WiFi Smart Ceiling Fan Control and Dimmer Light to Tasmota
- Thread starter pete_c
- Start date
pete_c
Guru
Is it less wire nuts because of the lever nuts?
It is no wire nuts and all Wago levers for all 14 guage wires in the box. I have never seen or used 16-18 guage electrical wire. Just 10-12 guage wire.
Today switched the neutral leads in the box (4) and hot leads in the box (4) to Lever nuts. Each set of leads of 14 guage wire was using a wire nut. (large one). The lever nut is flat and I used 6 port lever nuts. Going from the wire nut to the lever nut saves a bunch of space in the metal 4X4 double gang box which is only a tad less than 2" deep and it has 2 conduits coming in from the top and two on the bottom. If you buy these by boxes of 10 they are around $1 each. But you can buy these in boxes of a hundred. Going to the lever nuts was suggested by an electrician that is doing a bunch of automated switches. Personally still like conduit / metal boxes more than romex. That is me.
I only utilize 6 and 3 port Wago nuts and they can be used for 12-24 guage wire. Almost the entire house here is wired with 14 guage wire 15 AMP and only some 12 guage wire for the high amperage stuff. Well now a days too for LED lighting there is hardly any draw on a 15 AMP circuit.
The wago lever nuts are way smaller and flat versus a large wire nut. Here is a picture of the two side by side. Two side by side automated switches are very tight. I dealt with this issue 20 years ago and had to trim both the switches and double gang plates to accomodate the two automated switches (X10 switches though were smaller than UPB switches).
The old in wall switch boxes typically only had 2 leads for the lights (hot and load) plus maybe 2 more leads for a 3 way. Today with automated switches you have same two leads plus neutral plus 3 way travelers. Here have capped the travelers and use links from one 3 way switch to another. I had issues with the last one because the electrician put a conduit in to the side of the box and still ran two conduits on the top and two conduits on the bottom of the metal 4 X 4 box. Each conduit does go in to the box maybe 1/4-3/8 ".
House built in FL used plastic boxes and romex plus the walls had fire breaks. Tried to cover all of the electrical with architecture before walls were up. I still needed to add romex afterwards. It was a PITA to run new romex from a new wall plate up to the attic and then to a new ceiling can. Only way to do this was to cut holes in the drywall, pass the wire through the fire break up and down, then patch and paint the drywall.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1419]
It is no wire nuts and all Wago levers for all 14 guage wires in the box. I have never seen or used 16-18 guage electrical wire. Just 10-12 guage wire.
Today switched the neutral leads in the box (4) and hot leads in the box (4) to Lever nuts. Each set of leads of 14 guage wire was using a wire nut. (large one). The lever nut is flat and I used 6 port lever nuts. Going from the wire nut to the lever nut saves a bunch of space in the metal 4X4 double gang box which is only a tad less than 2" deep and it has 2 conduits coming in from the top and two on the bottom. If you buy these by boxes of 10 they are around $1 each. But you can buy these in boxes of a hundred. Going to the lever nuts was suggested by an electrician that is doing a bunch of automated switches. Personally still like conduit / metal boxes more than romex. That is me.
I only utilize 6 and 3 port Wago nuts and they can be used for 12-24 guage wire. Almost the entire house here is wired with 14 guage wire 15 AMP and only some 12 guage wire for the high amperage stuff. Well now a days too for LED lighting there is hardly any draw on a 15 AMP circuit.
The wago lever nuts are way smaller and flat versus a large wire nut. Here is a picture of the two side by side. Two side by side automated switches are very tight. I dealt with this issue 20 years ago and had to trim both the switches and double gang plates to accomodate the two automated switches (X10 switches though were smaller than UPB switches).
The old in wall switch boxes typically only had 2 leads for the lights (hot and load) plus maybe 2 more leads for a 3 way. Today with automated switches you have same two leads plus neutral plus 3 way travelers. Here have capped the travelers and use links from one 3 way switch to another. I had issues with the last one because the electrician put a conduit in to the side of the box and still ran two conduits on the top and two conduits on the bottom of the metal 4 X 4 box. Each conduit does go in to the box maybe 1/4-3/8 ".
