Big A** Fans just released their Matter enabled firmware today. Hubitat does not currently have an IP or Matter integration, either built-in or user. There is an old IP one for old firmware that is not applicable to newer fans.
Is there anyone who is willing to write a driver? I'm happy to provide testing assistance. This seems like one that might be interesting for Hubitat itself to use to show off the usefulness of Matter. The fans are premium in their category, but as a result a niche product that isn't likely to go to the top of a new driver list. Pinging @jvm33, @kkossev, @bcopeland
The fan capabilities include fan (some unique BAF capabilities), CT light, RGB light, occupancy sensor, temperature sensor. Some of these capabilities are optional.
Their marketing material shows compatibility with Apple Home, Google Assistant, Alexa, and Smart Things. I had no problem doing the initial install on Apple Home and then adding to Alexa. Adding to Hubitat "worked", but chose an Aqara driver.
I have a bigass fan that I currently use homebridge with to get it into HomeKit. It exposes some attributes like eco mode, light that I use.
I haven’t been able to get it into HomeKit. I suspect because there is a conflict with it already being exposed through homebridge. When I add an accessory in HomeKit it sees the fan and then asks for the pairing code which I put in and then it just spins and eventually comes back with an error unable to add.
Admittedly, I am a bit lazy to delete the homebridge version and start over to add it as a matter device. In part because it is also working well.
Can you advise what attributes are exposed to HomeKit through matter, ie, light, eco mode, etc?
I'd consider their current Matter implementation a little flaky now. It took a long time to add to Apple Home. It took multiple attempts to add it as a secondary service to Alexa. I couldn't get it to add to SmartThings at all. It's been going into non-responsive status today.
The Matter fan implementation includes Auto and Whoosh. Whoosh is in Alexa but not in Apple Home. Matter does not appear to have Eco. The Matter light does not include an Auto or Dim to Warm. One thing that Matter has that Homebridge does not is the motion sensor.
Appreciate the info. Sounds like you were able to add it even with the homebridge instance.
I was able to add it to Alexa. It actually was quick and went well. It is still responsive. I tried adding it to Samsung as well with no go. I had to first go into Alexa to get another pairing code. It said that it needed to add it to iCloud to pair. Which didn't work.
I've been corresponding with a BigAss fan tech and he is asking me to try all sorts of things which include making sure all my home hubs are on 2.4 (which shouldn't matter).
I think I will just stay with homebridge for now. Especially since I can use the Eco Mode as a switch in homekit.
Change the driver to the RGBW light and see if that can control the lights.
The problem with a combo fan/light driver is that they both use "level", so I suspect its going to need to be a driver which creates a child for the light, and the parent could be the fan part.
Have you already tried to include it. I likely have a driver that can be tweaked to work with it. If you already added it please DM me the clusters that were detected on the devices and I will update my Govee Fan Driver to get you a driver
How many different speeds does it support?
That shouldn't be a issue as they use different clusters in MATTER. Fan control as I have seen it uses Cluster 0x0202while Lights use 0x0300. The cluster then has different command values based on it's abilities.
You could try out my Govee H7105 Tower Fan driver which is Matter. That I would expect to work to control the fan component of it. The link is below. I can then adjust it to enable more functions once we know the clusters the devices supports.
Its not an issue for the physical device or protocols, it is an issue for the device entity in Hubitat because both fan speed and lights can use the level attribute. So my suggestion was to have the driver create a child for the RGBW part and keep the parent as the fan related stuff. You CAN have a fan without "level" but if you add "level" to a fan device, even if its for the light part of it, then it starts confusing other apps and integrations which assume the level is for the fan speed. HE already tried it once with the Bond integration and we went round and round in circles debating it until they finally separated the fan and light into two different devices.
First you are right in that, that is not what I was thinking. Sorry about that.
So I guess my question is why would someone use Level on a fan devices and it not be for the associated Light connected to it. I guess I am not clear on why apps or integrations would assume level is for fan speed when that isn't documented anywhere. Even in the official documentation the "Fan Control" capability doesn't include level. I am not saying you are wrong, just that it it sounds some folks need to properly use the Fan Control Capability instead of whatever they are doing with level.
If you know the thread that conversation happened in can you link it. I would like to review so I have a better understanding since I have been working on some fan drivers. That said I do have a child light driver for devices like this for Govee so it would be easy to replicate it for this driver as well.
@jtp10181@mavrrick58 Thanks for the suggestions. Unfortunately I can't effectively test them as the fan keeps falling off the Matter fabric in all apps. The fan's phone app works fine, so it's connected to the WiFi network OK. I've got a flat network and not doing anything fancy on it. My 1 other Matter device works fine. I'll keep trying. @rad1 if you are still working with the BAF people please let them know their integration is very flaky.
As far as fan speeds, there are 7. An interesting difference between the official Matter implementation and the Homebridge implementation are how the % gets set. The official integration starts fan speed at 1% and add 14.2% (1/7) each increment. The Homebridge integration starts at 14.2% and adds the same amount each increment. The Homebridge way makes more sense to me.
Hum Ok. So that looks interesting. The endpoint shown is 06 generally I see 01 there. I am wondering if we have multiple endpoints each with it's own cluster. From the Matter Documentation it looks like 0406 is related to occupancy sensing. Cluster 0003 and 001D seem to be common as identification stuff.
I may need to ask you to try a different driver to see if we can get details about what the customers are for the other endpoints. Let me think about a way to do that.
This is easy enough to setup however you like once we know what endpoint has the fan cluster on it.
Yes, this fan has an occupancy sensor as part of it. There is an optional temp sensor that this particular fan does not have. There is a second optional RGBW light as well that is not part of my fan.
I think it is for sharing to HomeKit and possibly Alexa.
I have just found everything works better if you have both the fan speed and an appropriate level to go with it. I know for sure that if the light level is included with the fan device it messes up Homekit (at least with Homebridge it did, have not tried with the system integration). Homekit may actually need the level for the fan to work, its been a while since I set my stuff up and have not touched it.
I have a special built virtual fan driver with "Fan Control" and "Switch Level" that I sync my actual fans to using switching bindings. This was the only way I could get them to work correctly in both HomeKit and Alexa (I think it was mainly Homekit). It is based on the one @jwetzel1492 created to go with the switch bindings app and I think he created for the same reasons.
Also, if fan and light is combined you cannot shared both functions externally to other apps without mirroring things to virtual devices. It would share as a fan or light but not both at once, you need two separate devices for that.
Change the driver to HE inbuilt 'Device' driver. Then click on the 'Get Info' button.
In the live logs you should see all the endpoints (more than one line)
Fan - 7 levels, an auto setting, and a "whoosh" function. Whoosh mode varies fan speed up and down to simulate natural breezes. Whoosh shows up in Alexa, but not Apple Home. There are a couple other switches for functions in the fan app that I don't see in any of the Matter devices.
Light - optional CT downlight (part of my fan), with Auto mode. I don't see auto mode in any of the Matter implementations
Light - option RGBW uplight (I don't have one)
Occupancy sensor for fan and downlight auto modes
Temperature sensor (this fan doesn't have one, but I have a 2nd one that does).
I expect it to discover at least two child devices - one for the RGBW light and a second child device for the occupancy sensor. The temperature sensor should show up also, if available as a third child device.
Unfortunately, the fan control is not available atm.
That has all the info needed for me to get started. I will send you a DM once I have a driver for you to try out..
Just for your info:
Endpoint 01 is related to the Fan Control
Endpoint 02 is related to the RGB Light control
Endpoint 06 as stated earlier is your occupancy sensor.
It will be interesting to get the same data when your second fan is up.
