Auto ceiling fan controller?

NMK95 · May 18, 2015, 9:02pm

Anyone have a basic smartapp that would control ceiling fans based on temps? Looking for the following.

IF [ Temp senor X (outside temp) is above F degrees, AND Temp sensor Z (inside temp) is above F degrees.] Then turn ON ceiling fan switch Y.

IF [Temp sensor Z (inside temp) is below F degrees.] Then turn OFF ceiling fan switch Y.

schettj · May 18, 2015, 9:52pm

I’ll be writing one if there isn’t one. Once I get moved, and get the ceiling fans, and get the zwave controllers for same. Sigh.

ero4444 · May 18, 2015, 9:58pm

ceiling fan doesn’t cool the room. It only cools people that have a layer of warm air around them, or people that perspire. So controlling a fan based on temperature makes sense only when people are present.
Sorry I don’t have an app. I actually wanted to do something like what you ask for, but my fan is 3 speed, so it would take 3 switches to get my desired result. I combined a wireless (not Zwave) ceiling fan thermostat controller
http://www.amazon.com/Hampton-Bay-Thermostatic-Ceiling-Control/dp/B001AQQSRM

and a Aeon Micro Switch module

to turn the fan off when house is unoccupied.

FYI the wireless thermostat has crappy range so I had to relocate it to line-of-sight 10-feet.

Good luck.

keithcroshaw · May 18, 2015, 10:35pm

You might be able to do this with one of the keep me kozy apps. I feel like one of them was a simple on off switch controller. If not dissect the SmartApp and create your own.

storageanarchy · May 18, 2015, 11:08pm

i have such an app, but I can’t upload it until tomorrow…

HARandy · May 19, 2015, 7:25am

Can’t you control a fan with a dimmer switch?

JDRoberts · May 19, 2015, 7:48am

You can with a variable control switch specifically rated for fans, but not with a dimmer rated for lights only. You will burn out the fan motor and may cause a fire. This is true whether the switch is networked or not. See the following thread:

Fan Light Dimming - Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Micro Dimmer Devices & Integrations

My wife enjoys having a fan in the bedroom (it helps her sleep). My project this last weekend was to install the fan. This was not a major undertaking but it made me rather sad as I had the light hooked up to a evolve dimmer and an aeon minimote to be able to turn the light on in off as I lay in bed (yes when it comes to getting out of bed I’m incredibly lazy). After installing the fan and realizing that turning the light on and off at night would require me to stand on the edge of the bed and reach up to the pull string to turn the light off, this scenario quickly became unacceptable. So I looked for a solution and found this: Aeon Labs Aeotec Z-Wave Micro Dimmer: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IRI1CEK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 To install this I put the devic…

GE makes a zwave switch specifically for controlling a fan which is a good option:

Kbra · May 19, 2015, 8:54am

There is a 3 speed fan switch:

JDRoberts · May 19, 2015, 2:57pm

Thanks, yes, the Leviton is a good fan switch that also works with SmartThings. It’s always good to have choices.

NMK95 · May 19, 2015, 9:05pm

I’m not a programmer at all so that’s why I didn’t tackle any of this before posting.

I’ll be using the the GE 12730 for all of my ceiling fans.
http://www.amazon.com/GE-12730-Z-Wave-3-Speed-Control/dp/B00PYMGVVQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1432047568&sr=1-1&keywords=12730

This is what I’ll use for manual control of the speeds from my cell.

GE Ceiling Fan Switch Custom Device Type - Low, Med, High buttons w/no slider! Community Created Device Types

Hi everyone! I recently got this fan switch from Home Controls and it works great, but I really did not like the slider to control the fan speed. Neither did the wife, so it wasn’t passing the WAF (wife acceptance factor) test. http://www.homecontrols.com/GE-Z-Wave-Ceiling-Fan-Wall-Switch-JA12730 I used ST’s default dimmer switch device type to create a new custom device type that replaces the slider with 3 buttons - Low, Med, and High; AND a tile to show the current speed setting. Check it out: [image] [image] If anyone has this device and would like the code to use for yourself, here it is: (disclaimer: I’m not a coder, so please excuse any poor coding practices!) https://github.com/constjs/SmartThings-Devices/blob/master/ge_fan_control_switch.device.groovy

rey_rios · May 20, 2015, 2:39am

I have the GE switch and I do this with IFTTT. I guess you could also do this with external sensors. There is a smartapp for the GE switch but you don’t really need an app if you’re going to just do on and off.

NMK95 · May 20, 2015, 2:05pm

Didn’t have much luck with IFTTT mid last year. Didn’t seem to be that reliable for me then, but have not messed with it in a while.

I don’t think it’d work in this case, since I would like to have several criteria to turn it on. Needs two temps as well as only working if we are present.

