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The original was posted on /r/homeassistant by /u/jacqud on 2025-07-06 10:12:29+00:00.
We recently went through a renovation of apartment and we kept an older but quite powerful LG AC. By older, I mean it has no ThinQ integration, just a simple remote. The apartment gets hot, and just as we were going home, my partner said, "I wish we could cool the living room before we get home".
I thought surely there must be some hacky way to simulate remote using ESP32 or something, so I got excited that I'll have _A New Project_. Well, it turned out not to be a long one. I did some research that there is already such a thing - BroadLink M4 Mini that is super cheap. I found used one on FB Marketplace for 10€, picked it up on the same day. I connected to HA within minutes. Then I used https://github.com/smartHomeHub/SmartIR to create a Climate entity that simulates the IR remote, and it works like a charm! Sure, it goes out of sync if I use physical remote, but other than that it's like native integration.
I was worried that maybe I need to put the device on a high shelf with a powerbank so it can reach AC. Nope, it can comfortable sit hidden on the floor.
I can't believe how easy it was. I love this ecosystem!