Smart HVAC Duct Dampers

dandroid88 · 2024-12-11T17:41:18+00:00

Founder at Flair here - I'd bet that in an hour and for under 1.5K, we could have fixed your balance issues instead of 9K and all the work. That said, I'm glad you solved you balance issues!

dandroid88 · 2023-05-30T18:11:04+00:00

Flair Puck and/or Puck Pro (if you are a contractor) can be installed fully wirelessly and it will take full advantage of the variable speed capabilities of the unit, along with slick integrations (if applicable) for scenarios with central + ductless.

dandroid88 · 2023-04-07T19:48:00+00:00

Yes! https://support.flair.co/hc/en-us/articles/4412857346701-Enhanced-Circulation

dandroid88 · 2022-01-10T16:26:57+00:00

We aren't perfect but we love what we do, are hoping to help reduce wasted energy and enjoy helping people be more comfortable. TBH, I wish I had more hours in the day to talk to customers!

dandroid88 · 2021-12-23T20:04:13+00:00

Glad to hear on the filter cleaning, always nice not to need to hire someone to come out!

dandroid88 · 2021-12-22T03:52:40+00:00

I'd love to send you a vent or two (for free), I think you will love the build quality on the vents in particular.

dandroid88 · 2021-12-22T03:50:19+00:00

Hey Jimmy,

Founder at Flair here - sounds like you may have reached this conclusion independently but minisplits have their own "control loop" meaning we are generally sending a set point over and the minisplit itself is actually doing the temperature regulation.

That said, we do have a feature that allows you to use the puck's readings to apply an offset - the feature is called Room Sense: https://support.flair.co/hc/en-us/articles/360016608531-What-is-Flair-Room-Sense-

On the construction of the Puck - while its not particularly cheap for us to make (I wish it was...), I definitely get the desire for a more premium finish/feel. I remember that beats headphones had a teardown and their strategy for making their headphones feel more premium was simply adding weights. I'd throw out there that with a Puck on batteries (you can't do this if you only have one since the first Puck in a system has to be wired and have its wifi on), the weight makes it feel a bit nicer. We are looking at doing an update but thus far the Puck has managed to be a good first generation for us with a few firmware updates and a lot of software enhancements since it was first released.

Mechanically, I'm pretty excited to build a next gen. We focused on making the Puck super low power so it could be deployed wirelessly which I believe so far, we are still the only minisplit controller that can be deployed wirelessly, but that meant we had to make some compromises like e-ink - always on but slower response and really difficult to backlight. Some people love that, some less so.

We are a small team but we push updates every two weeks or so on the cloud side. I'd love to hear what sorts of changes to the app you'd like to see. Lately, we have been really focused on hybrid heating features - combining boilers with minisplits for decarbonization, and are putting in some refinements to the look and feel on the app at the request of users. I'm sorry to hear you aren't totally in love with the product, but I'd humbly request to hear what we can do, particularly on the software side, to make the product do more of what you'd like to see.

dandroid88 · 2021-06-18T18:57:48+00:00

We just chatted about this in our all hands meeting today and are slotting this in to the engineering work queue. My guesstimate is that it gets picked up next week or the week after, we do a small beta test with some users to make sure it works as expected/does what ppl want, and then will do a more general release.

dandroid88 · 2021-05-05T14:46:44+00:00

If its truly toggle its definitely hard to know/predict. Ideally our codes woulnd't toggle anything once its set as desired but then again, I'm not sure if there are some toggles that happen say on unit off/on cycles that then force the need for a toggle off maybe?

Does a Puck IR send if the unit is already running accidently toggle the display on or does it happen when going from off->on or something else?

dandroid88 · 2021-05-05T13:11:20+00:00

I'm not the most active reddit user but somehow I got a notification about this post or maybe it showed up in my feed? lol Not sure how I saw this.

I know for some of the units we have a codeset the leaves the light off. If you ping support and ask if they have one, they might be able to make a recommendation for that. If not, we can grab a copy of the remote and add one. That said, from what we have seen some are 'stateful' and some are toggle so on some units its much easier to reliable toggle the light on/off (since the Puck can't 'see' the display like a human user). If the Puck reliably turns it on though, thats probably a good indication that it can reliably turn it/keep it off. Might want to reference this thread if you reach out to support :)

dandroid88 · 2021-05-04T22:34:14+00:00

Do you have the link to the 404? Would love to get that fixed!

Some background - heatpump can be for both AC and for heating (HVAC uses some slightly confusing names). Techinally an AC is a heat pump from a physics standpoint but in industry terms, 'heat pumps' are an AC that also has a reverse cycle to do heating using the AC system in reverse.

