Compatability exploration

[TimPasquini]

I'd like to see if I can get this working with my older windfree units. I have a setup that is a single indoor and single outdoor unit, and then another that is 4 indoor heads to a larger outdoor unit. For simplicity I think I'd start with the 1:1 setup before exploring the others.

I believe I found the correct technical manual here. The model is an AR09TSFACWKX & AR09TSFACWKN which appear to be 2020 models.

There are some diagrams on page 24 and 25 of the various modules and wiring. I appear to have F1 & F2 wires.

In the compatibility checker, these models are listed as "Other" but I'm unclear if that means it's just unconfirmed or if it means it's some separate unknown protocol?

Before I order the hardware to start trying this, I was hoping someone might have some insight into probability of success.

[TimPasquini]

Well, I took a crack at this using the suggested M5STACK ATOM Lite + M5STACK RS-485 setup.

I installed the M5stack in the indoor unit. I started at the outdoor unit, but there was nothing easily accessible to grab DC off of. Removing the side panel reveals the F1 & F2, but all the power points were 220v AC and I would have had to remove a lot of screws to open the outdoor unit.

For the indoor unit, removing the bottom plate reveals the F1 and F2 connectors along with a 14-pin plug header for hard-wired remotes. Fortunately, Samsung seems to make service manuals easily accessible online. The service manual has PCB diagrams with pin-outs, and it was easy enough to narrow it down to the CN340 connector, as it was the only 14-pin connector on the indoor PCB. Looking at the pin-out for the plug header, it has a 12v DC pin and a ground pin in slots 10 and 11.

With the M5stack powered and connected to the communication connectors, I pretty much immediately started picking up data once I turned the power back on. It appears this model is a NASA type based on the address system for the units.

All functions seem to work except the sound setting and display panel setting, but in searching a bit, it appears this is an ongoing saga (#144) to try and capture the associated packets.

I was very pleasantly surprised all around about how easy this was and fortunately, I ordered a second set of M5stack parts so I won't have to wait for them to arrive from China to start on my other unit.

I'll post a follow-up on my attempts to get AJ036BXS4CH and its 4 attached head units up and running.

[TimPasquini]

AJ036BXS4CH and the four attached AR07TSFABWKN were set up without a hitch! I duplicated the process as the other setup by removing the indoor panel of one of the head units and tying onto the header plug used for wired controllers to get 12v DC to the M5stack atom. All four indoor units showed up and it was a quick update to the yaml to get them configured!

The only question now is how do I get the compatibility list updated to confirm these models as compatible NASA protocol units?