Tom2 · September 21, 2015, 6:50pm

Did you ever find a solution(smartapp) for this? I would like to do the same thing. Have a Fan turn on, triggered by motion, and set to a specific speed based on temp in the room.

rob_gore · September 21, 2015, 7:28pm

This’d be great if someone can create an application that sets the speed of the “fan control” based on a temperature differential.

so Low = XX degrees away from HVAC thermostat temp
Medium = XX degrees away from HVAC themostat temp
High = XX degrees away from HVAC themostat temp

and you’d set your% settings for low, medium, high for that Fan “Dimmer” since they show up as dimmers in smartthings.

If anyone’s up to the “app challenge” this i think could be used by many.

Lojack · January 29, 2016, 4:46am

That’s a good idea to modify the speed. I will look into that for my SmartApp.

github.com

louisjackson66/SmartThingsPublic/blob/master/smartapps/lojack66/fan-heater-controller.src/fan-heater-controller.groovy

/**
 *  Fan & Heater Controller
 *
 *  Copyright 2016 Louis Jackson
 *
 *  Version 1.0.1   31 Jan 2016
 *
 *	Version History
 *
 *	1.0.1   31 Jan 2016		Added version number to the bottom of the input screen
 *	1.0.0	28 Jan 2016		Added to GitHub
 *	1.0.0	27 Jan 2016		Creation
 *
 *  Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except
 *  in compliance with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
 *
 *      http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
 *
 *  Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software distributed under the License is distributed
 *  on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the License

This file has been truncated. show original

Enjoy!

dalec · February 21, 2016, 4:28am

If you modify your app to control the three speeds settings send me a message. Use adjustable setpoint, and then an adjustable differential setting between speeds.
In the meantime Rule Machine smartapp works beautifully. It is just a little hard to make a simple setpoint change.

UPDATE:
I wrote a smartapp to control the 3 speed ceiling fan now.

[OBSOLETE] 3 Speed Ceiling Fan Thermostat Community Created SmartApps

[image]This smartapp uses any temperature input to control the High, Medium, Low speeds of a ceiling fan based on your desired room temperature setpoint turning on each speed automatically in 1 degree differential increments (adjustable). For example, if you set your desired room temperature setpoint at 72, the low speed comes on first at 73, the medium speed comes on at 74, the high speed comes on at 75. And vice versa on decreasing temperature until at 72 the ceiling fan turns off. A notable feature is when low speed is requested high speed is turned on briefly to overcome the startup load then low speed is engaged. This mimics the pull chain switches that most manufacturers use by always starting in high speed. There is a motion option so that the fan turns off automatic mode when no …

Lojack · February 21, 2016, 4:24pm

I’m just glad you have something that works for you.

Daniel1 · February 26, 2016, 12:18pm

There’s an app in the app stores called SmartRules. I use this to do just that.

dalec · May 4, 2016, 10:37pm

[quote=“rob_gore, post:15, topic:16758”]
This’d be great if someone can create an application that sets the speed of the “fan control” based on a temperature differential.
[/quote][quote=“Tom2, post:14, topic:16758, full:true”]
Did you ever find a solution(smartapp) for this? I would like to do the same thing. Have a Fan turn on, triggered by motion, and set to a specific speed based on temp in the room
[/quote] @Daniel1 @rob_gore @NMK95 @rey_rios @ero4444 @schettj @ero4444

Just in case anyone is still looking for an app for this, I ended up writing a smartapp for a 3 Speed Ceiling Fan thermostat control via any temperature sensor with optional motion trigger.

[OBSOLETE] 3 Speed Ceiling Fan Thermostat Community Created SmartApps

[image]This smartapp uses any temperature input to control the High, Medium, Low speeds of a ceiling fan based on your desired room temperature setpoint turning on each speed automatically in 1 degree differential increments (adjustable). For example, if you set your desired room temperature setpoint at 72, the low speed comes on first at 73, the medium speed comes on at 74, the high speed comes on at 75. And vice versa on decreasing temperature until at 72 the ceiling fan turns off. A notable feature is when low speed is requested high speed is turned on briefly to overcome the startup load then low speed is engaged. This mimics the pull chain switches that most manufacturers use by always starting in high speed. There is a motion option so that the fan turns off automatic mode when no …

Jmcintosh97 · May 22, 2017, 7:16pm

Instead of selecting a desired room temp is there a way to make this app automatically follow the thermostat set point?
So for example as of now if I have the desired room temperature set to 72 and my furnace thermostat is set to 72 it works great turning the fan on when the thermostat turns on and off when the desired set point is reached however… if my thermostat is set on a schedule to change temperatures (say from 72° to 75° When I’m sleeping) when this happens my house temperature changes and my ceiling fan stays on high speed all the time unless I go in and manually change the targeted room temperature set point in the app. It would be nice if it would automatically follow what the thermostat is set to or changes to can this be done?

Auto ceiling fan controller?

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