ON/OFF button.
- Press Mode button and set to COOL.
- The functions of each button are on the remote control.
- How much faster is AC than N?
WiFi is always promoted using ‘theoretical’ speeds and by this standard 802.11ac is capable of 1300 megabits per second (Mbps) which is the equivalent of 162.5 megabytes per second (MBps). This is 3x faster than the typical 450 Mbps speed attributed to 802.11n.
- Can I control my AC with my phone?
Yes! There is a smartAC GO smartphone app for iPhone and Android phones. You can download the smartAC Go app and sign in with your mymodlet.com account credentials and you will be able to see your energy consumption, turn your air conditioner off and on and monitor your room temperature
- What is a Smart Air condtioner?
The program helps prevent power interruptions. On hot summer days when demand increases because thousands of customers are using their air conditioning units, PG&E may remotely activate SmartAC devices in order to help maintain adequate power supplies and avoid power interruptions. This is called an “event”.
- Is a wireless Air condtioner fast?
While speed is what will likely sell 802.11ac routers, range is equally important. Here wireless ac excels. 5GHz is also necessary to support the faster speeds of the wireless ac. The second key factor is 802.11ac and makes ‘beamforming’ a core part of its spec.
- Which app is best for Air conditioner remote?
- AnyMote – Smart Remote Control. The first app on our list is AnyMote – Smart Remote Control, which boasts one of the best interfaces we’ve seen in a universal remote app.
- A Smart Remote IR.
- IR Universal Remote.
- Peel Smart Remote.
- What is WiFi-enabled Air condtioner?
Air Conditioners with WiFi connectivity that connect to a local network Wifi (LAN or WLAN). Air Conditioners with WiFi connectivity (WiFi control adapter) connect to the Internet in what is called a “cloud” operation.