Ceiling Fan Control?

jschaffe · April 24, 2020, 2:09pm

After searching through this category, it appears that there is really no integrated smart (i.e. Z-Wave or WiFi) controller for ceiling fans and lights. Is that right?

The best advice I was able to find would be the use of separate switches for light, fan, and reverse, but that sure consumes a lot of wall real estate!

Any other suggestions out there?

zedrally · April 25, 2020, 1:10am

Your best bet is WiFi, there are plenty of these controllers around, although there is no Plug In available that works with Vera. Don’t even think about Z-wave, it just doesn’t exist.
The TUYA App that most of the WiFi Controllers use has IFTTT, some have MQTT which you might be able to use with Vera. Other than than you need to broaden your horizons to other Platforms.

tinman · April 25, 2020, 12:21pm

There are fans that are controlled by 433.92 Mhz remotes. In addition to the fan you would have to purchase the RFXtrx transceiver which connects to the Vera USB port. The plugin for the RFXtrx includes fan controls. There is quite a large number of devices and sensors available for the 433.92 Mhz band. Be aware that the communication protocols in this band are more ‘open loop’. IOW in most cases when the RFXtrx transceiver transmits a command to a device the device does not send a response. Most control devices (light switches, fans, thermostats, etc) are receive-only and sensors are transmit only.

melih · April 25, 2020, 1:20pm

Not sure how visible/not your bulb sockets are…but one idea would be to control the light bulbs directly using these wifi light sockets

Then use a Zwave Light switch on the wall..
This way: you can control each light individually using wifi sockets and you can control the Fan using the wall light switch..(don’t know about the reverse…)

PS: We are building a brand new EZLO FW for everything WiFi…which means when you buy these WiFi based devices, you can press a button on our App to “flash them with Ezlo FW” so that they will work with Ezlo and do so “Locally”!

Catman · April 25, 2020, 1:40pm

Flash them? As in overwrite the FW? Really?

C

melih · April 25, 2020, 1:47pm

Yes.
This way all those WiFi devices will stop making calls to all sorts of different countries…(at some stage we will allow the user to choose which country they want this device to be supported by…for future updates etc)…as well as we created a local mode for it! …
(happy to discuss in a separate thread if you wish…don’t want to derail this topic)

Catman · April 25, 2020, 1:52pm

No no, it’s fine. I’m just slightly surprised that every device will be OTA flashable. No need to derail

C

jschaffe · April 25, 2020, 1:56pm

Thanks for the suggestion, tinman. The fans I’m looking at run @303.798 MHz. Is there any way to reach them using the approach you suggest?

jschaffe · April 25, 2020, 1:58pm

I might be willing to consider other platforms for this project. Are there any in particular I should look at?

jschaffe · April 25, 2020, 2:03pm

I actually have a GoControl LB60Z-1 which generally works well except when there’s a power failure. For some reason, my vera edge, plugged into a ups along with the cable modem and WiFi router, totally forgets that this thing even exists.

zedrally · April 25, 2020, 10:45pm

You want to get me banned?

OK, there is a Z-Wave solution but it’s DIY and requires you to use a Z-UNO.
However, there are different types of Fan Controllers and I jumped in before asking what type you wanted to replace, is it wall mounted or remote?

Don’t worry about flashing FW, it’s all to difficult & risky and OFF-TOPIC

tinman · April 26, 2020, 12:01pm

None that I know of. That is highly unlikely.