Hello everyone, I’m from Brazil.
I have a dental clinic with 7 older air conditioners installed in different rooms. I would like to automate them, but without needing to place an M3 or G3 hub in every room.
Do you have any ideas for the best way to do this? Ideally I would like centralized control, room-by-room automation, and compatibility with older AC units.
@andre_yoshihara Hello! It’s great to hear about your plan to automate the air conditioners in your dental clinic—let’s figure out a solution that fits your needs. Since you want centralized control and room-by-room automation without placing a hub in every room, here are some ideas based on Aqara’s product capabilities:
First, consider using a hub with a built-in IR blaster, like the Aqara Hub M200 or Hub M3. Both support IR control for older air conditioners (which typically use IR remotes), and they can learn commands from your original AC remotes to ensure accurate status detection. This way, you can control all 7 AC units centrally through one hub.
For placement, the Hub M3 (and similar models) works best with a single-hop distance within 10 meters and no more than 2 walls for direct IR signal transmission. If some rooms are farther or have more walls, adding Zigbee repeaters can help extend the signal coverage, ensuring reliable communication between the hub and AC units. This avoids the need for a hub per room.
To enable room-by-room automation, pair the hub with Aqara Climate Sensors. For example, the Hub M3 can link IR-based ACs to Matter ecosystems and act as a thermostat when paired with a Climate Sensor, allowing you to set temperature triggers (e.g., “if Room A temp > 26°C, turn on AC in Room A”). This way, each room’s AC can adjust based on its specific temperature, achieving room-level automation.
Since your ACs are older, the IR learning feature of M200/M3 is key—simply teach the hub your existing remotes, and it will handle the rest. This setup keeps costs lower than replacing ACs and avoids hub clutter in each room.
If you need help with setup details (like IR learning or repeater placement), feel free to share more about your clinic’s layout—I’m happy to refine the suggestions