Due to my abundant optimism and "can do" attitude I have installed 4 of the Hampton Bay/King of Fans controllers in 1 room. After learning just how bad the remotes and zigbee antennas were I almost gave up, but a couple Zigbee Peanut outlets strategically positioned next to the fans seemed to save the day.
I installed a Jasco ZWave occupancy switch to control them all, but I suspect when they are powered off by the wall switch for extended periods they lose their zigbee configuration. Just a theory... since once they are set at a specific speed I have been powering them on and off with the Jasco Z-Wave Occupancy Switch and hadn't noticed them dropping off the Zigbee network.
Now that I'm playing with @Cobra's fancy tools, I'm trying to do more intelligent things with the fans but they just won't stay on the network.
An interesting side note. If I delete all 4 fans from the device list and then reset them with the "on/off 5 times for 3 seconds" dance I will generally only catch 2, maybe 3 seemingly randomly. Of course since they are all on the same circuit/switch (and yes I've verified all the required amps are supported) I have to do the dance which resets them all and I get a different 2-3 each time.
So, to catch all 4 reliably, I've learned that when I change the Zigbee Channel before doing the discovery I almost always catch all 4. I've set my Wifi to Channel 1 and the Zigbee to Channels above 19 to minimize interference.
So does anyone else have a switch - smart or dumb - in front of their fan controllers? Is the normal config to have full time power to them and just hope something besides a circuit breaker will turn them off when the remote & HE are not catching the controller's attention?
I'm going to get killed if the fans won't turn on/off and I'm not around to "Fix" it.
Yea, I don't think they are meant to be power cycled like that. To make things worse, you might be able to reset them by motion activation if it were to detect a certain amount or pattern of motion.
Why not change the wiring at the switch and just power them all the time? I threw all caution to the wind, and use a Pico Remote to control them without any other manual override.
I am not all that familiar with the GE/Jasco occupancy switches, can you get occupancy events in Hubitat? If so, why not use a rule to turn on the fan controller and turn the fan on for X amount of time?
I can hard wire them to "On" and rely on the Zigbee/Remote, but given how unreliable they have been I am imagining them coming on and not going off again until I find the circuit breaker and reset/rediscover them.
I have Bosch Motion sensor's in the room now too, so I don't need the Jasco, it's just more reliable for the non-techies. Off means off with the hard wired switch.
I did this on all my fans... I just have to drop the canopy down onto the fan blades and toggle the switch. Since doing this, Murphy's Law has prevailed and so far, I've never needed it!!
I added a pair of 4" wire to each switch and put on some heat shrink tubing. Then I climbed up to the ceiling and wire nut them in place.
My point is not so much "do this..." but here's an idea of how to get both hardwired AND remote, by slapping a super efficient Pico as the wall plate. I also have done that... 5 buttons, each does double duty.. a quick push and a longer push (hold) for 10 functions. I use 4 of the quick push to control the light.. top for ON, bottom for OFF and the two in between for other dim levels. Then a nearly identical organization for the Fan via the long push. The cool center button is a favorite, of course and sets the fan and light.
So you suggest a mechanical switch wired between the controller and the fan motor? That would definitely freak out DW. Maybe if I ran an extra set of wires to each fan so the switches would be in a standard box on the wall. I'm guessing an electrician would call foul on that or the distance would impact the current. Hrm. These smart fan controllers are getting expensive!
I could also hardwire the fan controllers to on and the switch would control nothing physically but it's State would inform rules on what to do with the fans. But when they lose sync I'll be in the circuit breaker panels again.
The HBFC definitely need power 100% of the time to 'be the best they can be!'
I have mine hardwired, and use a Lutron Pico Remote on the wall to control them via Hubitat. I can also use Alexa or Google voice control for them. And finally, I can use the RF remote that came with them (note, HB remote is RF, but not Zigbee.)
Maybe yours are better than mine. Those remotes are so bad! It's like a random command generator than only works intermittently! At least when the zigbee module is online the fans generally do what they're asked!
For $20 we can add a version of the remote that mounts into a Wall Box and look fancy while getting tortured by it's unpredictability.
I had issues with the 3 HB controllers I have in my house but once I got enough repeaters they have been stable on HE for over 9 months with no resets necessary. (knock on wood).
Guys, this is counterintuitive. I have the shitty remotes that came with these. The trick for me is NOT TO POINT REMOTE AT THE FAN, unlike TV remotes. Hold the remote at your side, like next to your leg, and you'll be surprised, works 80% better. Might be the way they mounted the antenna inside.
And for best zigbee results, mount the repeater above the fan blades, if you can, like attic or room above the fan. Mine haven't fallen off with the repeater in loft above fan, unless someone turns off the freaking power
Ah, so this full time power is is a touchstone. My remote controllers grow legs pretty quickly, so I would need to use the ones that mount into the switch box. I will get plastic boxes
