Bypassing AC Infinity Cloudline Pro S4 Factory Controller

I have two AC Infinity Cloudline Pro S4 fans and I've been using Home Assistant for years for home automation. I looked over a number of fans, but didn't find any that worked with anything like Z-Wave or Home Assistant or anything but their own control systems. (I guess they want vendor lock-in because they think that'll force people to buy more of their stuff.) I set these fans up with outlets that I can control with Z-Wave wall switches. I've found if I leave the speed controls alone, when I turn the fans on with the remote control switches, they will start at the last speed level I set with the controls.

I have seen, on here, some discussions about controlling other AC Infinity fans, but those seem to be different models than what I have. Here's a photos of my two fans and the speed controllers:


The speed controllers have a single button and a dial with 10 LEDs on them. Each time I press the button, the speed goes up one indicator. If the speed is at 10, and I press the button, it shuts the fan off. (I am not sure, but I think pressing the button for a long press turned it off without having to go up to 10.) The controllers are connected to the fans with a USB-C cable. If I remove the controller and turn the fan on, it'll come on at full speed.

Here's the inside of a controller:


And, if it helps, the inside of the wiring box for the fan:


It looks to me like this system is only using a few lines on the USB-C controller and maybe it's using just the 4 lines used on a USB-B controller. I suspect, but am not sure, that the speed controller, once set, just sends out (once or regularly) a number for the speed to the fan. I've never worked with USB protocols and don't want to blow out a fan like this and have to replace it. I also don't know what kind of handshaking the fan and controller use, or if all that's going on is that the controller just keeps sending back to the fan what the current speed level is.

Has anyone here found a way to control this type of fan with anything like a Raspberry Pi, Arduino, or ESP32? I did search on this, but found a lot of posts on AC Infinity fans that were about different issues. Any links about hacking this type of fan to use another way to control the speed, or any information in this would be a big help to me!

1212ham said:

Idiots guide to getting an esp32 to control AC Infinity Cloudline EC fans esphome/HA

Hey guys, finally got my esp32 properly controlling my 6" AC Infinity Cloudline EC motor fans and figured I would lay it all out for you. As the title suggests I'm an idiot and just getting back into electronics, so be kind if i'm off on terminology haha. Most of the hard lifting for this...

www.rollitup.org

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Thanks!

I've posted there. I'm not clear if my motor is the same as what they're working with. I think it may be different and I've asked about it there and am waiting for a response - haven't seen any activity on that thread for a couple days now.

That's the ONLY place I've found good information on this. I've seen people ask questions and provide a bit of info here and there, but they have not only worked it out, but have a full solution for it, too. There's a reference to tutorials for setting up the other kind of motor, but I can't find any - not here or elsewhere. At least not anything clear about it.

EDIT: Okay, there was one thing that was giving me a hard time. I had opened up my wiring box a few weeks ago and took photos. If there had been a paper wiring diagram on the back of the cover, I'd have seen it. But it's just black-on-black relief, so I didn't see it - I wouldn't have seen it unless the lighting hit it and I was looking for it. I had handled the top a few times and never saw it until I held it so the back of the cover was under direct light:

I'm also a bit surprised, seeing how unfriendly the company is toward DIY projects, that they have a wiring diagram. But this, now that I see it, clarifies everything and I can use the tutorial for my motor.

ImaginaryTango said:

Thanks!

I've posted there. I'm not clear if my motor is the same as what they're working with. I think it may be different and I've asked about it there and am waiting for a response - haven't seen any activity on that thread for a couple days now.

That's the ONLY place I've found good information on this. I've seen people ask questions and provide a bit of info here and there, but they have not only worked it out, but have a full solution for it, too. There's a reference to tutorials for setting up the other kind of motor, but I can't find any - not here or elsewhere. At least not anything clear about it.

