Built your own split system?

[jeff5may]

I finished up the install today (for now). I also heated and cooled the outdoors a little to get an idea of how this control functions.

It looks like this now:

I stuck the control panel and a piece of coroplas to the metal cover plate that now covers the new guts. I stuck the remote control to the coroplas with a piece of velcro. Now it is ready to live another lifetime in a new window or wall.

I played around with the remote control, and figured out it doesn't sync with the main unit until you change modes. It has 5 modes: cool, dehumidify, auto, fan, and heat. In heat mode, you have to use the remote to disable or enable aux heat vs. heat pump. In auto mode, you have to set the temperature on the control panel. Changing the temperature with the remote does nothing in auto.

I figured out the unit also has a predictive temperature control loop of some kind built into it. I originally had the thermometer (black plastic covered sensor) fastened to the indoor coil with romex nail clips like most of the window units do. The heating or cooling of the coil would throw off the temperature a little due to the close proximity. Rigged this way, when I set the unit close to the outdoor temperature, the unit did not shut off exactly when the setpoint was reached. The unit would run for a minute or two and overshoot the target temperature a bit. When the compressor cut off, the blower ran for a minute or more. After a couple of these cycles, the sensor was very close to the setpoint by the time the fan shut off.