I've been looking at ceiling fans all day, specifically large 72" fans. Every single one of them either come with an rf remote or a wall controller and will not work with a traditional 2 switch setup. They all state one power wire is used for both fan and light and the remote control is used for both. Just what I need, another damn remote lol. How can you overcome this? I have no desire to control fan speed, I just want one that works with my z-wave switches that are already in place. Anybody been down this road recently?
I use the Bond hub. It integrates with HE and works with IR or RF remotes. It allows you to control your fan (and other things) in automations without using the remote and also integrates with Alexa. Check it out and see if the remote for your fan is in the frequency that it supports. Then you can put your remotes away!
I use an old samsungs6 - it has an IR blaster. integrates through tasker etc.
I had the same problem, the fan in our bedroom stopped working so I left it to my wife to get another. I figured a fan is a fan. She ordered one that had an RF remote and was as you describe. It had wiring instructions for a single or dual switch setup, but if you turned off the Fan it turned off the light. Since it had wiring instructions for a two switch setup I didn't think anything of it until I got it installed and it didn't work. I had a GE fan switch, for the fan but due to the remote it needed just a normal on/off switch.
It was a nice fan and we don't adjust it that much except for turning the fan on or off. Didn't feel like taking it back down boxing it up and sending it back. So I made rules that gave us decent control of it. You could turn the fan and light on and off but if you wanted to change the speed of the fan you had to use the remote.
tldr:
I now use the Bond hub as @snyderr2 mentions and it works great. It works just as if it was a simple two switch fan. Only issue I have is the bright blue light on top of the hub that flashes every time it receives a command. I have it in my bedroom but I just turned it upside down and that fixed it.
I'm using the Treatlife fan/light switches, reflashed with Tasmota. There is an HE community driver that works with multi speed as well as the light. Works great over Wifi, and has the plus that it can be used with MQTT, code-red, etc.
Innovelli fan switch. Any fan will do. A module goes in the canopy and boom... full automation.
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Look at the instructions because some fans come with their own canopy module that you can switch out with the Inovelli or not use at all if you don’t care to adjust speed. For example I found this one on HD:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Parrot-Uncle-72-in-Integrated-LED-Brushed-Chrome-Ceiling-Fan-with-Light-and-Remote-Control-BBCPD1719-I/314143933
The remote that comes with this one talks to the included canopy module. I did this with one of my fans several years ago and use the Hampton Bay Zigbee controller which is unfortunately no longer available.
Other fans may have the remote electronics built directly into a board inside the fan. So options are there you just need to look at instructions to confirm. Good luck!
All I want is a canopy module that integrates with hubitat. Nothing else, I do not need a wall switch. Does that exists?
There use to be a king of fans module that was zigbee based. Home depot sold it. It came with a remote as well.
The problem is it is no longer sold, and when it was the zigbee reception was spotty. I have one that works some of the time.
So far the Inovelli one I have is much more reliable and more functional.
With the bond hub, what does the in-wall switch do then? Is it like a smart bulb, to where you have to keep the switch on all the time? Or can you turn the switch off and still turn it back on with the bond hub?
Also, if you turn on/off the fan with the wall switch, does bond update the status in HE?
You would leave the wall switch on all the time. The Bond hub simply replaces your remote. I put mine in a closet and it reaches the whole house. It has an annoying blue light on it, but you can squirrel it away in a cabinet or closet.
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Every one of these types of fans I looked at had a module (up in the fan) that was powered from the main AC power, and had three wires...fan, light, and neutral than ran from the module to the fan parts.
I removed the module, and verified that the normal switch would power the fan and light (i.e. two separate wiring verifications). Once I verified that, I got the Zooz Zen30 double switch device...wired the dimmer to the light and the relay switch to the fan.
As we never change the fan speed for our ceiling fans (just on and off) this worked out great for us.
The Hub takes the Zooz Zen30 double switch and creates two devices from it you can control...dimmer and relay switch.
I'm intrigued by the Bond hub, do I need one per-room? We have 3 bedrooms on our 2nd floor, all with fans w\ RF remotes, I'd love to be able to just install 1 and control all 3 (provided it supports the frequencies).
The area range is about 2,500 sq. ft. so you should be able to control fans in other rooms or on another floor.
Confirming - this is our second house using Bond. It is about 2250 sq ft, but oddly shaped.
I have my bridge in a 2nd floor closet, controlling 2 fans on both the 1st and 2nd floors. The farthest fans are roughly 40 feet away, in different directions.
My only complaint with Bond is that we have a few 9-speed fans, but only 6 speeds are exposed. A real first-world travesty.
Good to know about Bond. I'm gonna put this project on hold for a bit as I got discouraged lol. But when I revisit it I'll likely look at that Bond device. Thanks guys!
AS @snyderr2 mentions the wall switch needs to stay on all the time, but I still want the ability to use the switch.
I made rules that if you turn off the light or fan switch it turns the switch back on and then sends the remote command to turn fan or fan light back off.
I was a little concerned about how it would work with the light but it's pretty fast. The light goes out and then you see a very quick flicker as the switch comes back on and the remote turns it back off.
A few things to consider.
What does the fan use for power.
Some fans use DC motors. In those cases your are forced to use something like Bond or the included remote to control the fan. If a wall switch is used it simply means you cut the power to the included controller that is required for the fan.
When a fan uses AC power for the motor they will either use a remote, or draw string to control fan speed. For those that have the canopy module with a remote you have a few options. You can either use something like bond for one way communication with RF to the canopy module, a replacement of the existing canopy module that provides the control function linked to a switch or the hub, or wire the fan directly to one or two switches to control the light and fan.
Bonds is probably the easiest to integrate, but as I understand it you will pretty much loose local control. If you used your existing remote things clget out of sync and can be a little bit chaotic.
There are existing wall switches for controlling fans. I think lutron makes one but am not 100% sure. I think this would qire directly to the fan and the switch itself would control the power to the fan.
KOF had a zigbee module and remote pair they sold that is no longer avaliable. You may be able to find them on ebay though. They have been known to need repeaters near by and can be flacky. I have one of these and has worked pretty well with the repeater in the room. I know some will disagree
Inovelli makes a zwave fan controller that ties into the power circut, but also uses a canopy replacement to make it more universal. So far the one I one i have has worked really well. It can take a moment to activate though.
I think another big question is how much can you do without local control. I know for me not having local control isn't a big deal. But for others in my house it is and i would be lenched if i took it away. In my home if i don't provide a way to control things without automation the others in my house would have my head. That alone makes Bond a no go. Maybe bond with a button controller would work, but not by itself.
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You have some valid points. I don't use local control at all. I'm letting hubitat turn them on and off based on temperature. But I just installed Inovelli switches for them so it would have been nice to use. I suppose I could use scene control with the switches to activate them. Food for thought. Thank you!
Has anyone used the Bond hub in conjunction with a smart switch (e.g., Zooz) that has the relay disabled for smart bulb control? My theory is that disabling the relay would keep power to the fan, and then I could just use HE to sync the smart switch state with the Bond/fan state, so as to simulate local control.
