The Smart Climate Control
Smart thermostats and a hacked air conditioner remote, triggered by phone location and calendar, so my apartment was always at the right temperature when I came home.
This project dates back to 2017, from my life as a heavily traveling IT consultant. My old attic apartment got cold in winter and hot in summer, and after a longer business trip I would come home to an uncomfortable apartment that then took hours to reach a pleasant temperature again.
So I equipped the radiators with smart MAX! eq3 thermostats to digitally control actual and target temperature, and installed a mobile air conditioner (Trotec PAC 3550 PRO) with an infrared remote. On a small window, I replaced the glass pane with a well-insulated wooden panel, precisely drilled for the exhaust hoses. I then tapped directly into the remote control’s circuit board with a Raspberry Pi Zero, turning the AC unit into something I could control remotely.
The last missing piece was the logic for when to act. My smart home hub had access to my phone’s location, analyzed my travel history to detect when I was heading home, and cross-checked it against my calendar to avoid false positives. If everything lined up, it kicked in the heating or cooling ahead of time. The result: I always walked into a comfortably tempered apartment.
What it does
Smart MAX! eq3 radiator thermostats for digital temperature control
Retrofitted infrared remote control via a Raspberry Pi Zero soldered onto its circuit board
Custom insulated wooden panel replacing a window pane for the AC exhaust hoses
Phone location and travel history analysis to detect the trip home
Calendar cross-check to avoid false triggers
Automatic pre-heating or pre-cooling before arrival
Gallery