EDIT: Okay, there was one thing that was giving me a hard time. I had opened up my wiring box a few weeks ago and took photos. If there had been a paper wiring diagram on the back of the cover, I'd have seen it. But it's just black-on-black relief, so I didn't see it - I wouldn't have seen it unless the lighting hit it and I was looking for it. I had handled the top a few times and never saw it until I held it so the back of the cover was under direct light:
View attachment 5395048
I'm also a bit surprised, seeing how unfriendly the company is toward DIY projects, that they have a wiring diagram. But this, now that I see it, clarifies everything and I can use the tutorial for my motor.

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I think it was a few years ago that ACI changed the control system and the other thread is the new system.

They changed to USB-C connectors when the Pro controllers came out about 1 to 1.5 years ago but it's not USB protocol, just PWM on the yellow wire.

1212ham said:

I think it was a few years ago that ACI changed the control system and the other thread is the new system.

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By "other thread," you mean the one you linked to?

I bought one fan around February, '23, then a 2nd one (when I realized I'd need 2 for what I'm doing) 4-8 weeks ago. Both are on this 7wire system that the linked thread is about - so it's a big relief, knowing they moved from one system to the other, that both of mine are on the same system.

When I first went through that thread, it was to see if it would apply to my system. Since the wiring diagram was black-on-black on my system, and when I pulled the top off to check and photograph the wiring, it wasn't under a super-bright light, I just did not even see there was a wiring diagram. (And, when I called them, they were not too eager to answer questions and actually started getting a bit hostile at the suggestion of tying their fans into another system, instead of just going with their vendor locked-in system, I'm surprised they went as far as to include a wiring diagram at all.) To me, in my photo, it looked like the yellow-green wire was 2 wires, so I am glad to realize I can use the information in that thread. It'll be a big help!

They changed to USB-C connectors when the Pro controllers came out about 1 to 1.5 years ago but it's not USB protocol, just PWM on the yellow wire.

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I started looking into this, hoping it was just USB, and when I saw only 4 wires coming out of the USB cable, I was thinking it might be a USB-C cable, but using USB 2.0. I was trying to find any information on it I could - thinking that it was USB. It was only when you pointed to the other thread here that I found it was PWM and not USB at ALL (other than the cable). I don't think I found anything, anywhere, that even had that much information, so I think it's pretty cool that I found a place where people had figured it all out, right down to using a Pi or ESP32 to control it all.

UIS to Molex Port Adapter Dongle, Conversion Cable Cord

Your source to create smart growing systems with components including advance grow tents, inline fans, clip-on fans, LED grow lights, and UIS™ controllers.

acinfinity.com

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I did see the use of molex connectors like the one in the link - now I see some of the reasoning for it. They're sticking with what has already been used.

I was hoping I could work out a way to put it all in one box, so it would just be a matter of something like using the USB cable and replacing their controller, but it looks like it's going to be a bit more complex than that. Personally, since my fans came with the Controller 62, that has no bluetooth, wifi, or anything else, and since the tech support people and programmers at ACI made it clear that if I wanted to do ANY kind of smart control, I'd have to drop big bucks on their systems, the idea of a drop-in replacement for their controller that works with Home Assistant (or any other similar system) would be quite satisfying. It'd be like solving an unsolvable puzzle - even if the way I solved it was to just find someone else's tutorial!

Is it really a USB-C plug? That seem like a disaster waiting to happen when someone plugs a charger into the fan or controller, or some other combination. +10V on a random USBC pin might fry something.

shimbob said:

Is it really a USB-C plug? That seem like a disaster waiting to happen when someone plugs a charger into the fan or controller, or some other combination. +10V on a random USBC pin might fry something.

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Good point. Looks so much like a USB-C plug that I figured it was. I'll have to check on that.

Didn't someone in the longer thread say something about it being a USB-C plug?

shimbob said:

Is it really a USB-C plug? That seem like a disaster waiting to happen when someone plugs a charger into the fan or controller, or some other combination. +10V on a random USBC pin might fry something.