House built in FL used plastic boxes and romex plus the walls had fire breaks. Tried to cover all of the electrical with architecture before walls were up. I still needed to add romex afterwards. It was a PITA to run new romex from a new wall plate up to the attic and then to a new ceiling can. Only way to do this was to cut holes in the drywall, pass the wire through the fire break up and down, then patch and paint the drywall.
[sharedmedia=gallery:images:1419]
pete_c
Guru
Update: 25th of January, 2021
Waiting on installing more Wago levers here. Finished adding the plastic mudplate. Still not enough room for the wires with installation of one UPB switch next to one combo Light/Fan switch.
Installing UPB switch first then tucking all of the rest of the wires behind the UPB switch and then installing the combo light fan switch. It is very tight.
IE: 6 and 6 hot and neutral leads which were wire nut connected.
If you do not feel comfortable doing this then hire an electrican. It is time consuming.
Waiting on installing more Wago levers here. Finished adding the plastic mudplate. Still not enough room for the wires with installation of one UPB switch next to one combo Light/Fan switch.
Installing UPB switch first then tucking all of the rest of the wires behind the UPB switch and then installing the combo light fan switch. It is very tight.
IE: 6 and 6 hot and neutral leads which were wire nut connected.
If you do not feel comfortable doing this then hire an electrican. It is time consuming.
pete_c
Guru
Update status - Help
Original installation picture - most difficult installation in house was master bedroom. Here I removed the metal mudplate and replaced it with a plastic one and used Wago nuts instead of the twist nuts. 3 light load wires in the box (1 - wall outlets 2 - Fan light 3 - Fan)
12th May 2023
Here have had no issues with my 3-4 Treatlife==> Tasmota Fan Light switches since installation in 2020. Mostly it was fitting these switches in the dual gang metal boxes with UPB switches that caused me grief. These switches were installed in 3-4 rooms with unique circuits. I removed the fan light in the kitchen here.
That said I did convert two more of these switches for a peer in TX. These are in the same gang box and control two fan / lights (LED).
Problems in TX relating to this post on Amazon.
I've been looking for a cost-effective smart fan/light switch for a while and the Treatlife Fan/Dimmer switch appeared to tick all the boxes. I initially installed 3 of these on ceiling fans in our house, but I soon discovered some very odd behaviour under certain circumstances.
Most of my other switches in my house are already smart wifi switches. Some are straight on/off switches, others are dimmers. All require a neutral for proper functionality. I've noticed that when the Treatlife fan/dimmer switch is installed on a circuit that already has a smart dimmer switch, turning on the other dimmer switch would ALSO turn on the fan light. As you turn up the brightness on the other dimmer, the fan light brightness would turn down. My 9-year old thought his fan was possessed by ghosts when his bedroom fan light turned on in the middle of the night when we turned on the hall lights (on a smart dimmer) at various points in the night.
After much troubleshooting (and frying one of the 3 Treatlife switches) and online research, I found the problem. Old dimmers used to make incandescent lights dim by adding resistance at the switch, which would make the switch warm. That approach doesn't work with LED lights, so they now essentially dump unused voltage to the neutral wire. When you turn the brightness down, more voltage is dumped to neutral. The Treatlife switch is passing this voltage through to the light, which explains why turning up the brightness on one light would turn down the brightness on the Treatlife. This doesn't happen with any other dimmer, including the smart dimmers that were on these same circuits.
As such, I cannot recommend this switch if you have any other modern dimmer using the neutral wire on the same circuit.
I actually contacted Treatlife about this. They admitted that they don't support multiple smart dimmers on the same circuit because of this issue. For anybody else considering purchasing this dimmer (or any other Treatlife dimmer), make sure there won't be any other smart dimmers on the same circuit or you'll run into trouble.
TX Peer had an electrician run separate light / fan control wires down to the wall gang box. Dual gang box with two fan light switches both with same hot and neutral wire. (he calls them north and south fans).