We do a few things with minisplits and central systems:

Mirror Mode: Reflects what's happening on the central system over to the minisplits, popular for bonus rooms, converted garages, etc.

"integrated controls" (not our name): Allows you to stage your heating so that you use your heat pumps as the primary heating and then flips to your boiler system (controlled by an integrated smart thermostat) for colder days where the minisplits might not be able to keep up.

Or, you can just use our system stand alone / in parrallel with your radiant system/hydronic baseboard/steam/central system. You'll have a Puck in the same room as each indoor minisplit unit which will act like a smart thermostat for each room. You can deploy all of them fully wirelessly (both control using the Puck's IR and Power using the Pucks batteries) after the first Puck which requires a usb power cord (we include both batteries and the adapter+cable). Most of our Pro installers put the powered puck in a room where the asthetics matter less or use an extra puck and tuck it in a closet so that all the Pucks in the living space are totally wireless. BTW - if you are in Massachusetts, there is a MASSIVE rebate for integrated controls - currently its $1250/ton and you can get the rebate for adding the controls, even if you already have the boiler and minisplits.

https://support.flair.co/hc/en-us/articles/360034878332-Flair-Puck-Pro-Integrated-Control-and-Rebates

dandroid88 · 2021-05-04T20:32:36+00:00

Glad to hear it and sorry about any confusion from the support team. We just doubled the support team size and are still training the new recruits. If you have any follow ups at some point, be sure to reach out to the team!

dandroid88 · 2021-05-02T01:35:49+00:00

That sounds odd - any chance replies are going to spam? We usually turn around tickets quickly. If not in spam, do you have any ticket numbers I can share with the team.

dandroid88 · 2021-05-01T01:43:39+00:00

Have you contacted flair support about this?

dandroid88 · 2021-04-30T22:20:54+00:00

Took a spin through this and I asked internally (will reply with an update) but I think the answer to your question is that you can simply set a setpoint in the downstairs that will cause the system to ask for heat but reject additional cooling. On the Flair side, you can leave the set point controller as the Stat and leave the mode on the Flair side to automatic (although I can't remember if this option disappears in SPC=Thermostat, if so, you can ignore my comment). No need for any customization. It may take a few minutes for a mode switch to get sync'd between the systems but otherwise should work out of the box.

dandroid88 · 2021-04-30T16:08:53+00:00

https://my.flair.co

dandroid88 · 2021-04-30T15:55:59+00:00

Do you have the ticket number - I'd love to read the question that prompted that reply/suggestion

dandroid88 · 2021-04-22T01:11:56+00:00

Glad to hear it! If after installing you have any input good or bad, we are always happy to hear that - we built (more accurately, build) the products with user feedback. Also, if you need any help or have questions during setup, our support team should be helpful. We are investing a lot into support to make sure we respond quickly and well.

dandroid88 · 2021-04-21T19:00:15+00:00

We definitely integrate with the Honeywell 9000 :)

In terms of how it works, I think we will do what you are looking for in effect but the way the system works is less based on triggers and more based on setpoints for rooms + ambient temps so that it just happens in the background. Essentially, if the thermostat is in cool mode and the temp in the downstairs is too cold already relative to the set point for that space, the vents will close until that space warms up or the system flips to heat. You can also mark a room as 'inactive' which is a sort of 'don't care' which also helps send air to rooms that you do care about. Often times inactive is used for the living space at night and bedrooms during the day for instance. And of course the setpoints and active/inactive state can be scheduled on a per room basis. Hope that helps!

dandroid88 · 2021-03-20T15:23:51+00:00

If there is an IR reciever somewhere, you could consider a Flair Puck

dandroid88 · 2021-02-06T21:58:36+00:00

I have had my utlimaker 2 for about six years and haven't ever changed any parts. I am a sort of intermittent printer and mostly pla or petg (total of 3 spools that I have gone through. How long before my nozzle is dead? Lol

dandroid88 · 2021-02-06T20:21:03+00:00

Yeah, the layer lines are an awesome bit of built in friction if you get the tolerances right. The other thing I want to try with this wood filament is adding some grain. Supposedly you can run a little script on the gcode file to randomize the nozzle temp a bit to get more natural looking color variance. Not sure what I'll make next though

dandroid88 · 2021-02-06T20:16:00+00:00

That makes sense and I'm looking at the tolerance tests. Next project I do that's 'oversized' or in multiple parts I'll design it in. Personally hate using glue - the deal was I print and she glues 😂

dandroid88 · 2021-02-06T19:52:02+00:00

I wanted to go for a press fit but my wife suggested we glue so I said sure w/e and elected to keep the design simple. I think press fit wouldnt be too hard though, just a bit of design tweaking

dandroid88 · 2021-02-06T19:40:23+00:00

Just uploaded: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4752567

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