Hampton Bay Zigbee Fan controller

Woot! Consider a Peanut outlet as a Zigbee repeater if you don’t have any other Zigbee devices.

Yeah I ended up moving my hub upstairs to pair it. I was looking at the peanuts earlier, they seemed like the cheapest zigbee powered device that could repeat. I may grab some. I have some Osram bulbs but they have repeating issues on ST. Thanks everyone for your help.

Anyone with CFL bulbs having issues just put a regular bulb in for testing and setup.

1 Like

Thought I’d share my little project I completed. I bought the Remotec ZRC-90US to control this and used the label printer at work to make button labels, which I clear coated. Also did some programming with core to allow the power button to save the state if the light or fan is on and restore the state, and programmed the timmer button to toggle between 2 hour, 4 hour and off. I had issues with the Hampton bay in wall controller. It would stop controlling the fan after a few days requiring a battery pull to fix. Replaced it with a second one, with same results. So this will now be mounted on a blank gang box cover on the wall. Can share more details if anyone would like.

6 Likes

That’s awesome! I’m not joking, how much would you charge if you’re willing to make one? :slight_smile:

1 Like

I posted more info here, as well as the files for the images. It would be very easy to do yourself.

Not sure folks on this thread have seen this, but there’s a “whole home” (up to 6 fans) solution that is available via the Bond Home hub (or is it a bridge? :slight_smile: ) for $99.

Currently has Alexa and GH integration, IFTT support, and SmartThings integration is coming “soon” (Q1 2018 appears to be the target according to Bond team statements).

I have it controlling six fans (Hampton Bay and Hunter) in my home via IFTT & Webhook commands from webCore pistons, you can also use the Bond app and as noted Alexa voice control allows on/off, speed, light, etc. Google Home and IFTT control is currently limited to on/off, no speed control access (coming later). Has been very reliable, even using IFTT.

Anyway, worth a look - $99 for all your fans vs. $50 per fan, no rewiring, and Bond is working on State remote control support and IR control support, and controlling other devices as well.

Note: As @bradlee_s brings up below (thanks) this system can not provide active status monitoring…since the fans controlled are “dumb” (no Zwave or Zigbee communication) there is no reporting back from fans on current on/off or speed, etc., status. Using this approach gives fan control, but you won’t know the actual status of your fan unless you have line of site. (Family member could use the original remote to change settings, could turn off at wall if there is a switch, etc.) You can create a “virtual status.” Right now I’m setting the state of a Google Switch I created for each fan to match the on/off commands sent to the fan by my webCore pistons. That way I can see the current “virtual” fan status in my Things list. But it’s not reported from the fan, just a record of the last command I sent to it.

it’s an intriguing product for sure, but this zigbee fan controller works with ST right now.

1 Like

Sure…but if you have four or five fans w/the Zigbee controller you’re out $200 to $250 bucks along w/having to rewire each fan (which admittedly is sometimes fun :slight_smile: ).

Just wanted folks to know about this option - awareness = better outcomes for all, since each of us have different timelines, needs, inclinations, etc. :slight_smile:

1 Like

Bond would be a great option for someone that has no intention of using any sort of smart hub. I use a similar product to control dumb rf outlets (Hook). Both have the same limitations, in that neither would ever be capable of reporting current status of their controlled devices. For some, that might be fine. For others, that’s the reason they purchased SmartThings; to have “smart” control.

1 Like

@bradlee_s - I’m not sure you understand the current state.

I’m using the Bond Home bridge right now to control all my fans through my SmartThings hub and webCore pistons via IFTT integration - the user experience for my family is no different than if the Bond had direct ST integration, but I have to do more work in the background to hook it up via IFTT, obviously.

Currently the Bond Home bridge supports:

  • IFTT
  • Alexa
  • Google Home

So as noted, I control mine via IFTT now, as well as via voice (“Hey, Google, turn off the family room fan” or “Alexa…etc.”). When direct SmartThings integration is enabled I will switch over to using direct ST control, of course. I understand fully that ST integration is still in the “promise-ware” state, but I’m pretty confident based on Bond developer statements that they are going to deliver. If not, I’ll be OK w/IFTT, certainly comparing $99 for Bond vs. $300 for controlling my six fans w/the approach on this thread. But that’s just me.

Hope that is clearer…I don’t want to clutter up this thread so I’ll avoid replying to further here on this, and suggest further questions/comments be posted to the Bond thread I posted above. Apologies to others on this thread for the short-term hijack. :slight_smile:

I bought 3 of thise zigbee fan remotes through manually calling KoF. First one got fried after a week. 2nd never would pair despite hours going through both switch and breaker induced reset methods, and yeah I read all the forums with different techniques. The third one I installed worked fine for about 4 months but stopped responding to either SmartThings or its remote, didn’t appear fried like first but not sure. Could very well be power surges as rural location and I’ve lost equipment to lightning strikes before…Ultimately I went with bond and standard rf remotes. I’ve been pretty happy with it, though do hope speed of integrations increases…

So yeah these are cool but bond is pretty neat as well. Also like that I can use bond with a DC motor fan with integrated receiver, wasn’t able to do that with the receiver replacement or GE fan switches, kinda nice.

