“Saving on AC Bills for my Airbnb: Need Help with Automated Cooling Control!”

[cehahe5692]

I need help finding a way to turn off the air conditioner when nobody’s in the room.

I’m investing in Airbnb and one thing that really worries me is the AC bill. I’m afraid people might leave the AC on while they’re out or with the windows wide open.

So, I’ve been looking for a good solution like a presence sensor, but I have my doubts. Can I connect the sensor to a smart plug? What I want is for the AC to automatically turn off if the sensor doesn’t detect any movement for 30 minutes.

Also, I want to know if the sensor can be triggered by a window or door sensor.

And with the window sensor, I want the AC to shut off every time the window is open.

I'm thinking of going with a budget-friendly option like a Tuya wall-mount smart sensor.

[JanJaap]

Hey,

There are multiple types of sensors you can use. Which one is best depends also on which hardware gateway you're using (as you did not mention anything I'll assume you haven't got anything in place). I would recommend setting up a zigbee network (as it supports a large range of sensors and actuators) and use zigbee2mqtt to connect the network to Domoticz. Then Google for some of the following sensors:
- door or window sensor (for example Aqara/Xiaomi and IKEA offer those)
- presence detection
- temperature sensor (make sure the AC is turned off when it is already cold?), I've got some of those, they work brilliant
- a smart plug or build-in relay unit for cutting power to the AC. When there's a smart plug in the open, there might always be a smart-ass that figures out what you're trying to do . For this part: really check the allowed power and current that matches what your AC needs!

Once you've got the hardware setup, it is a matter of making the right scripts to get it to work.

Hope this helps you out a bit further.