I recently bought this for my Son’s room because it was cheap and suited his needs.
Patriot Lighting® Lima 20" Matte White Indoor LED Fandelier with Remote at Menards
What I didn’t realize is that it would only operate from the included remote. However I see the control unit on the fixture can be easily removed so I was wondering if it’s possible to swap out the control fixture with separate controllers for the led light and fan. This would make it connectable to Hubitat for control.
All of the Z-device Fan Controllers I've seen are AC controllers and that's a DC fan. I can't think of a DC one I've come across. I have several of the Hampton Bay pieces-of-crap that I'd like to replace and many fans these days are DC.. so I have an interest in any more positive answer.
You might be able to use Bond if the remote control is IR based.
It looks like the motor has three speed wires, similar to other three wire three speed motors.
For my stove fan hood, I used a 4 channel Zigbee relay, to simply switch each of the fan speed wires with three of the relays. I put it in the mode where closing one relay causes all the others to open, so there can never be more than one speed activated at a time. The last relay I use for off, since when the off relay is on, the other three relays turn off.
I also automated the 12v light with a relay, though it looks like you would need a Zigbee LED controller for the lights. It may be more than you want to get into for this fan, however.
That said, I would probably just use an RF blaster instead of doing any hardware conversions like this, since you have that option. I didn't have that option on my stove fan hood.
Most fans are RF, and thats what Bond works best for. As long as the remote is within the frequency Bond supports it should be able to work. They have built in remote mappings and if not, you can custom program each button in there like one of those old school universal TV remotes. I have a bond hub controlling 2 fans in different rooms, possibly soon to be 3. I found it used on eBay for I think around $60.
One important thing to note with the Bond hub is that RF is ONE WAY only. There is no status update that comes back. Because of this both the remote and the Bond hub can only know the current state based on the last button you pressed. In fact most remotes have no idea what the current state even is, nor do they track it (unless it has state indicator lights). So with that being said, the general recommendation is to hide the remote and don't use it anymore, all control should be through Bond. So then you need either voice control or a Hubitat connected remote to control it manually. If you don't mind the state possibly being out of sync then you can possibly use both Bond and the remote, it sort of depends on how the remote is setup. If the remote has any button(s) that cycles between multiple states it can be a mess to use both.
Given that the OP has been offered a possible solution, I wondered if I might jump in to ask a related question: Does anyone know of a reasonably priced DC motor fan that can operate with Lutron Caseta fan controllers? I really like DC motor fans because they're so quiet (no hum) but I sure miss being able to control their speed via the switch on the wall, or being able to automate them.
I am not aware of any smart fan controllers that work with DC fans. This includes GE/Jasco, Lutron, Hampton Bay, and Inovelli. Those all work with AC fans only.
It’s unfortunate because DC fans are much more common these days.
I think your only option for an in wall control on a DC fan is an on/off switch.
Any "Fan controller" is going to be manipulating the AC power to get the different speeds. The DC fan is expecting full line voltage and then converting that to DC internally, and I would assume all the speed adjustments are done by manipulating the DC power after the conversion happens.
Best bet is to mount the remote on the wall but then its not conducive for HA integration. Maybe we will get a real solution eventually?
You almost need a special DC canopy module but I don't know if any of this is standardized or if every mfg is just doing their own thing with the DC controls. Guessing the latter, so a universal module may not be feasible.
Many modern DC Motors actually a 3-phase AC Motors. The speed is controlled by variable frequency, not voltage. On the diagram above motor control signals labeled U, V, W. This is 3-phase sine wave signals, created by using digital PWM sine wave sequence.
Well, darn. And unfortunately, even that doesn't work on the DC fan in our bedroom. Once we cut power at the wall switch (a Lutron fan switch) you need the fan remote to get the fan to start again. I really like the quiet of the DC motor, so that takes precedent. I think I'll just remove the Lutron switch and move it over to my office, where I'll install an inexpensive AC fan mostly to cover the J-box (fairly new construction). I doubt I'll use the fan there very often as it would mess with papers on the desk. If I find I really need to automate the DC fan I guess I could look into Bond. Anyway, thanks for the info and replies.
My very old dumb bulky fan/light combos with AC Motors are very quiet. With the Inovelly Zigbee fan/light controller there are 255 fan speeds (acting like a light dimmer). Fans are part of Temperature Balancing rules. Few months ago I was looking for the something modern looking but must be with AC Motors. Unfortunately I did not find any good replacement. So for now I am leaving things "as is".
