Ok so have 4 switches in my home that control both the fan and light on one switch. Due to it be an older home and I'm curious is there any way through devices I can purchase to make it so I can control the light and fan separately through the dashboard instead of a complicated switch or any other suggestion someone has! Thanks for the help!
There isn't anything for a single+gang box, but you can put some pieces together to do what you want. The Hampton Bay fan controller will give you control over your fan, and then you can use smart bulbs for the lights in the fixture. You'll have to wire it so it's always on, and then choose what type of wall controller you want to use. Anything with multiple buttons will work. I am partial to the Lutron Caseta pico remotes, which can be mounted on the wall, or over the gang box.
A canopy solution like they Hampton Bay/King of Fans controller is what I did. But having an electrician run a separate cable for the fan to be on a different switch is definitely what I'd do if had the budget and time (plaster walls, not showstopping but no attic access with the ceiling which the previous owners just redid and I didn't want to have to deal with again...yet). If you go this option, search the forums or just read my tl;dr version: have a repeater very close to it.
If you do not want to replace the fan itself you can also wire a single or dual micro z wave switch on top of the ceiling fan if the fan itself has a separate wire for fan and light control. This way the light switch will be the master on/off but then can be controlled from the hub for everything else. There are even versions of the modules that allow for fan speed control as well.
This is an example but there are other brands and styles that exist as well:
I just purchased two Lutron Casèta Fan controllers. They don’t need a canopy module, and if you don’t already have a Lutron Casèta Smart Bridge Pro, you’re going to want one of those, or this won’t work. Buy the wall mount for a Pico, and a Pico Remote. Use a double gang wall plate and it will look like you have two in-wall switches, but one will be the actual fan controller and the other will be just a remote that doesn't need a new battery for 10 years.
This is a separated, but nice looking installation that is simple to do and very reliable. Plus you have all the benefits a pico offers, allowing you to easily decide which side of the fan switch the light switch should go on, and the ability to do more than just lights, all in one controller. You can even use a single plate and then mount the pico somewhere else if you want. There's also a pico fan remote available.
You'll have 100% local fan and light control with the built-in Lutron Integration. No pairing issues to deal with. A Neutral wire is required for the Caséta Fan Controller. For the lights, you tie the hot and load together so they stay on, and put Sengled bulbs in paired to the hub if you do not own a Hue Bridge on sale for $40 right now. If you do own a Hue bridge, add it to HE using the built in Hue integration for local control of the Hue bridge, and then use Hue or IKEA Trådfri bulbs.
That last sentence is my downfall.....ALL my ceiling fan switches don't have a neutral, so I'm pretty much forced to the Hampton Bay Zigbee Controller.
Bummer. Such a nice setup, it’s worth getting neutrals installed. I live in a house built in 1926, but fortunately we had lines put in for the fans with neutral wiring when we bought the house.
Well there is one more option. If you know how to use an arudino you could hook up a 2-channel relay and use that to control the fan + light remotely. Downside is that it is not a "all in one" package like some of these other switches that require a natural. There are also Sonoff switches but not sure how they are with a high resistance load such as a fan.
I use the Hampton Bay Fan Controller for the exact same reason as the OP - only have one switch for both the Fan and Light portion. Fortunately, the Hampton Bay Fan Controller provides the ability to control BOTH the Fan and Light independently. So, no need for smart bulbs in the fan.
This is exactly what I did as well. I hard-wired the power to the fan. I then simply used a Pico remote in place of the switch which was removed after hard-wiring the power to always be on. I then used the Advanced Button Controller (ABC) App to map the 5 Pico buttons in a manner to allow manual control over both the light and the fan.
Wahey, how about that! I've had the Hampton Bay controller sitting on my desk for a month now - haven't gotten around to installing it just yet.
Anyone know of any smart switches with button/scene ability out there I can use on my fan wired with the Hampton Bay module where I can turn off the relay on the switch so you can't physically cut power to the fan? I don't want someone turning the fan off by cutting power with the switch long enough that I have to re-pair the fan controller, which has been a problem in the past. I can't seem to find any switches that are capable of handling the fan that has this ability.
