We live in Israel - which means that in Summer it's really (extremely) hot and we have the AC turned on 24/7.
We wanted to cut some of that AC time so we set up ceiling fans in all the rooms. Now, we can avoid the AC at night and only if it's really hot we would wake up and turn on the AC. But even with a fan it sometimes gets too hot - and our kids kept waking up from the heat.
Instead of buying a smart AC or a smart AC controller which could be pricey we researched some alternatives and found a cool hack - we purchased a smart thermometer for $9 and an IR to replace the AC remote for another $10. The IR is basically a device that can replace any remote.
The setup was quite easy - Both devices are connected to a single app. To set up the IR you just plug it into a power source, and follow the setup instructions (these change according to the AC manufacturer etc.). For the smart thermometer - you add batteries (the one we purchased has batteries) and connect it to that same app.
Basically the smart thermometer constantly checks the temperature
in the room and sends that information to the app. In the app we set up a rule - if the temperature in the room is above a certain threshold turn the AC on for 20 minutes.
With this setup you can also turn the AC on if you're in the living r
oom on the couch and you feel it's too hot - which is super convenient. You can also check the t
emperature in the kids room at any point which would also be useful.
If you're interested in setting up the same thing we did - we bought it through Aliexpress -
For the smart thermometer - click here
For the IR controller - click here
Good to know - the IR controller can also control your TV