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I got my UIS to Molex adaptors today and I also went down to the barn and checked the cables on my fans. The adaptor has a USB-C female on one end. I took a charging cable (USB-A to USB-C) off my charger and plugged the USB-C end directly into the USB-C female on the ACI adaptor. I didn't have a USB-C female on one of my own cables to check with the USB-C male on the fan, and I haven't checked pinouts or anything, so I can't swear that it's a USB-C cable, but I did count the contacts on the female and there were 12 on one side.

Obviously the pinouts may be quite different, especially since AIC uses only 4 wires in their cables, instead of 12 or 24, but physically the parts fit together.

That seem like a disaster waiting to happen when someone plugs a charger into the fan or controller, or some other combination. +10V on a random USBC pin might fry something.

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Agreed, but that +10V is coming from the fan, so someone would have to be either dumb enough, or daring enough, to plug a charger into the fan controller cable. On the other hand, I could see someone using low cost software, like Pi Zero or an ESP32 with an adaptor and plugging in the fan controller to see if they could make sense of the signals on it.

After having talked to one of the AIC devs, and experiencing their attitude toward questions from someone wanting to hack together a 3rd party controller that would give them a reason to buy their fans, I'm not surprised. I think the AIC devs are in their own little world. It's almost as if they are not aware of smart home tech and don't get that people like interoperable systems, like Z-Wave or wifi controls, or Home Assistant. Considering their non-responsiveness to questions or comments about interoperability, I suspect AIC's attitude is there is one, and only one, way to control their fans and if people trying to find other methods happen to blow out their Pis or Arduinos or ESP's, I got the vibe that their view is that's ony karma on customers who dare to want something more.

its a fan in reality it only needs 3 wires strip everything down to the basic fan power and pwm. you can hook it up to what ever you want. but the time and money you spend on doing it. you could have just got a pro69 controller with wifi. and hook the fans up to it and be done.

shimbob said:

Is it really a USB-C plug? That seem like a disaster waiting to happen when someone plugs a charger into the fan or controller, or some other combination. +10V on a random USBC pin might fry something.

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Plugged a charger into my ACI contoller, display was dim but it opperated. Not going to try phone to fan!

gooshpoo said:

its a fan in reality it only needs 3 wires strip everything down to the basic fan power and pwm. you can hook it up to what ever you want. but the time and money you spend on doing it. you could have just got a pro69 controller with wifi. and hook the fans up to it and be done.

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My fans come with the Controller 68 (or 69?), which has a speed control and that's it. No bluetooth or wifi on this model, so if I want to use the ACI systems for any control other than manual, it's going to cost me a chunk to get a controller and anything else to go with it. That's going to be more than an ESP32 and a few components to go with it. And if I get ACI's system, it will let me do ONLY what ACI wants me to be able to do.

I'm using the two fans I currently have for venting a CNC with a laser and 3D printers that sometimes use bad smelling filament (like ABS). With Home Assistant, I can do things like have the CNC fan go on whenever the CNC laser is turned on, and, when the laser goes off, continue in a "post work" setting to continue to vent the smoke (so it doesn't trigger the smoke alarm, and so my wife, with her studio next to my workshop, won't smell it). With the printing, you don't want breezes on a print in progress, but I can tie the fans in to Home Assistant and my printing system so when the print is done, and cooled, the printer fan will trigger and vent the stink from the filament. If I send a print down to the printers at night, neither one of us will smell the ABS stink in the morning - thanks to the fan. (Which helps with my comfort in the shop and with domestic tranquility, since it won't stink up that floor in the barn, which includes my wife's studio.)

I'll eventually be using another fan near the kitty litter box and puppy potty, and I'll want a similar freedom to control it. I'm also planning on moving a printer, eventually, into my study, in the house, not far from the bedroom and living room, so my ability to control a vent fan there with Home Assistant will also be a big help.

Lots of reasons, for me, and others, to defeat endor lock-in. I'd use another brand, but I did a lot of research and couldn't find a decent priced vent fan that worked with any home automation systems that weren't proprietary. (I did consider using preset speeds and a Z-Wave switch, so I could set the speed, and turn it on and off with the switch, but I've also read about people having problems with the speed setting being forgotten after a while.)