SmartThings Community

GE Z-Wave Wireless Smart Fan Speed Control, 3-Speed, In-Wall

#1

I want to install a smart switch to control a fan on my patio. I don’t care about being able to adjust the fan speed, just want to be able to control on off.

Do I need to buy this fan specific switch from GE?

or can I just use one of the extra GE 12722 regular on/off switches that I have?

Is there a safety/electrical/code reason for using the fan switch over the regular switch?

Is there a practical reason such as the fan will be recognized as a light unless I use the fan switch?

Thanks in advance.

#2

This switch will work. I have 4 toggle type 12727 switches on my fans. I use a routine to turn them on and off based on house temp. I hardly every use my fans on any speed other than medium so I, like you, was not interested in controlling the speed.

(Ron Talley) #3

I used the 12727s at first then decided later that I would like to control the speed. Since the 12730s were only $2 more, I eventually replaced them all.

(Mike) #4

I did the same as rontalley, I at first just used regular toggle switches, but when I did the one in the bedroom I thought it would be nice to adjust the speed. Since doing that one I have since switched out the rest, I found I like being able to control the speed.

#5

Actually, even with the 12730, the stock device handler in ST will see it as a dimmer anyway I believe (even though it is a true fan control). But there are a few community handlers available that set it up as a proper fan control with low, med, high options if you so choose.

I wanted the choice so all 10 fans in my home are on 12730’s (two are on a single 12730 which is allowed/in spec).

#6

Another thread on the subject of fans just made me think of something I should make sure your aware off. If your fan has a light kit on it you may need to do some rewiring if your going to use a speed adjusting switch. The lights will not get the full current they need when the switch lowers fan speed.

#7

Thanks for all of the responses. Given the small price difference I think I’ll just go with the 12730 so that I have the option if I want it later.

(Charles) #8

Sightly different question… I’m thinking about doing something foolish and so I just need someone (perhaps @JDRoberts ?) to tell me NO!.

I have the 12730 and it works and is controllable by CoRE. The problem is that - just my wild guesess - at low it runs at 10%, at medium it runs 20% and high is 100%. I want something closer to 60%.

My idea: Use CoRE to pulse the motor, something like 8 seconds on high followed by 6 seconds off, repeat ad infinitum. If this happens, for instance, 1000 times over several hours, what happens?

#9

I’ll defer to electrical experts like @Navat604 and others in the community for an educated answer, but if this were presented as an exam question my answer would be

“It will burn out. The only question is whether the fan motor goes out before the switch.”

#10

The Fan Control can run at whatever you want it to with the stock ‘dimmer’ control that SmartThings assigns to it (ie, you can set anything from 1% to 100%). The same is true for custom handlers that are available. The latter have defaults but have prefs to override the values for low, med, high, etc. For example, I use a custom handler and the defaults are 33%, 67% and 99% which for my fans is low, med and high. Your actual fan is what will determine what value will move it from low to med to high.

So, not sure your request is needed nor is it a good idea.

(Don) #11

That speed ratio is odd. Every fan I have put these on has 3 distinct speeds. Seems something is up?
I have had it where it ran at 1 speed no matter what smart things said it was running, but nothing like that.

#12

For your speed control issue, it sounds like there’s a problem . It’s supposed to run at 33%, 66%, and full for the three presets. As far as I know, there’s no way to adjust that speed.

The first thing I would check would be to make sure that the fan is set to full speed with its manual controls. If by chance someone adjusted the manual speed on the fan to, say, low then you might see the end result that you’re seeing now. So the fan itself should be set to high and then the switch will control those three presets.

It could also be a wiring problem. I don’t think a problem with the switch would present the way you’re describing, but I suppose anything is possible if the device is defective.

#13

Perhaps I misunderstood and as others are chiming in on, you are saying your actual fan is running at the 10, 20 and 100. If so, yes, your fan is odd or there’s a problem and sending some other value from ST is not going to solve it.

I thought you were saying the values being sent from ST were the 10, 20, etc.

(Don) #14

Does the fan change speeds correctly when you use the switch? Then only wrong when smartthings is sending the speed command? Or is it wrong when using either one?

That would be a good clue to try to isolate the issue.

(Charles) #15

Thanks, everyone. To clarify…

The fan is http://www.barnlightelectric.com/barn-ceiling-fans/high-velocity-ceiling-fans/60-white-high-performance-barn-and-farm-ceiling-fan.html?sef_rewrite=1

I got this because, while not beautiful, puts out huge air velocity. It has no mechanical speed control; just the GE fan speed switch. At high, the fan runs at what must be full volume because I can’t imagine the fan going any faster without tearing loose from the ceiling. :slight_smile:

The slower speeds seem to be controlled by the GE switch. It doesn’t matter whether I go to the low or med settings via the wall switch, DTH or a SmartApp (e.g. CoRE).

My estimate of low=10% and med=20% is just a subjective guess, but it’s darn close. At the medium speed, I would guess the rotation is just less than 1 revolution per second. At high, there is no way to measure without a high-speed camera. My wife won’t sit under it.

What I’d really like is a fan speed controller (ST integrated) that has finer granularity of speed. Or, the GE giving something close to 33% and 66%.

(Ray) #16

I would look into the wiring. Sounded like you are missing a neutral. Is there a red wire coming out of the fan? That’s usually is your speed control.

(Charles) #17

Thanks, @Navat604. Here’s a pic of the wiring from the manual that is how I wired it:

Screenshot_20170517-085235.jpg1536×635 142 KB

The house neutral goes to the red & white, nutted together. If it helps, here’s the complete fan installation manual: http://www.barnlightelectric.com/index.php?dispatch=attachments.getfile&attachment_id=5405

Also, a couple of other pieces of information.

  1. I measured the actual rotation speeds at low=32rpm, medium=61rpm. The specs give the high at 292rpm, which I don’t doubt.

  2. Given all the help - which I greatly appreciate! - I should have mentioned that I have the switch actually controlling two of these fans in parallel with mirrored performance. Is it possible the load is more than the switch can handle and that causes a reduced speed but only on the low and medium settings?

#18

Any chance you’ve wired it so that it’s actually triggering the reverse? I just mention that because some fans limit the reverse speeds to keep people from toggling it back-and-forth too quickly and damaging the fan.

(Charles) #19

I’m capable of anything, but I really think not. For a couple of reasons: 1) full speed works great; and 2) I would have had to make the identical mistake on both fans.

#20

It may well be the split load, then. Again, I will defer to the electrical experts, and there are a lot of factors like impedance and length of the runs, but it certainly wouldn’t surprise me if adding the second fan reduced the speed of the first.

Have you tried just disconnecting the second fan altogether to see if that affected the speed of the first one?