Yesterday I installed the first of two devices which will allow me to have cloud-free automation control of our HVAC systems. We have Mitsubishi heat pumps and air handlers (similar to a traditional 'central air' system but vastly more efficient), and of course Mitsubishi offers their 'Kumo Cloud' system for automation. There are various integrations for Home Assistant to connect to Kumo Cloud, and it has a mobile app, but I don't want a vendor-managed cloud service in the path.
I used an ESPHome component called mUART which contains code for the mostly-undocumented-but-heavily-reverse-engineered protocol that these units speak on their UART ports. I also used some really nice boards named MahtanarM made by one of the primary authors of the ESPHome integration. The software is FOSS, the hardware is not 'open hardware' but it's quite simple, and these boards are not required they are just a quick and easy way to get things connected. One of the benefits this particular ESPHome component (there are at least four out there) is that it supports pass-through so the Mitsubishi wireless thermostat/controller continues operating normally - this is important for the Spousal Acceptance Factor.
This now the third such integration I've installed. I also have our LiftMaster garage door opener using the 'ratgdo' ESPHome component instead of the MyQ cloud, and our Rheem water heater using the 'econet' ESPHome component instead of the EcoNet cloud. All of this is FOSS, and the hardware to make the connections is simple and inexpensive.
https://muart-group.github.io/
https://github.com/tinwer-group/mahtanar
https://ratcloud.llc/
https://github.com/ratgdo/esphome-ratgdo
https://github.com/esphome-econet/esphome-econet
#ESPHome #HomeAssistant #FOSS #CloudFree #HomeAutomation