Thanks to HomeKit, my dumb window AC units are now smart. Based on several HomeK...

jrullman · on Aug 4, 2017

I've been wanting to do the same thing! Mind sharing which sensors/devices you used to accomplish this?

ancorevard · on Aug 4, 2017

I have two HomeKit temperature sensors, and a humidity sensor from the Ecobee thermostat I have (we have central heater, but not central AC).

But you can just pick up a standalone sensor like: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HL232LL/A/ihome-control-i...

For the two dumb window AC units, I plugged them into a HomeKit smart plug like: https://www.apple.com/shop/product/HKEH2VC/A/elgato-eve-ener... With that plug you also get actual energy use and cost in real-time/historical as well.

Since they are all HomeKit all that sensor and state data is shared with all other HomeKit devices. So I created a HomeKit Automation that triggers the start of the window A/C units when temp triggers a certain threshold and during a certain time of day. Similar trigger to turn the AC off.

I found this HomeKit app to offer much more fine grained automation rules: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/home-smart-home-automation/i...