Google Home, GE fan controller, 3 speed ceiling fan

[kchurchill]

I have GE fan controllers for 3 speed ceiling fans in my home. I was able to use Google Home with SmartThings and Google Home routines to tell any fan to turn on, off; turn on low, medium, high.

I've installed the Google Home Hubitat app and the Google Home Community app. I have tried the fans in both apps and neither gives the desired result.

I searched the board and haven't found a solution. I'm not an IFFFT user and don't want to go that route.

This seems like basic functionality that should work.

Help please.

[aaiyar]

Perhaps unintentionally, you’ve posted this thrice. You might consider deleting two of the posts.

[armand]

Just to be sure we covered the basics, does the fan controller work correctly through Hubitat interface?

[Sebastien]

@kchurchill

Google Home Community app

Just to be sure, do you mean this app?

[Alpha] Community-maintained Google Home integration

I've been transitioning over to Google Assistant from Alexa for a while now, and one of the biggest problems I had was the fact that the Hubitat integration with Google Home reported all of my window blinds and ceiling fans as lights. I got annoyed enough with it that I decided to write my own integration between the two. This is a very highly customizable integration that allows the user to define how each device type appears to Google Home and how Google Home commands map to Hubitat comman…

[HAL9000]

@aaiyar

Perhaps unintentionally, you’ve posted this thrice.

Actually four times. Five if you count Facebook.

[kchurchill]

Yep. I just figured out how to get it working.

...and now my fans disappeared. Odd.

[kchurchill]

I have no idea which forum to post on here that actually gets responses. Sorry.

And yes, I asked Facebook too.

[Sebastien]

@kchurchill

no idea which forum to post on here that actually gets responses

The category is not that important. Just pick one that you think is the most appropriate. It can be changed later if necessary.

Probably best to remove the duplicates that were posted in other categories.

The community members are typically very responsive.

[kchurchill]

In the Google Home Community app, I had to set the fan device type to Light and not Fan Control. I also had to add an on/off trait.

There is a small bug though. After setting up the adjustable speed fans with the light attribute, they no longer appear under the "Adjustable Speed Fan" type. If you want to see them, you have to change the "light" attribute to "fan control".

[amdbuilder]

If you are looking for fan speed control, you likely need to use the fan control trait to get the desired functionality instead of brightness.

[kchurchill]

That trait doesn't work. I've been there, done that. I have it working now.

I hope this helps anyone else out there that has had this headache.

[amdbuilder]

Interesting... That's the trait I was using with my GE Fan controllers. Regardless, I am glad you got you got it working

[kchurchill]

Ya, when I got this setup a few months ago, I was dumbfounded about why it wasn't working. I had a bunch of life stuff to deal with so this was put on the back burner. Now that warmer weather is here, fan control is a must.

We might have different model GE Fan controllers. Who knows. If someone runs across this, they should try both options if one doesn't work.

[SteveZed]

The overall device type for a fan looks like this:

The Fan Speed trait screen looks like the one amdbuilder posted above.

[rdstov]

Has anyone noticed that even with the community app working, google home will change the fan speed without telling it the fan name "Hey Google set the fan to high", because it figures out you mean the fan in the same room as the google home device. But if you say "Hey Google, turn on the fan" it doesn't work (google responds “”I don’t know which “the fan” you mean””). You need to say the fan name to turn it on or off "Hey google, Turn on the living room fan". That's really perplexing. Is there some issue with the config perhaps? I have tried to change the on/off from switch to actuator, but I get the same results perhaps @mbudnek can help with this one?

I’m dumbfounded why HE doesn’t natively just tell google a fan is a fan.

[SteveZed]

That's strange, mine does not behave that way. When I am in my office, with a Google Speaker device defined to the office called "Office Speaker" and a fan device called "Office Fan" also defined to the office, saying "Hey Google, turn on the fan", the Office Fan turns on, and Google Home replies "Okay, turning Office Fan On". Maybe it's because I included the room name in the device name.