So... I'm planning a renovation and am thinking of making the switch to RTI. I like the idea of an XP controller with user control via iPads with RTiPanel and Surfir remotes.

However, my big concern is AC. I'd like to have full room-by-room control of our proposed Mitsubishi or Daikin multi-split AC system via RTiPanel. I was thinking that this could be achieved with a Coolmaster interface box ([Link: coolautomation.com]) via the RTI/Coolmaster driver ([Link: coolautomation.com]).

I've only spoken to one RTI dealer so far and he'd not head of Coolmaster and didn't seem to confident about AC control in general.

Is AC control difficult? What the best / easiest way to achieve it?

Many ways to achieve it. We do heat and AC control regularly and it works well. Although we usually do this at the thermostat level, if you are using an AC unit like cool master which has a driver directly to the air handler then that's how we would control it.

I tell people this when it comes to control of something like cool master. The Rti is simply another way to just turn the temp up and down, and see what the temp is. Take the Rti system and throw it out a window and the cool master will still work. So I don't see any reason controlling it via Rti has a negative impact on how your AC will perform.

If this dealer isn't comfortable with it find out why, maybe he had a bad experience with this product. If he doesn't like AC control in general I'd possibly suggest asking other local dealers. I hate to throw stones at other dealers, but AV control can be done well if done properly and their is no reason to steer customers away from it. With the Rti controlling it the home can run more efficiently. Many people these days have that goal in mind when redoing a home and for the dealers who know how to do it we have a great opportunity to sell systems that will make for more energy efficient homes and also open the door to other work such as security , lighting , theaters etc.

Thanks. That's helpful. AC is so expensive to run I'm surprised that people aren't more focused on sophisticated control options.

One more question - are there any electricity consumption and generation (ie, Solar PV) monitoring solutions that work well with RTi XP controllers?

Not that I've dealt with. However my client base has never shown the interest for me to research the subject so I really have no experience with it. But I do frequent both this and the RTI dealer forum and have seen nothing come up about guys trying to make these systems work in the RTI world. Not to say it hasn't been done, and with the right guy it certainly could be.

What device do you plan to use? Does it have rs232 or IP control and feedback? If so a driver may exist or for the right price one can be written. Driver development of even simple devices is a process. These systems aren't simple and development could take weeks of coding and testing. So you're not talking a cheap order. (Thousands of dollars easy)

No plans yet. I thought there might be something that is used regularly. Ideally I'd like RTiPanel to display the electricity consumption and generation in real time. Or maybe even run the AC or pool cleaner when we're generating surplus electricity in the middle of the day... just a thought.

You could easily use the lutro. Or aprilaite thermostats which are common choices to automate your heat and AC. These would allow you to setup a schedule.

If you want energy consumption to be monitored look at savant for an automation system. They make their own energy consumption monitoring equipment, wifi thermostats and savant is actually owned by apple. So they have great iPad and iPhone apps and interfaces. You can see the energy management and thermostat interfaces demoed in their app which you can download and view a demo setup free

Proprietary units like Mitsu and others will require the CoolMaster piece. The coolmaster piece connects to the AG-150 (in the case of the Mitsu City Unit) with two wires; from there it goes to the central control processor . The piece is expensive but extremely efficient and supported nicely.

savant is actually owned by apple.

Really? When did that happen?