As has been mentioned, that drastically depends on your wiring and the ceiling fan itself.
If you only pull 14-2 for the fan, wall switches are out. If the motor for the fan is DC, most likely speed control from a switch is also out.
You cannot use a standard dimmer for a fan regardless. They aren't rated for that type of load.
You're trying to put the cart before the horse. If you know what fan you'll be installing, then post that here. If you know for sure that you can pull 14-3, then answer that as well and we can help.
You want cheap or good, you cannot have both in my opinion. I always recommend Lutron Caseta because they're tanks. I've never had one go bad and I've never even changed the battery in a PICO in my oldest which is around 12 years. They are roughly 50 bux a switch but wholly worth it. Next would be Zooz and Inovelli. Both great z-wave switches. Next I would look at Enerwave. Simple but they work. (Z-wave) Bottom of the barrel are the Jasco/GE. I only say that because they're caps have a tendency to blow. Some have no probs with them at all. You won't find z-wave/zigbee switches at a $10 price point. It just doesn't exist. I'll also say the old adage "You get what you pay for" applies tripply so for iot.
No it's cloud based. Cloud based devices are opposite of what Hubitat wants. If it's a cloud based device and has an open api, hubitat leaves it to the community to integrate but even the community isn't interested in cloud based switches. The switches you are looking for are zigbee, z-wave, or Clear Connect (lutron)
Can somebody point me to one that would work on eBay? So I have a reference point to start from. I am new to hubitat and don't know much about the platform.
I thank you for your guyses help up to this point.
And bear in mind, @user5035, that if your Wi-Fi network is down you'll loose hub & automation control over your lights. If there are areas in your home where your Wi-Fi signal is weak, that may affect responsiveness.
Thereās a different approach possible, that could be less expensive and is rock solid reliable. If youāre focused on cheap, some of the requirements will put a lump in your throat, but in the long run itās less expensive than smart dimmers and far more reliable that Z-Wave.
If you buy a Lutron Smart Bridge Pro and use Pico buttons for the control of smart bulbs, you can use many different smart bulbs and fully control them as if you had installed a smart dimmer. I prefer Hue bulbs with a Hue bridge and the Hubitat Hue Bridge integration. Picos are around $15 each and are highly customizable.
If you need a smart dimmer on a light that cannot use smart bulbs, then you can add one to the mix, but still control it from multiple locations with a Pico. Picoās can be programmed to control multiple light in multiple was from a single Pico if you want.
The advice to do it in small chunks is good, but if you want to drop the cash and do it all at once, that is your prerogative to do so. I can tell you for sure my setup is almost exactly as Iāve just described, and it works without a single issue day after day. However, this is my third smart home build, so Iām was able to approach it from a place of experience. If someone had recommended I buy all this stuff and do it as Iām suggesting (and actually @mike.maxwell sort of did, but I didnāt listen at the time), then I might not have learned as much. However thereās no question I would have saved a lot of time and had more money for playing with the fun stuff, instead of wasting it on lighting projects that didnāt pan out.
The other note, specifically for Kasa devices at least, is that they will not push events to Hubitat. Hubitat has to pull updates. So if you turn a switch on manually, it will be delayed showing up in Hubitat. That has real impact on automations.
Zooz 700 switches are the best bang for the buck. 5 year warranty, excellent customer service, VERY decent pricing, and a litany of configuration options thanks to @jtp10181's drivers. They all support smart bulbs if you decide to go that route in the future.
The other VERY important part of most cheap switches, most have no electrical certification rating. Have one catch fire and burn your house down, and good luck with an insurance claim.
This is the advantage. I removed all the single, 3-way and 4-way switches in my house and wired the load and hot permanatly together in box for any light fixture that was going to have a smart bulb. For any light switch that would require a smart dimmer (Insteon in my case), they were installed where the light load was, and a Pico took the place of where the former 3-way switches were. This has the avantage of my not losing any control I previously had, changing it how I want, anytime I want, and adding extra control on the same Pico for the existing light, and/or other lights.
Other functions are possible too. For example, certain Picos have the off button programmed so holding it down runs the goodnight sequence to turn off all the lights I want to go off and lock the doors.
You might, but I don't personally thing this looks clumsy.
I don't think Lutron is going to be in the ~$10/switch range he wants to stay near. The Lutron smartbridge pro hub is about $120(?) and Picos are now running about $20 each on Amazon. Other part I don't like is I lose direct control of the lights from the switch if my hub goes down. Much preferred (at least for me) that my smart light switches are directly connected to the circuits and can control lighting regardless of the status/existence/function of my hub(s). My own subjective comments about my preferences aside, I don't think Lutron hits the OP's price target.
Also, the pico/caseta button layout/UI is horrible IMO. I know its a love it or hate it thing, but I hate it and the WAF level is below zero on them. If you're never touching the switches (motion lighting, etc) then maybe its fine but we are not motion and instead use the physical switch for every entry/exit to rooms.
If the hub goes down, you can control the lights from the Hue app until you get you hub working again. That is one of the particular reasons that I find the hue bridge to be an advantage over directly connecting bulbs to a hub. Honestly all the worry about hubs catastrophically failing just isnāt a thing Iāve experienced more than once in the last 4 years. I have not experienced a serious problem with the hub database in three years, on three Hubitat hubs. And I have spares if it comes to that. As far as the Lutron SmartBridge Pro going down, it is just so rare, itās not even worth considering. Thatās why I recommend Lutron. Itās just solid.
As far as the looks, you guys are funny. The OP asked for a cost-effective reliable solution, and youāre talking about your opinions on looks somehow mattering to them.
I just want you to do it's cheapest possible like I said I got to buy it like 20 of these so a good deal on a set of used ones but also be great. I don't want to sink something like $200 into the project.
I have a few wall mounted to control fans that only have on/off wiring (via Bond bridge integration). Wife loves picos as hand-held rmotes, does not like them at all on the wall as she can't quickly and reliably enough identify which button she's touching by feel when she's entering/exiting a room. So that's an issue for us as well.
This is the advantage. I removed all the single, 3-way and 4-way switches in my house and wired the load and hot permanatly together in box for any light fixture that was going to have a smart bulb. For any light switch that would require a smart dimmer (Insteon in my case), they were installed where the light load was, and a Pico took the place of where the former 3-way switches were. This has the avantage of my not losing any control I previously had, changing it how I want, anytime I want, and adding extra control on the same Pico for the existing light, and/or other lights.
