My issue is, and I think I need an electrician for this one, I will likely start another thread about this...
My home has a single switch feeding the ceiling fans except for one. The switch provides power on / off to the fan housing, which is then controlled by the manual chain pull switches on the fans / lights.
My living room ceiling fan having cathedral ceiling, is outfitted with a separate switch for fan control and light control. For the fan I use the GE switch / controller, don't recall the model but it works, for lights I use a Zooz Zen 22.
I VERY MUCH like my Zooz switches, and intend to use more IF I can.
I am pretty annoyed with the KOF controllers as they have been super spotty radio wise, and, well function wise. But I don't know of other currently avaialble in the canopy controllers that are not WiFi. And I am not putting anything on WiFi if I can avoid it.
I may have to go with the Zen30 to replace my KOF controllers, but would need some rewiring done in the attic do support this.
Again I have an electrician that can help me sort this out. After my experience with Smartthings, it might not be a bad thing to have the wall switch control anyway to allow me to manually operate the fan and light should automations fail.
The Inovelli LZW36s work great in the case where there is a single switch as long as there is neutral in the switch box as you simply tie the line and load together with a wire going to the switch so the fan line is always live as well as the switch then the switch tells the fan module to turn on/off/dim the light or turn on/off/adjust the speed of the fan.
Yes, the Inovellis (and the Hampton Bay) are the only real solution when you just have the one wire from the switch box to the light. With the Inovelli, you will always have a neutral at the switch box or be able to easily put a neutral in the switch box. One of my fans was only a single two conductor wire from my fan to my switch box and furthermore it was wired in a switch loop (which means there was no neutral at the switch box). With the installation of the Inovelli switch it is easy to redo the connections in the fan's octagon box to send both a hot and neutral to the switch box, while still powering the fan. If you do not understand how to do this, you may need a electrician, but it really is not that hard.
If you only have one wire (2 conductors) from the switch box to the fan the Inovelli is a great solution. It does not matter if neither of the wires at the switch box are neutral, because if one of the wires is not neutral it is easy to make one of them neutral by simply changing some connections at the fan box.
Since the ceiling fans impact the perception of comfort in the home, thus allowing AC to be run less, I am going to put these on the priority shopping list. I need 6 of them, Is there anywhere else that sells for less or is Inovelli direct it? $70.00 a pop isn't horrible, but $70x6 = $420.00 + assuming they charge my local ssales tax, $34.65.
I know it's not a LOT per se, but then again, it adds up. There is a reason I wanted to keep my Iris components working, to keep costs down, and honestly because I never had a single giltch with any of them after setup, although some didn't set up at all but that is a different kettle of fish as it were.
If only I had this to spend time and money on... but nope.
I'll throw my hat in for Inovelli as well. We have one in our master bedroom and love it! As we start changing out our ceiling fans, I'll be adding more.
The Zooz Zen30 requires 14/3 or 12/3 wire, or basically a pre existing stacked switch wiring. Not what I have in my house. I have standard 12/2. Yes 12, not 14, code here calls for it...
I have not come across light + fan combo from GE / Jasco. so I can't speak to that.
I have the one fan that is a hugger that will NOT work with the Hampton Bay. One fan has 2 separate switches (Living room) and is already handled by a Zen22 and a GE / Jasco 3 speed fan switch. The remaining 5 have or are in process of getting the Hampton Bay controllers. The one in the kitchen died, a member here was kind enough to donate 2 NIB Hampton Bay controllers so I can replace the one in the Kitchen, and get the master bedroom fan under control as I install the newly refinished fan. I HATED that 1990s bright brass so I took the fan down, used basically a scotch brite pad on an orbital sander and a bunch of deglosser on the clear coat, got it ready to hold paint, and I am almost ready to paint. Going for a hammered bronze to match the rest of the new fixtures in the room.
I would like to swap these out for Inovellis as I want the option of controlling manually should I actually want to, but considering I have the Hampton Bay units in hand, no sense in spending $$ I don't have to.
Mind you, when I upgrade and take these out, if I can get a succesful factory reset, I will pack them up, and pay it forward should someone need them at that time, but for now I'm gonna use the heck out of them.
I decided to get the Inovelli fan/light switch. It works fine, but it occasionally seems to lose the 'state' of the fan or light (e.g. you click hit the switch to toggle the fan off, the switch light goes out, but the fan doesn't go off).
Now I want a remote to control the fan / light.
It seemed like the TRÅDFRI would be a good choice until I read this thread:
What do you recommend as a remote control that work with the Hubitat and the Inovelli fan/light switch?
Yeah, I suspect what @Terk suggested would work, I have one but haven't installed it yet.
If you can find some, the Samsung buttons are pretty nice too.
I'm a little surprised at your comment about the Inovelli losing state. I have two of them, and I've not seen that at all. I had one lock up, but pulling the air gap got it to wake up and rejoin the network.
Seems like you might want to check the firmware, and possibly ,do an update.
Quick question: I'd like to set up this for a fan/light at my parents house, but they don't have a hub yet. The switch should still work manually without a hub, correct? (I'm assuming yes because the switch communicates with the controller thru RF, but just wanted to verify)
The Inovelli fan/light controller is a great option for old houses with knob and tube wiring where you don't have a neutral at the switch if there's a convenient place for the smart switch that you can reach with new wiring. (With the Inovelli fan/light switch, the module in the fan housing doesn't have to be on the same circuit as the smart switch.) I put a dumb light switch in the existing switch location with a cover on it to keep it from getting turned off, then I ran new wiring to a new location for the smart switch. Works great!