I have this Hampton Bay remote on one of my fans now, but it is running under Wink.
This is the only fan in my house that did NOT have a switch--it is hardwired to always on. I bought the Hampton Bay remote from Home Depot and have it where Alexa can control the On/Off of the FAN by using IFTTT & a Wink shortcut by saying "Alexa, trigger Fan On" or another shortcut "Alexa, trigger fan High" (or low)..As for the light in the fan, I control them thru Hue Bridge.
This fan is the one thing device that I hate to give up Wink for as I am new to HE and don't quite understand yet how to get the Hampton Bay controller to pair with HE...since there's no physical switch to my fan & I can't always find the Hampton Bay remote, I like using Alexa to turn the fan on & off and adjust speeds.
How can I accomplish this in HE? I have no Pico's or Lutrons as all my bulbs are Hue, Are you guys controlling your Hampton Bay controller thru Alexa paired with HE?
I control my Hampton Bay Fan Controller (HBFC) using a combination of devices. I have mine hard-wired to always stay on. In place of the old switch, I now have a Lutron Pico Remote which I have configured to control both the Light and Fan of the HBFC. In Hubitat, the HBFC has the option to create two child devices, one for the fan and another for the light. I have then exposed both of these to Alexa via the Hubitat Amazon Echo Skill App. This allows voice control over both the Light and the Fan. I believe both are seen by Alexa as Dimmers, so the voice commands are simply "Alexa, set fan to 50%", or "Alexa, turn off fan", etc... Within the Alexa mobile app, you can create Alexa Routines. These can be trigger by any spoken phrase you desire. So, you should be able to create a Routine triggered by the phrase "Alexa, set fan medium" and then have the routine actually set the fan's level to 50% (or whatever the dim level range maps to for the 4 speeds supported by the HBFC.)
Hope this helps.
The possibilities are endless. As mentioned above, right now (not sure if this is changing for any fan support Hubitat has hinted at in the future), the fan is seen as a dimmer, so you can tell Alexa to control the speeds by percentage and it will go to whichever of the four that it supports is closest to what you asked for. I'm pretty sure "high," "low," etc. don't work (I could be wrong), but I do know something like "Alexa, set/dim the fan to 25%" does. You do not need to put IFTTT in the middle here or "trigger" an IFTTT automation--you can ask Alexa to directly manipulate the Hubitat device with nautral-ish language.
I also have smart bulbs in my light kit (not something I'd otherwise recommend, but I strongly prefer the functionality of smart bulbs in most places), so I'm careful to not turn off the "light" child device for the fan controller. (If you're new to Hubitat, there are things called parent/child devices, where the "parent" device--the fan controller unit itself--can create "child" devices under it, here one each for the light component and the fan component, which can be independently used in automations like apps where you're manipulating the fan on/off state or speed. I'd avoid using the light child device [and the parent lest you accidentally manipulate the lights] at all if you have smart bulbs since you'd want that to stay always on and can control your smart bulbs separately via whatever Hubitat integration they have.)
You said you rarely use the included remote, so I'm not sure why you mentioned Lutron/Picos. A Pico would be just another remote/button device you could program however you want, e.g., to turn on or off lights or the fan (or literally any other thing on Hubitat you can imagine with any device). It's a lot prettier than the HBFC remote and could fit in a standard decorator wall plate, but it sounds like you're more interested in voice control, which you can do without any such device.
Finally, as for how to pair it: without a switch, good luck. You need to turn it off and on several times in a row for so many seconds in order to "reset" it and allow it to pair. Since you don't have a switch, I guess your only option is the circuit breaker. You'll also want either the hub or a Zigbee repeater very close, probably in the same room (if you don't plan on keeping your hub there, I'd have a Zigbee repeater on your Hubitat network in the same room)...just maybe not on the same circuit as the fan you'll need to switch on and off the hard way.
Thank you to both of you for the reply. The HBFC in Wink can be troublesome at times as it goes offline and MAY or MAY NOT come back online. In Wink, one has to turn the circuit breaker itself ON/OFF 8 times (I think 8--may be 10) until the fan lights blink...then I can easily pair it back to Wink.
