I forgot how did I find @bertabcd1234 Inovelli fan driver but I am very happy I found it. If memory serves me well it is not on HPM.
It is not in HPM. Inovelli's custom driver is, and I did not want to create confusion, among other concerns. You might also be interested in using theirs if you want your experience to match their documentation. I wanted something more Hubitat-like (their drivers make interesting choices ), and mine is available for manual install following the information here:
I never digged in what is the trick to use a set of capacitors for controlling fan speed. AC Motors used in fans are Asynchronous Single Phase Motors. They have two coils oriented 90 degree from each other and requred a phase shift capacitor for creating rotated magnetic field vector. They do respond to the voltage variation but in a very narrow range. Brushed DC Motors respond very well to the voltage variation in a relatively wide range but inexpence for the output power. Modern Brushless DC Motors actually a Synchronous 3-pase Motors. Speed control is done by frequency variation. Output power is always high and stable.
AHHA!!! Thanks for the link!
It seems that the inovelli fan controls are ONLY 3 speed even though the driver and their docs only list 3 speeds.
I will stick with my Enbrighten 4 speed fan controllers at 1/2 the price!
Took a look at your driver code and noticed for fan speed:
desc: "Fan: default speed when turned on", type: "enum", default: 255, dataType: DataType.UINT8, options:
[[1: "1%"],[25:"10%"],[50:"20%"],[76:"30%"],[102:"40%"],[127:"50%"],[152:"60%"],[178:"70%"],
[203:"80%"],[229:"90%"],[254:"100%"],[255:"Previous speed [DEFAULT]"]]
I gather then that the options for speed are only ranges for low/med/hi and NOT actual speeds.
RATS! I was hoping this speed controller had 10 different speeds, but I guess not....
As I mentioned, my fans do respond very well to the speed control values. I can control fan speed very precisely. But it could be a fan/controller combination which plays orchestra nicely.
UPDATE
In my rm rules fan speed controller used as a DIMMER so, I can use a range from 0% to 100% with 1% steps. And yes, my fans are responding accordingly.
I could be wrong, but this is what I remember from some discussion on their forums a while back.
The range of options for that parameter is more or less what they have documented, but I imagine it still "chunks" the actual output into one of the supported speeds and does the same for any similar option -- Zigbee just provides 255 values natively for this kind of thing, and their options just match that.
If this is important for you, it may be wise to contact their support team to confirm.
In my mind, these fill different use cases: the GE is an in-wall controller, which works great if you have separate fan and light wiring (or just fan wiring) from the wall to the ceiling fan. Canopy modules like Inovelli are great if you don't, since they don't need anything at the wall. I actually wish they had better wall options here since the only "hubless" option is Zigbee binding, which isn't really intuitive with their current Zigbee switch lineup (no one is going to know how it works but you unless you have separate fan and light devices; the old VZW36 didn't need wiring, either, but had a single-gang wall module that was intuitive to use, as problematic as the proprietary RF between that and the canopy was for some users).
There are also a lot more configuration options for the Inovelli, but if you just need basc speed control and have the wiring for it, either can certainly work!
My use case is a canopy module only and everything is controlled by HE.
BTW, before this Inovelli controler I had 3-speeds Zigbee controller from Home Depot. Because it was constantly dropping from the Zigbee mesh I replaced them with iFan04 (also 3 speeds). In both cases the preset speeds was not satisfactory. Finally with this Inovelli controller I got exactly what I wanted.
HHMMM... interesting!
So when the control is configured as a dimmer and not a fan speed control, does the fan have any humming when running?
This would be typical if, for instance, a triac dimmer was used to control a split phase motor.
The motor would hum.
I am going to talk with inovelli about this.
Thanks!
Yes I am going to contact them before investing a chunk of change for this control.
I would prefer to use the wall control and not the canopy.
I am under the impression that the functionality is the same for both models.
Thanks for the reply.
Obviously in testing I did not go through each possible value from 0% to 100%. I am using 20%, 30%, 40%, 60% and 100% settings. Both my fans (they are identical) are running very quiet.
Well, I am talking about CANOPY Device. This could be used standalone or together with the Companion Switch. I am using only canopy module controlled by HE and have no idea what companion switch could do.
Thanks for the info.
I will see what Inovelli has to say, IF they answer my chat!
Thanks!
I am trying to get things clear to me.
Are you using the canopy control?
Are you using the fan output from the module?
Is the module configured as a ceiling fan vs. a vent fan?
I am sorry for the stupid questions, but I want to verify that I am interpreting your use as a variable speed control with 0-100% control and NOT just low/med/high.
I am still waiting for inovelli to respond, but I wanted to get your input as well.
Yes, I am using ONLY canopy module.
I am not sure, I understood your question clearly.
Fan and Light both controlled by canopy module.
For controlling fan speed Dimmer Device pointed to Fan Canopy Module is used in all RM rules. Just in case here is one of my rm rule controlling bedroom fan speed:
Driver is designed by Robert. Here is a Fan related settings:
Yes, 0-100% like a Dimmer.
Thank you so much!
I will ponder your info to see how you are controlling the fan speed.