Magnetic door switches

ChrisJ

So this is one of my weirder requests, this time for a friend.

My friend recently stayed in a hotel where opening the balcony door would shut the air conditioner off. It was a larger building and he loved this feature for..........family and friends.

He wants something similar in his own house. I'm installing Honeywell Prestige thermostats there soon and was wondering if there was anyway to setup something like this with them. Where opening a door for a period of time would turn the cooling mode off. I'd rather it hesitate say, 10-20 seconds before turning the system off. I can add an external delay if need be, of course to protect the compressor as well. But it would be nice if it could interface directly with the thermostats.

Of course closing the door should re-activate the system after a short amount of time.

But what switches are used on the doors and how is it typically configured in commercial buildings?

He has his reasons for wanting it. He knows better than to leave doors and windows open with the A\C running.................

pecmsg

https://www.leviton.com/en/products/1865

wire it back to the unit with a delay timer!

ratio

Check out some of the hotel PTAC thermostats like Incom (hate hate hate 'em, BTW), Verdant, Autani, & others for that functionality natively.

After that, it's just a matter of relays & time delays to make something similar happen with a normal stat. Probably run the G call through the relay as well, I think. I'd have a minimum off timer of 5 minutes on the compressor itself, separate from the system restart delay. I've used wireless security contacts for various controls (air curtains, etc.) before. The one I used was a 4 channel receiver with relay outputs, worked like tits.

You do understand that this is going to be your baby, right? Any sane resi service guy who walks in & sees something this will be like "yah, umm, I gotta get something from my truck be right back..."

DZoro

Would a room thermostat with a occupancy sensor work for them?

ChrisJ

> @DZoro said:
> Would a room thermostat with a occupancy sensor work for them?

No?

ratio

delay on break timer for the condenser ant-short-cycle delay: https://www.icmcontrols.com/documents/ig_LII273-1.pdf
delay on make/delay on break timer: https://www.icmcontrols.com/documents/ig_LII15-1.pdf

Solid_Fuel_Man

GRI, Sentrol, Ademco, and GE were what I used to use when I did security stuff. Some or all of them may be out of business now.

Simple Reed switch would be used as a pilot to power your timer. Closed contacts when the door is closed too!

HVACNUT

I wonder if an alarm company (if he has one) can have their door sensors wired into the A/C system. Up to your TDR and isolation relay anyway.

clammy

I have seen these in Brazil ,the rooms lighting and ac would only be powered when the room was occupied .i thought it was cleaver being it was like 15 years ago .some units where pac and some where chilled water ah .just one way to converse very common sense peace and good luck clammy

ratio

There's a cute little demo of the operation of that style of occupancy control at https://www.daikincity.com/#hotel-hotelroom. This one is actually for their VRV system, but the ideas are the same.

STEVEusaPA

They do it on cruise ships too. Both, opening balcony door disables AC, and you have to put your key card in a slot to activate the lights.