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A project log for Ventbot: warm side cool, cool side warm

A DIY register booster project to even out the temps around my home.

wjcarpenterWJCarpenter 06/06/2023 at 03:210 Comments

The firmware always logs the temperature triggers and ramp-up/ramp-down table the first time through. It looks like this in the ESPHome log for the Venbot:

[19:58:48][I][ventbot:848]: Temperature triggers: Low 60.5, High 85.1
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:849]: There are 8 ramp steps
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:853]: Fans:            Fan 1       2       3       4
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:858]: Fan control:         1       2       3       -
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 0.0,  0.0, {  0.00,   0.00,   0.00,   0.00}}, /* 1*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 2.0,  1.0, {  2.00,   0.00,   0.00,   0.00}}, /* 2*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 2.0,  1.0, {  2.00,   2.00,   0.00,   0.00}}, /* 3*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 2.0,  1.0, {  2.00,   2.00,   2.00,   0.00}}, /* 4*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 5.0,  5.0, { 20.00,  20.00,  20.00,  20.00}}, /* 5*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 5.0,  5.0, { 40.00,  40.00,   0.40,  40.00}}, /* 6*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 5.0,  5.0, { 60.00,  60.00,  60.00,  60.00}}, /* 7*/
[19:58:48][I][ventbot:862]:   { 5.0,  5.0, { 80.00,  80.00,  80.00,  80.00}}, /* 8*/

A while back, I made two changes related to this in the firmware.

These things got me thinking about what else I could do for convenience and customization. That's something I wondered about at the start of the project but never really got to. 

Another thing I have pondered is how to give someone control over the Ventbot in a particular room without opening the door to misbehavior. We're all friendly family members here, and it's not an issue. I'm just in the habit of thinking about security. The Home Assistant permissions scheme for dashboards would let me create a separate dashboard for each Ventbot and restrict access to that dashboard to some particular user. I could imagine having a tablet with a Home Assistant dashboard for controlling the Ventbot in a room (though I'm not sure I can imagine spending the money for that limited purpose). I'm already using passwords to guard the APIs, and the Home Assistant server (that I control) could know all those passwords. Separate passwords for Ventbot instances guards against someone operating a rogue client for the ESPHome API. I know this is kind of overkill in the average home environment, but I'll feel better if I get time to implement it instead of just wishing I had.

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