GE Zwave Fan Switch and Phillip Hue bulb

I have a 3-speed ceiling fan and light kit with a single gang-box set up. In addition the fan is controlled by a remote and the manufacture recommends constant power to the fan to prevent overheating the motor.

Has any one used a GE Z-wave 3-speen fan switch in the gang box and a Phillips hue light bulb to control the light separately?

I think that wouldn’t work. If the switch at the wall is on, your fan is on and you can control the smart bulb (hue or other brand) using the ST app. So that’s fine.

But what about when the switch is off? There’s power to your switch, but not going to your fan and light. And now you have no control over the smart bulb. Right?

So your fan would have to be on all the time in order to control the smart bulb. Unless I’m missing something.

Quite a few people have done this for fans where the light kit is controlled separately, typically with a pull chain. It works just fine as long as the bulb is powered separately from the fan.

If The two are wired together so that the lights always come on when the fan comes on and the lights don’t have a separate control, then, as @marktheknife mentions, you’ll run into a problem.

As @anon36505037 mentioned, the remote may help, but only if it is an IR remote. These days most fan remotes in the US instead use a proprietary frequency, typically 334 or 433 MHz, and then there’s not much we can do with that. But if the fan remote does happen to be compatible with a Logitech Harmony remote, then you’ll have a number of additional options.

You can also replace both the remote and the wall switch with an IR mechanism and then use the Harmony hub to control that, but that’s an expensive option and is usually only chosen by people who really want to have one single gang wall device to control both the light and the fan.

Still other community members have used an inwall micro in the fan canopy just to control the lights and the separate GE fan switch on the wall for the variable speed fan. This choice is also popular.

But the short answer is, sure, as long as the lights are powered on and off separately from the fan motor being powered on and off, you can use a hue bulb there. As I mentioned, that’s a popular solution for the fans that require a pull chain for the lights. :sunglasses::bulb:

Then if you like you can add any of a number of battery operated wallmount or handheld devices to control the light.