This project has been a godsent! The latest Daikin indoor units have a built-in WiFi module which only allows control through their cloud infrastructure. Besides it being a privacy and/or security issue, it's very slow and buggy (e.g. I've had two units reset their credentials after a power outage).

There are two caveats to going the Faikin way: you need to source or build your own cable that's compatible with your unit, and there's no access control (that I could find) for the web interface so you need to firewall and proxy it properly.

I hear so many complaints about ISPs, but Andrews & Arnold really do make the world a better place.

As a more general approach for making any air conditioner "smarter", there is a SmartIR integration [1] for Home Assistant. It requires an IR blaster and a configuration file that defines IR code sequences for every possible AC state (temperature + fan speed + swing + etc) that you might want to use. Many models are already configured or you can try a few models from the same manufacturer and sometimes the codes are similar enough that you'll find one that works.

Once it's set up you get a nice climate control in Home Assistant, the only drawback is that the state displayed in HA will go out of sync if you use the physical remote.

[1] https://github.com/smartHomeHub/SmartIR/blob/master/docs/CLI...

I just have some IR LEDs on an esp8266 in the same room as my Daikin and run tasmota. It works perfectly. I have temp control and fully remote automation.

How convenient, I just got installed a Daikin not even knowing it could have WLAN capabilities, discovered that it has, that is cloud-only but it wasn't like that til long ago. Currently I'm using this bridge to their cloud Onecta for Home Assistant (https://github.com/jwillemsen/daikin_onecta) and so far it's working great.

But this project is definitely nicer! But I don't fully understand how do I connect the ESP32 to the aircon. I see you can buy a cable on Tindie but... oh wait, I know see a badly illuminated part of the attached YouTube video where he does open the thing up and connect the cable but really, it's not that clear to me (especially considering there are a gazillion slightly different Daikin split models out there).

Any help appreciated (even if it's just a pointer to RTFM)

RevK's blog has a lot of interesting posts on it.

https://www.revk.uk/

He also runs an excellent ISP in the UK called AAISP which I can highly recommend (https://www.aa.net.uk)

AAISP build their own core & customer networking devices/routers from scratch (not Linux based) in the UK. They are fascinating to use - a completely different evolutionary tree to any other networking kit I've used. Some unique features.

https://www.firebrick.co.uk/fb9000/

I'm considering a new heat pump (ducted) and daikin seems to require One+ Smart Thermostat to run it in most efficient way, so - cloud. I don't think this project supports plugging into it, but perhaps it's possible?

Over in Panasonic land we have a similar setup.

https://github.com/DomiStyle/esphome-panasonic-ac

I've got two of these running in my Panasonic Heat Pumps and it's excellent.

For those with Midea manufactured units (They white label so many brands) a great turnkey option is this dongle made by SMLight (1) that comes preloaded with ESPHome.

1 - https://smlight.tech/product/slwf-01/