ESPHome Panasonic Climate WiFi interface

Getting the Panasonic Climate control off the cloud

A little while back I came across a custom esphome component for a esp32 or esp8266 based airconditioning/Climate Wifi interface. A great way to get your Panasonic Climate control off the Panasonic Comfort Cloud and into Home Assistant locally. The horrible Panasonic app and ever failing cloud service had been bothering me for a while now.

How does it work?

Panasonic Climate units are usually connected to Panasonics Comfort Cloud using either a DSNK-P11 or a CZ-TACG1 WiFi interface.

CZ-TACG1

DNSK-P11

If you have one of these interfaces installed, you are unfortunate enough to be using the Panasonic Cloud service which sucks! Repeatedly having to log-in to your app and not not being able to control your Climate unit due to Cloud service outages are common issues. If you do not have one of these interfaces installed, you are likely not able to control your Climate units by anything else then the standard remote control that comes with the unit.

The Solution:

There is a solution to both problems. By using a custom esphome module it is possible to connect your Panasonic Climate Unit to Home Assistant locally. Remote controlling your Climate unit will be instant and no longer cloud dependant. The only thing missing was a drop-in hardware replacement for the original Panasonic DNSK-P11 Wifi-interface so Paul and I started measuring and fiddling around until we came up with this design:

Paul really did a great job on this PCB!

Panasonic Climate Interface with optional CN-CNT cable (no p11 header)

Espthings Panasonic Climate Interface with DNSK-p11 header

Usually we design PCBs with through-hole technology, but since that would not fit within the small footprint of the original PCB’s we had to design this one with SMD components. We will NOT publish the PCB source files as these files tend to end-up in the hands of people who commercially exploit them.

Features:

• 100% drop in replacement for the original DNSK-P11 PCB and a perfect fit for the original enclosure!
• ESP32, so you can also use BLE for location tracking of your phones etc.
• Status LED (only active on warnings and errors)
• The original connector is Panasonic proprietary so we used a universal 8 pin header which works just fine with the original DNSK-P11 cable and connector.
• Option to connect to a CN-CNT connector using a custom cable.
• No soldering required, no need to cut the original wires!
• Micro-USB terminal for installing the firmware (USB chip for auto-programming)
• Pre-programmed with a default esphome configuration with Hotspot, captive portal and web server enabled, so you can upload your own config OTA!
• Option to print or order a great tiny 3D-printable enclosure that exposes the P11 port, CN-CNT wires and USB-port.
• Tested before shipping!

Ordering:

Update June 8th 2022: We have enough interfaces coming in to fulfil all reservations. We will contact all buyers by the end of this week.
Update June 10th 2022: We have responded to everyone who made a reservation. Let’s get these things shipped 🙂

Some information on options and pricing:

Panasonic DNSK-P11 replacement:

Option 1. The price will be EURO 24,50 for the version that replaces the original Panasonic DNSK-P11 wifi adapter. It has the custom header for the original Panasonic DNSK-P11 cable installed (soldered).

Panasonic CN-CNT version:

There are a few options if you need it to replace the original CZ-TACG1 or if you have no Panasonic Wifi module installed at all. Please first check if your Panasonic Climate control has the CN-CNT connector!

Enclosure:

Shipping:

If you would like to order one or more espthings Wifi interfaces, please use the contact form and state the amount, option(s), your name and postal address. Also let us know exactly which shipping option you prefer. Save your technical questions for the comments section of this post. Do not use the contact form for that please! Thank you.

Instructions:

Hardware:

DNSK-P11 replacement:

Original DNSK-P11 enclosure

Our module inside 😉

Here’s a < video > on how to install the original CZ-TACG1 interface. The interface is different, but you’ll find clear instructions on how to open and close the unit. After taking off the enclosure, check your Climate unit for this interface:

Take the plastic DNSK-P11 box out of the housing carefully, open it, remove the black connector from the PCB and install your espthings P11 interface. Connect the interface using the original DNSK-P11 cable. The connector-lip needs to go downwords in the notch of the PCB, the flat part of the connector up.
Please be careful as the pins are tiny. If you use your brain in stead of brute force, you’ll be ok. 🙂

CZ-TACG1 replacement:

You can eiher replace the original CZ-TACG1interface, or if you have no Wifi interface installed yet and your Panasonic unit has the 5-pin CN-CNT connector, you are good to install the espthings.io Wifi interface.

CN-CNT connector

Here’s a < video > on how to install the original CZ-TACG1 interface. More on how to install the espthings Wifi interface soon…

Software

Each interface has been tested and is pre-flashed with esphome firmware, with the Hotspot, Captive Portal and webserver enabled, so you can install your own esphome configuration (or any other compatible firmware) using OTA (WiFi).

Just connect to the Panasonic Climate Hotspot WiFi network, use password qwe12345 and access the web-interface by entering the IP -address or hostname of the interface in your webbrowser.

In esphome, create your own new configuration, press install, select “manual download”, download and save the file and upload that file in the web-interface of the interface (refer to the screenshot above). Power cycle the interface and it will then appear as “online” in the esphome dashboard.

>> Only needed for the old version: If you need to flash using USB for some reason, do not forget to close the jumper when booting the ESP32.

Config:

Please mind that we supply all modules with a basic test configuration which is the same for every single module. If you use more then one module in the same network, you need to reconfigure your modules with a unique (host)name! (substitutions: devicename: XXXX)
More on the basic usage of esphome in this video: https://youtu.be/yMhC6Or0oTY?t=170

ESPHome secrets:

esphome_wifi_ssid: 'yourssid'
esphome_wifi_password: 'yourpass'
esphome_ap_password: 'yourpass'
esphome_api_password: 'yourpass'
esphome_ota_password: 'yourpass'

ESPHome config:

substitutions:
  devicename: "pana-climate-01"
  long_devicename: "ESPthings Panasonic Climate Interface"
  
esphome:
  name: "${devicename}"
  name_add_mac_suffix: false ## use different names/hostnames for each device!
  comment: ${long_devicename}
  platform: ESP32
  board: mhetesp32minikit
  project:
    name: esphome.pana-climate
    version: "220528-1"

external_components:
  source: github://DomiStyle/esphome-panasonic-ac
  components: [panasonic_ac]
  
wifi:
  ssid: !secret esphome_wifi_ssid
  password: !secret esphome_wifi_password
  ap:
    ssid: "${devicename} Fallback Hotspot"
    password: qwe12345
    
captive_portal:
    
web_server:
  port: 80
  
logger:
  level: DEBUG

api:
  
ota:
    
uart:
  tx_pin: GPIO17
  rx_pin: GPIO16
  id: ac_uart
  baud_rate: 9600
  parity: EVEN
  
status_led:
  pin: GPIO12
  
climate:
  - platform: panasonic_ac
    type: cnt   # For CZ-TACG1 use type: cnt / For DNSK-P11 use type: wlan
    name: "${long_devicename}"
    vertical_swing_select:
      name: "${long_devicename} Vertical Swing Mode"
    outside_temperature:
      name: "${long_devicename} Outside Temperature"

Home Assistant Lovelace yaml example:

type: vertical-stack
cards:
- type: thermostat
entity: climate.panasonic_climate_xx
- type: entities
entities:
- entity: select.panasonic_climate_xx_vertical_swing_mode
- entity: sensor.panasonic_climate_xx_outside_temperature

End result 🙂