I did not know that it could be paired with HE. In Wink, the LIGHTS could be controlled with Wink but the FAN required IFTTT to work with Alexa voice control best I can remember...it was a pain for wife to remember "Alexa TRIGGER fan ON" for this fan & all other fans in house was "Alexa turn on fan" as they are switched with GE Fan controllers.
I mentioned Pico for the fact that I don't own one & didn't know if a Pico is required to do what you guys are doing with the HBFC.
So, if I pair the HBFC with HE, and I buy a Pico Remote, will I also have to have a Lutron/Pico/Caseta(?) HUB to use the Pico remote with the HBFC?..remember, I know nothing about a Pico/Lutron.
It would sure be nice to take IFTTT out of the picture. Someday I need to get an electrician to hardwire this fan to switches for lights & fan..but this is a 14ft ceiling & not easily or cheaply done.
Thanks again for the help..I hope I can get by without adding a Lutron Pico HUB to do this!
To use the Lutron Pico remotes with Hubitat, you have to buy a Lutron Caseta SmartBridge Pro (EnergyAvenue.com has these for $88). It must be the PRO model, as that model includes an option for Telnet integration, which is what Hubitat uses.
The Pico remotes are very inexpensive and have a 10 year battery life. So, while the SmartBridge Pro is a little pricey, the Pico remotes are much cheaper than most other button controllers. They also have great mounting options and variety.
Thank you ogiewon. I'll look into the Lutron Bridge...just had to buy another Philips Hue bridge yesterday as I reached maximum on Hue Bulbs & wife wanted more...maybe I can convince her that the Lutron is "needed" now.
If you don't want to control the fan using a switch, then you don't need a Pico. As I recall, you will want to go into the fan controller device and set it to create a separate light device and a separate fan device, in order to use with Alexa. And you will have to add those devices to the Alexa app in Hubitat so they will be exposed to Alexa.
If you do decide to control the fan with a Pico, you will have to use something like Button Controller or Rule Machine to translate button presses into fan/light commands. I wrote a simple app specifically for my picos to control the fan controllers, where the on/off/dim/brighten buttons control the light and the center button rotates through the fan speeds.
I was skeptical about Picos until I got a few, they are awesome for controlling Hue bulbs and the fan controllers. I ended up replacing all my old GE smart dimmers with Caseta dimmers and other than the fact they don't remember the previous light level setting, they have been great.
Do you have a Zigbee repeater close to the HBFC? They appear to have weak antennas (or possibly just a loose/weak connection; I see someone here opened it up and reattached the small connector more securely, possibly with success if memory serves). Most people who have had problems with it find that putting a Zigbee repeater in the same room, possibly two in the same room or even nearby even in an upstairs room, helps.
The reset procedure you describe is specific to the device, not Wink. You'll have to do the same on Hubitat to reset it and allow it to pair to Hubitat.
You can certainly use a Pico (with the Lutron Smart Bridge Pro) to control the fan--or any Hubitat device. However, you can already control the fan with the HBFC remote. If you prefer voice control over physical remotes/buttons, I don't see what a Pico would add for you (unless the reason you don't use the HBFC remote is how ugly and unmountable it is). You also don't necessarily need a Pico. While they're great (and can be used for anything in Hubitat), any button device--or any device at all you can use in an automation, for that matter (contact sensor, motion sensor, literally anything Hubitat and the automations you're using support)--would work. The Samsung SmartThings Button, for example, could be used instead. It's not as pretty and is only one button with three possible actions, but it's a lot cheaper than getting the Bridge Pro just for one Pico.
Thanks Denise and bertabcd1234. As I said I am stupid on Lutron & Picos as I don't own any. I guess I need to bite the bullet and remove the HBFC from Wink & pair with HE as I didn't know I could create a separate light device & separate fan. Wife is afraid I'm going to mess up her living room fan though & then I'll have to get out the ladder to get to the canopy which as I said is 14 foot high ceiling. I'll probably try it this weekend...it will either work or I'll be in divorce court or hospital ER due to ladder accident if I mess up wife's fan!