Air Con: $1697 for an On/Off Switch
owl writes:
https://blog.hopefullyuseful.com/blog/advantage-air-ezone-tablet-diy-repair/
Forcing customers to replace an entire system just because the cheapest component failed might be really profitable, I have no idea... But I do know that it annoyed me enough to make me want to fix it myself. While I understand that what I do next is beyond a large number of Advantage Air customers, in my investigation I found that there seems to be only software choices preventing modern tablets from working with older control systems. Adding a simple "system" chooser to their software applications would give solutions to everyone, while the custom POE connector would ensure they still need their hardware.
My family had a new home built in 2019. As part of the build package a large ducted reverse cycle (heatpump) air conditioning system was installed. As it was part of the entire build I am not sure on the specific price of this system but based on other quotes I have seen for a similar sized house I would guess $10k-$12k. The system has two main parts, the actual Daikin airconditioner and an Advantage Air control box in attic that opens the vents to the various zones. This control system is operated by a cheap POE powered Android tablet on the wall of the living room.
[...] E-Zone running perfectly on an ancient Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. I was elated. After I gave up on repairing the original, getting this tablet working took only a few hours and was a hell of a lot of fun. This tablet is 10+ years old and yet still is much snappier than the junk that came with the system, but if I want to upgrade to something more powerful, say to control my homeassistant etc... all I need to do is plug it into the usb. But for turning the AC on and off it is more than enough and I am currently waiting on a nice flush connector to arrive then will mount it on the wall.
He had to spend an interesting few hours fixing it but it makes a good read...
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