Ingenious Makers P11 – ESPHome Panasonic Climate Interface

Getting the Panasonic Climate control off the cloud

Back in August 2021, we published an article about an ESPHome component for an ESP32 or ESP8266-based air conditioning/climate WiFi interface—a great way to get your Panasonic Climate Control off the Panasonic Comfort Cloud and into Home Assistant locally. The only thing missing was a proper hardware solution, so we developed one and published our initial design in our blog-article here.

Our SMD design perfectly replaced the original Panasonic Climate interface and even fitted the original enclosure. The only disadvantage was that an SMD design is extremely hard to build yourself. We received a lot of requests to sell a pre-built interface, which were soon sent all over the planet, costing us loads of time. That is not what we are about. We want to design hardware that you can easily build yourself, so we published our DIY version of the Panasonic Climate Interface.

The original design was based on the ESP32 SMD module, which is no longer broadly available. Our new design is based on the widely available ESP32-C3 Super Mini, which is even more compact and works just the same.

How does it work?

Panasonic Climate units are typically connected to Panasonic’s Comfort Cloud using either a DNSK-P11 or a CZ-TACG1 WiFi interface.

CZ-TACG1

DNSK-P11

If you have one of these interfaces installed, you may find yourself dealing with the frustrations of using the Panasonic Cloud service. This often involves repeatedly logging in to your app and being unable to control your Climate unit due to cloud service outages. If you do not have one of these interfaces installed, you are likely limited to controlling your Climate unit with only the standard remote control that comes with it.

The Solution

Fortunately, there is a solution to these problems. A custom ESPHome component allows you to connect Home Assistant to your Panasonic Climate locally. With this setup, remote controlling your Climate unit becomes instant and independent of the cloud. Now, the only thing needed is some hardware to act as the bridge between Home Assistant and the Panasonic Climate.

Design parameters

Our requirements:

• Must be able to connect to both the CN-CNT and the DNSK-P11 connector
  Must work as a DNSK-P11 or CZ-TACG1 replacement
• Preferably have the same size as the original interface
• Must support an external DS18B20 temperature sensor
• Must have a USB-C terminal for esphome installation
• Enclosure must be readily available or 3D printable

So we designed a PCB for a ESP32-C3 Super Mini module. 

PCB design

We where able to come up with a simple yet effective design using only 9 simple components. Add the ESP32-C3 Super Mini and a connector and you have yourself a working Panasonic Climate Interface for Home Assistant.

PCB

Bill of materials

See below the list with the components you will need to build the Ingenious Makers P11 controller. A number of these items will not be sold in smaller quantities at AliExpress. We will try to use the same components as much as possible in other projects.

We would really appreciate it if you will use the links below to buy the components, since it will give a little bit of commission to us without any additional cost for yourself. These commissions will be used to cover some of the costs involved in the development of the design.

Putting it together

Like with all other projects, it is the easiest to start with identifying the components purchased as discussed in our soldering blog post. After sorting the components and cleaning the PCB, start with the lowest components first. For this project, we advise to work in this order:

• DNSK-P11 header* (not required if you are attaching it to the CN-CNT to replace a CZ-TACG1 Wifi module)
• Diode
• MOSFETs
• Resistors
• Electrolytic capacitor
• ESP module headers (Use the hints in the soldering blog post!)
• CZ-TACG1 cable  (only If you are attaching it to CN-CNT connector)

* Use a very small soldering tip for the 1.27mm headers and use minimal amount of soldering wire. Make sure it melts and flows out sufficiently.

Once all components are soldered in place, perform a good visual check of all joints, and pay particular attention to possible solder bridges (unwanted solder connections between pins). Do not forget to clean the excess solder flux from the PCB using alcohol!

Wiring

Finished module

In this case with both the DNSK-P11 header and the CN-CNT cable soldered. You only need one of both, depending on your climate unit!

Installation

DNSK-P11 replacement:

Original DNSK-P11 enclosure

Below 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 the DNSK-P11 enclosure.

Take the DNSK-P11 pcb out of the enclosure carefully, remove the black connector from the PCB and install your Ingenious Makers P11 interface. Connect the interface using the original DNSK-P11 cable. The connector-lip needs to go downwards 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 either 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 Ingenious Makers Wifi interface.

CN-CNT connector

Below a video on how to install the original CZ-TACG1 interface. The installation of the P11 interface with the cable (option 5), is pretty straight forward.

Software

esphome config

Create a new esphome device and use the following configuration example:

substitutions:
  devicename: esp32-airco-01
  long_devicename: Panasonic Climate Office
  pcb_version: "P11-PTH-C3 250214"
    
esphome:
  name: "${devicename}"
  name_add_mac_suffix: false
  comment: "${long_devicename} ${pcb_version}"

esp32:
  board: esp32-c3-devkitm-1
  framework:
    type: esp-idf
  variant: ESP32C3

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} Hotspot"
    password: !secret esphome_ap_password
    
captive_portal:
    
web_server:
  port: 80
  
logger:
  level: DEBUG

api:
  encryption:
    key: !secret esphome_api_key

ota:
  - platform: esphome
    password: !secret ota_password

bluetooth_proxy:

uart:
  tx_pin: GPIO21
  rx_pin: GPIO20
  id: ac_uart
  baud_rate: 9600
  parity: EVEN

switch:
  - platform: restart
    name: "$long_devicename Restart"
  
climate:
  - platform: panasonic_ac
    id: office
    type: cnt
    name: "$long_devicename"
    vertical_swing_select:
      name: "$long_devicename Vertical Swing Mode"
    outside_temperature:
      name: "$long_devicename Outside Temperature"
    current_power_consumption:
      id: power_consumption_office
      name: "$long_devicename Power Consumption"
      unit_of_measurement: W
      accuracy_decimals: 0
      device_class: power
      state_class: measurement

sensor:
  - platform: total_daily_energy
    name: "$long_devicename Total Daily Energy"
    power_id: power_consumption_office
    filters:
        - multiply: 0.001
    unit_of_measurement: kWh
    device_class: energy

time:
  - platform: homeassistant
    id: my_time

End result 🙂