Here purchased Jasco resistors for my UPB switches (connected to my LED lamps). I get no flicker when dimming my LED lamps in the house. I suggested the resistor fix for the light loads on the two fan light switches.
Odd for the peer in TX that the Jasco resistor worked on one combo light fan switch but not on the other one. Peer thinks it is a hardware problem with the switch. So today he is switching them to see. Personally I think it is a wiring issue and suggested adding the resistor to the light box under the fan.
Peer has tested with a volt meter and sees 1-2 volts on the neutral (white) wire when checking against copper wire in romex when the switch is off.
Any suggestions for further testing. I have also suggested doubling the resistor on the willy nilly switch or putting it in the light box.
Original installation picture - most difficult installation in house was master bedroom. Here I removed the metal mudplate and replaced it with a plastic one and used Wago nuts instead of the twist nuts. 3 light load wires in the box (1 - wall outlets 2 - Fan light 3 - Fan)
12th May 2023
Here have had no issues with my 3-4 Treatlife==> Tasmota Fan Light switches since installation in 2020. Mostly it was fitting these switches in the dual gang metal boxes with UPB switches that caused me grief. These switches were installed in 3-4 rooms with unique circuits. I removed the fan light in the kitchen here.
That said I did convert two more of these switches for a peer in TX. These are in the same gang box and control two fan / lights (LED).
Problems in TX relating to this post on Amazon.
I've been looking for a cost-effective smart fan/light switch for a while and the Treatlife Fan/Dimmer switch appeared to tick all the boxes. I initially installed 3 of these on ceiling fans in our house, but I soon discovered some very odd behaviour under certain circumstances.
Most of my other switches in my house are already smart wifi switches. Some are straight on/off switches, others are dimmers. All require a neutral for proper functionality. I've noticed that when the Treatlife fan/dimmer switch is installed on a circuit that already has a smart dimmer switch, turning on the other dimmer switch would ALSO turn on the fan light. As you turn up the brightness on the other dimmer, the fan light brightness would turn down. My 9-year old thought his fan was possessed by ghosts when his bedroom fan light turned on in the middle of the night when we turned on the hall lights (on a smart dimmer) at various points in the night.
After much troubleshooting (and frying one of the 3 Treatlife switches) and online research, I found the problem. Old dimmers used to make incandescent lights dim by adding resistance at the switch, which would make the switch warm. That approach doesn't work with LED lights, so they now essentially dump unused voltage to the neutral wire. When you turn the brightness down, more voltage is dumped to neutral. The Treatlife switch is passing this voltage through to the light, which explains why turning up the brightness on one light would turn down the brightness on the Treatlife. This doesn't happen with any other dimmer, including the smart dimmers that were on these same circuits.
As such, I cannot recommend this switch if you have any other modern dimmer using the neutral wire on the same circuit.
I actually contacted Treatlife about this. They admitted that they don't support multiple smart dimmers on the same circuit because of this issue. For anybody else considering purchasing this dimmer (or any other Treatlife dimmer), make sure there won't be any other smart dimmers on the same circuit or you'll run into trouble.
TX Peer had an electrician run separate light / fan control wires down to the wall gang box. Dual gang box with two fan light switches both with same hot and neutral wire. (he calls them north and south fans).
Here purchased Jasco resistors for my UPB switches (connected to my LED lamps). I get no flicker when dimming my LED lamps in the house. I suggested the resistor fix for the light loads on the two fan light switches.
Odd for the peer in TX that the Jasco resistor worked on one combo light fan switch but not on the other one. Peer thinks it is a hardware problem with the switch. So today he is switching them to see. Personally I think it is a wiring issue and suggested adding the resistor to the light box under the fan.
Peer has tested with a volt meter and sees 1-2 volts on the neutral (white) wire when checking against copper wire in romex when the switch is off.
Any suggestions for further testing. I have also suggested doubling the resistor on the willy nilly switch or putting it in the light box.
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