MRCOOL SmartHVAC

Update 8/2/19- I noticed the app updated a couple of weeks ago so I gave it another try. It looks like the app now sees changes made on the remote control after a little while. This should make the app far more useful, I'll update again after I try out some of the other functions within the app. My original 3 star review is below. I am using this with the Mr Cool DIY Enhanced heat pump. It works alright, it doesn't seem to have bidirectional communication with the heat pump though. You can use the app to send commands to the heat pump, but if you use the physical remote for the heat pump the app is unaware of those changes. For example, if I turn on the heat pump with the remote then decide i would like to change the temperature using this app the app doesn't know that the heat pump is already running. Or if I turn on the heat pump with the app then later adjust the set temperature with the physical remote control the app will not show that the set temp changed. I am not sure how much of this is the fault of the app itself, this may have more to do with the way Mr Cool implemented wireless on the unit.

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This is a fairly new app so I tried giving it some time for updates. Functionality is getting much better, and linking to Alexa is now almost seamless. My major complaint (which has not been addressed yet) is that you cannot have more than one user controlling our mr. cool diy mini-split AC via this app. My wife and I have opposing schedules, and would like to control the unit individually from our own phones. She syncs up the unit with her smarthvac app on her phone, which promptly removes the unit from my smarthvac app on my phone. When I try to add the unit back to my app, it asks for a full reset (forcing a direct WiFi pairing to the unit, etc), and immediately resets and removes the unit from my wife’s app. This should be easy to change from the developers’ end: If the unit is already paired and recognized within my WiFi network, I should be able to just select it under the “new devices” tab. Maybe even add a pin that makes it more secure, so guests can’t hijack our AC unit. Just prompt the original set-up with a “create 4 digit pin for device” option. I will update my review to a more deserving rating once my wife and I can each control the same unit from different phones.

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I have this for my Mr. Cool AC. First problem: App never updates the temperature in room on the app unless you adjust a setting for the unit. For example, If I open the app and select my AC unit, it will show 75 in the little house icon (so I assume it is hot in the room) but as soon as I change the temp by one degree it updates and shows 68 in the room... Second issue, there is an problem with how this app looks at the data coming off the machine when it is turned on and off via the schedule feature. Example: If I set the temp for the AC at 70 and set it to turn on at 7:00 am the unit will come on and just run non stop until the room is freezing (sub 60). Its almost as if the app never looks at the thermostat temperature data on the machine again and it just runs. It’s either an app issue or a Mr. Cool issue. I thought it was just a flaw but it is doing it on two different Mr. Cool units. Mr Cool says it’s the App developer. These programmers must not test their software against a real unit...solid work guys. 👎🏻👎🏻

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I was able to set up this app to control my Mr Cool AC unit and was able to use it for a few days to program my unit to shut off every night and to turn it on when I’m out and on my way home. However, the unit will not stay connected to my home network, and the schedule doesn’t work while the device is offline, nor does the app give any kind of alert, so the only way I realize that the device is offline is when I wake up to a cold living room. There’s no obvious way to get the unit back online—the first time it dropped the network, I cycled the ac unit’s power at the breaker box and it automatically reconnected, but it hasn’t reconnected since then. Aside from this fundamental product failure I also can’t figure out how to set up multiple user accounts so that everyone in the house can control the unit from their own phones.

I can now control my mrcool ac using this app from my office which is cool. Seems there is some energy saving too by using schedules though exact amount is hard to calculate. My recommendation to mrcool is to provide some temperature based triggers for ACs to save more energy. For example, there can be an option to power on ac on a certain temperature in the room and vice versa. Although alexa is working fine but alexa routines need some more work to be done. I had a chat with the app developer and they have informed me about alexa routines being released in few weeks time which will be good addition. Overall a great product and nice addition to the air conditioner. Well done!