Home Assistant - Dual Mode Generic Thermostat

Special thanks to shandoosheri for getting this to work on older versions of Home Assistant, which gave me an easy blueprint to follow. And thanks @kevinvincent for writing a nice custom_component readme for me to fork.

This component is a straightfoward fork of the mainline generic_thermostat.

Installation (HACS) - Recommended

0. Have HACS installed, this will allow you to easily update
1. Add https://github.com/zacs/ha-dualmodegeneric as a custom repository as Type: Integration
2. Click install under "Dual Mode Generic Thermostat", restart your instance.

Installation (Manual)

1. Download this repository as a ZIP (green button, top right) and unzip the archive
2. Copy /custom_components/dualmode_generic to your <config_dir>/custom_components/ directory
   • You will need to create the custom_components folder if it does not exist
   • On Hassio the final location will be /config/custom_components/dualmode_generic
   • On Hassbian the final location will be /home/homeassistant/.homeassistant/custom_components/dualmode_generic

Configuration

Add the following to your configuration file

Example Config

climate:
  - platform: dualmode_generic
    name: My Thermostat
    unique_id: climate.my_thermostat
    heater: switch.heater
    cooler: switch.cooler
    fan: switch.fan
    fan_behavior: cooler
    dryer: switch.dryer
    dryer_behavior: cooler
    target_sensor: sensor.temperature_sensor
    reverse_cycle: cooler, heater
    enable_heat_cool: True
    min_temp: 16
    max_temp: 30
    cold_tolerance: 0.8
    hot_tolerance: 0.4
    min_cycle_duration:
        minutes: 20

Possible values for *_behavior

fan_behavior: [cooler, neutral, heater] # <-- only one
dryer_behavior: [cooler, neutral, heater] # <-- only one

Possible values for reverse_cycle

reverse_cycle: cooler, heater, dryer, fan # <-- multiple are possible, (True/False) are still valid for backward compatibility

The component shares the same configuration variables as the standard generic_thermostat, with some exceptions:

• A cooler variable has been added where you can specify the entity_id of your switch for a cooling unit (AC, fan, etc).
• A fan and dryer variable have been added where you can specify the entity_ids of your switches for a fan and/or dryer unit.
• All the switches/input_booleans are optional, so the user can decide which modes he wants to use (some HVAC only supports Cool, Dry, Fan_only). This together with template_switches makes for a great way to make mobile HVACs controllable via IR.
• If the your climate unit offers multiple modes (e.g. a reverse cycle air conditioner) setting reverse_cycle to cooler, heater will ensure the device isn't switched off entirely when switching modes
• The ac_mode variable has been removed, since it makes no sense for this use case.
• target_temp_high and target_temp_low set the default value for the upper and lower setting for temperature range when in HEAT_COOL mode

Refer to the Generic Thermostat documentation for details on the rest of the variables. This component doesn't change their functionality.

Behavior

• For HEAT or COOL modes, the thermostat will follow standard mode-based behavior: if set to "cool," the only switch which can be activated is the cooler. This means if the target temperature is higher than the actual temperateure, the heater will not start. Vice versa is also true.

• For HEAT_COOL mode, the thermostat will attempt to maintain the temperature within the set range, turning on the configured heater when the temperature drops below the bottom of the range by cold_tolerance and turning on the configured cooler when the temperature rises above the top of the set range by the hot_tolerance amount. When the measured temperature is within the configured range by (hot|cold)_tolerance the thermostat will transition to idle mode and both heater and cooler will be turned off.

  • This mode needs to be enabled explicitly by setting enable_heat_cool to True!
  • Be careful with min_cycle_duration! If you set it too high, your AC will bounce between too hot and too cold when using heat_cool!

• Keepalive logic has been updated to be aware of the mode in current use, so should function as expected.

• By default, the component will restore the last state of the thermostat prior to a restart.

• While heater/cooler/dryer/fan are documented to be switches, they can also be input_booleans if necessary. Note that these are assumed to be exclusively for the use of the thermostat - the thermostat will report its mode and change its behaviour based on the position of these switches.

Reporting an Issue

1. Setup your logger to print debug messages for this component using:

logger:
  default: info
  logs:
    custom_components.dualmode_generic: debug

2. Restart HA
3. Verify you're still having the issue
4. File an issue in this Github Repository containing your HA log (Developer section > Info > Load Full Home Assistant Log)
   • You can paste your log file at pastebin https://pastebin.com/ and submit a link.
   • Please include details about your setup (Pi, NUC, etc, docker?, HASSOS?)
   • The log file can also be found at /<config_dir>/home-assistant.log