I didn't even know it had wifi capability but it was trying to connect
I use mac whitelist so it wasn't even getting in but that didn't stop it from trying every seond
Fortunately it was just a usb dongle so yanked it out
https://github.com/smlight-tech/slwf-01pro-esphome
> To flash the device: Connect the device to the PC with the button pressed. After the flashing starts, you can release the button. If the flashing has not started, repeat the first step!
Once flashing is complete, wait a couple seconds, then unplug the USB-C connector and plug in the USB-A connector to boot up the dongle and confirm it's connecting to WiFi.
For my Midea U AC, I chose to commented out HEAT_COOL, HEAT, HORIZONTAL, BOTH as they're not supported on this cooling-only unit. I also plan to comment out the indoor humidity sensor since my unit doesn't have one and always reports 0%, but for now it's just disabled in HomeAssistant.
For (all) ESP8266 chips, I add `wifi: phy_mode: 11G` to disable 802.11b (never, thank you) and to disable 802.11n (incompatibility issues with my router); I also set `min_auth_mode: WPA2` (highest 8266 supports), `post_connect_roaming: true` (don't make me reboot my AC to roam APs), `fast_connect: true` (since I specify SSID anyways).
Once it booted up and DHCP'd an IP and showed up in the ESPhome dashboard, I wrote that IP into an appropriate `manual_ip` block and updated the firmware.
Then, when installing the dongle into my Midea U AC, I had to rotate-CCW into place under the top notch-holder rather than tilt-forward into place (as OEM dongle) due to the very short USB cable length.
And I wonder how I would even tell if it was trying to associate with my WiFi.
It's great having them on WiFi - you can turn on the AC before getting home to pre-cool, without having to leave it on all day.
Man: Well, before you couldn't turn on the AC before you got home
I know this sounds like the famous "just do it this way in linux instead" criticism of Dropbox back in the day. But I do think we reached "life parodies fiction" with these smart devices where it makes sense to give diy another go. And with AI, there's less excuses this time around I would imagine.
But I would literally rather buy a cheap phone, a cheap SIM, hotspot it and connect it to a charger and have the AC connect to that and isolate it that way instead of letting it touch the network.
I have my IoT on a separate VLAN and I can observe communications for any given device at any given time.. this seems like a much saner solution than outright not buying any IoT devices, though that is also a respectable decision!