fan control?

wkearney99

Senior Member
What's the latest on automating ceiling fan controls?
 
Has anyone made a gizmo to interface automation with existing RF canopy modules?
 
I ask because we're about to take possession of the new house and I'm wrapping up all my light fixture and switch selections.
 
In the past we used some mid-market Hampton Bay remotes that had a thermostat in them.  Worked pretty well for silently start/stopping the fans based on temp. But we didn't have wall control of the light.  I was never able to find out if they made a separate wall-mountable remote that'd work with the same canopy.  As in, just a battery-driven remote mounted in a wall switch position.
 
Before I start putting new ones in, I figure it's worth asking what's the state of things these days?
 
I notice Lutron is finally shipping their RadioRA2 fan control.  Shame it doesn't also do light control in the same fixture.  I'm just one switch position short for where I'd use one...
 
That and the wife actually prefers the thermostat remote.
 
Choices, choices, and way too many variables, with not enough time to factor them all...
 
Are any of the RF canopy receivers compatible with each other?
 
Well, yeah, that'd allow automation control using it's own canopy receiver.  Do any handheld fan remotes talk to it?  Or is it an automation-only interface?  As in, actual fan remotes that are kid/wife-proof.  Not fancy ones I'd get irritated about when they got broken/lost...
 
i may just go with the RA2 interface, as that'd give me the cleanest integration with my lighting and keypads.  I suppose I could then cobble up an interface to one of the thermostat fan remotes and use that to send commands to the RA2 network...  That'd probably be a darn site less hassle...
 
I'm thinking more along the lines of just taking a canopy that's known to work with the desired remote and monitoring the AC outputs from it.  Just pretend to be a fan, detect the voltages and translate that into the desired network protocols for the RA2 system.  It'd probably have a slight bit of delay but it'd avoid doing anything to the wall switch or the canopy.  With the advent of raspberry pi and similar gizmos it might not be all that expensive either.  I'd just have to revisit the ways to safely interface to the AC side of things... it's been quite a while since I did any circuit hacking.  
 
Now, were I really motivated I'd probably see if it's possible to find the control signals inside the receiver, before it bothers to trigger the AC.  That'd probably be 'better' but would involve hacking the things apart and frying one or two...
 
Call Lutron and complain that they have a Maestro canopy module but not RA2.  Most likely it's a receiver only and that's the problem.
 
Yeah, I really wish RadioRa2 had a light/fan control in one or a canopy module.  Oh well, its just one extra wire to pull, how much trouble could it be? :)
 
Yeah, right, pulling one more wire gets decidedly more complicated when you've got exterior walls and foam insulation.  Or there are LVL beams in-between, necessitating running the wire hither-and-yon to get from the wall plate to the fixture...  

Or, just as bad, you don't have enough space between the studs to wedge in one more switch, and the decorator/architect/wife refuses to allow the notion of another set of switch boxes.
 
Burying an in-line controller in the ceiling is seriously tempting...
 
I've buried inline controllers up in a canopy or in a deep enough box...I was lucky in the cases I had to do such.
 
wkearney99 - You need to fire that decorator/architect/wife for not specifying a fan switch from the beginning.  That is the source of all your problems right there. :)
 
And yes, I know all too well how hard a simple additional wire can be...probably because I'm a DIYer and I learn the cool tricks after I've done it the really hard way.
 
I would imagine Lutron has to come out with a light/fan control combo for RadioRa 2 at some point...right?
 
I've installed two of the RA2 fan controls, one of which has it's fan connected.  It works pretty well.  My plan for at least one of the lights is to just bury a remote dimmer or the new RF smart switch for the light somewhere else.  Meanwhile it's just wired directly for control via the light's pull chain.  
 
Some of the other locations could have a spare wire fished to them without excessive hassles.  One is on an exterior wall with spray foam, so it's not likely to change.  C'est la vie.
 
As for decorators, architects and details, I'm lucky only these little things got omitted.  
 
What's really annoying is I specifically asked to have my outdoor floodlights wired individually.  But the electrician wired them in a 4-way.  Luckily they're all up under the roof eaves and the wire isn't "impossible" to access.  So I'll just do some re-wiring later.  The plans just showed an arc leading up to the floodlights.  It was ambiguous what that meant, and the electrician chose the old-school scheme.  
 
The other option(not the easiest though, but some time only available) is to do this ... Use original or buy a spare or compatible remote control ... then hard wire(soldering) two wires to a push buttons contact and then connect it to some of automation controllers like M1 , AvioSys, etc ... and then use internal or external IP base interface for integration and remote control.... We use iMCA Controller for creating this type of solutions among others of course....
 
Yes, that's been my alternate plan.  I may be doing just that, using a spare one.  But what I'd likely do is just get a spare receiver and use some relays to trigger contact closures.  I'd put the contraption into an appropriate and safe project box, somewhere within range of where the actual remote would need to operate. 
 
Hey, this just in from the "RTFM" department...
 
http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocumentLibrary/048-123b.pdf
 
Who knew you could set the timer to a fixed amount?  That's nice.  
Explanation of Advanced Timer Features Preset Options:
 
The user has two options for the preset time setting on the timer: locked preset and unlocked preset.
 
• Locked Preset: When programmed for a locked preset, the timer will always return to the predetermined “locked” setting anytime it turns off with either a single tap of the tap button or an expiration of the countdown.
 
• Unlocked Preset: When programmed for an unlocked preset, the timer will return to the time setting it was adjusted to the previous time that the timer was on.
 
What do I want? If you frequently use the same time setting and don’t want to adjust it each time you use the timer, choose the locked preset option. If you frequently use different time settings, select the unlocked preset option.
 
Bypass Mode Options: (not available on eco-timer®) The user has two options for the maximum level of the timer: the “On” setting (enable bypass) and the 60-minute setting (disable bypass). What do I want? If you always want the timer to time out regardless of how it is turned on, select the disable bypass mode option. This is useful for situations in which you would like the timer to always turn off automatically, even if the user double-taps the tap button. If you want to be able to access the “On” setting, select the enable bypass mode option. 
 
Oh, hallelujah!  Now I don't have to wander around shutting off the exhaust fans when the cleaning lady has gone...
 
I kid you not, it's been annoying the hell out of me for ages.  I've even gone so far as to try and figure out a way to put a vibration sensor on the fan units to try and track them.  I really do wish Lutron would make an RF-pairable timer switch.  It's nice having the adjustable countdown.
 
Anyway, just thought I'd share something found while trying to debug using their daylight sensors (no success yet). 
 
It's funny, when a vendor half-implements something I find it a bit of a challenge.  Along the way I often discover the reason you can't do X with Y is the vendor is trying to 'protect' the market.  As in, Lutron has a number of very nice devices that can't be used across their different product lines.  On-wall Caseta modules that can't be used with RA2 or HWQS.  Or daylight sensors that can be used with Quantum, EcoSystem and HWQS but not with RA2 or Caseta.  Meanwhile their Pico units, using the exact same RF protocols, can be used across all of the lines.  Ohrly...?  This ties into their scam with Serena shades and QS.  Exactly the same hardware, they're just whitelisting only certain hex IDs on the different gateways and software.  Why?  So they can charge you more for them because they're trying to protect an integration market.  Y'know, I'd have willingly paid the higher prices for gizmos had they been made available across the platforms.  But because they chose not to do this they left the door open to some 'investigatin'.   Meanwhile I also discover their protocol docs aren't accurate and their repeaters don't always respond in ways you might need.
 
Teken linked to an Insteon fan controller.
 
Insteon doesn't need any HA control and devices can talk and control each other via RF and/or powerline.
 
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