No, this is awesome. I’m going to start following that thread too since I never heard of this. I can’t think of how many times I must have Googled “Z-wave fan control” and not find anything much – too bad they don’t have some related search matching – so I am so glad you posted this. I absolutely love the thing – the only thing I wish it had was some sort of IR device that you could put on or near those devices (think IR Blaster from the good old VCR days) but since I don’t have any IR-controlled fans I’m OK with that.

I think this is a good solution for legacy devices in general or devices that you don’t want to replace. For me, the Hampton Bay ZigBee controller was a non-starter because (as I posted back in December), the expensive (ugh) fan I have (Hunter Sophia) uses capacitive control and it’s not compatible with that. Plus all the annoyances of the thing being continuously out of stock, people having issues with the thing frying and/or not working correctly or being intermittent, plus, after all, it too isn’t a supported ST device.

I have three fans, none of which will work with the Hampton Bay device: the Sophia one (capacitive speed control) and two Hampton bay fans that have an up light and a down light. So, I’m excited to maybe potentially solve my problem.

I’ll be interested to read on the other thread about what you’re doing about getting status like @bradlee_s mentions so you can do more than turn it on/off ad hoc.

1 Like

I understand how your device works. I think you misunderstood my concern.

Bond controls dumb devices. You cannot poll status of dumb devices. You can only guess. You send a command and have no way of verifying whether or not the device received it.

Like I said, this is a great solution for people that don’t care about true “smart” control.

Got it, thanks, that was clear.

Yes - that is an inherent gap in this system. In my case I’ve removed all the original fan remotes so the family only has access to ST Minimotes for fan control, so they are unlikely to get the fans out of sync w/any “virtual status” options that I enable. Right now I’m setting the state of a Google Switch I created for each fan to match the on/off commands sent to the fan. That way I can see the current “virtual” fan status in my Things list. But it’s not status reported from the fan, just a record of the last command I sent to it, and if the command doesn’t get there and I don’t have line of site I won’t know. Since all of our fan use is when we are sitting under or near it that’s not a big issue for me.

Thanks for confirming your issue - I didn’t state that explicitly in my summary, and important to bring out.

I have three fans all are controlled from a single gang box light and fan dimmer combo switch. I was hoping to get to the bottom of the thread to find a smart fan/light combo switch. I see the remote but seems like a hassle. Has nothing better come out yet? I do have a wink2 hub but this route seems like a lot of work.

You won’t find quality smart combo switches. The components are just too large. Hopefully smaller components get produced/integrated some day.
If you only want to turn them on/off, perhaps a good dual relay is your best bet. I wouldn’t try using a single smart fan controller on multiple fans as the draw is probably too high.
If you want dedicated smart control of each, you would need to either put in a larger box to house multiple devices, or add separate receivers in each canopy. If you have the room, a larger box is the best option. If not, go with 3 MR101Z receivers.
In my situation, I also had combo switches everywhere. In the bedrooms, I didn’t have space to put in an extra control. I used the MR101Z to control the fan and used a GE smart dimmer at the wall to control the lights (capping off the receiver’s light wire at the fan). I used SmartLighting to trigger the dimmer if the remote was used to turn the lights on. I also added double tap button routines at the dimmer to turn the fan on and off.
In the end, I have a single gang switch at the wall that acts as a combo switch!

you could also use 3 of the fan/light combo receivers, one in each fan canopy, all set to the same house code and use one remote to turn them all on/off or use the app to control them individually

3 Likes

In regards to Bond I found it less than perfect and the lack of ST integration was annoying. I don’t consider IFTTT a good solution. Relying on two cloud smart home products to always work together reliably is asking for trouble as it is, let alone three. IFTTT can also be very laggy.

For the past several weeks my office fan has worked great with this receiver but that was while my ST hub was temporarily relocated to the office. After I moved my ST hub back downstairs, my office fan receiver is no longer working. This really shouldn’t be a zigbee signal issue either as I have a smart bulb even farther away than this receiver is and it still works fine.

I also installed my second receiver today and am struggling with it as well. I got it to successfully reset once, then it paired in ST. It worked in ST for a bit, then I killed power at the wall and closed up my canopy. Now it no longer responds to ST. I’ve deleted it from ST and tried to repair it probably a dozen times sense then and I simply cannot the lights to flash again to indicate a reset. 5x 3 secs on 3 secs off, 5x 5 secs on 5 secs off, used a stopwatch. You name it.

I am happy with how well these tend to work once they are working, but they damn sure are inconsistent the second they drop off the zigbee network even for a little bit.

These receivers have notoriously bad antennas, and consequently terrible Zigbee reception. Adding a repeater nearby, such as the very inexpensive Peanut outlet, solves this problem.

Once paired, there’s no need to reset if it drops off. Just cut power off and on once.

I have 3 of the Hampton Bay fan receivers and I know from experience that they really need a strong mesh to work reliably. The one installed in the guest bedroom required a repeater be installed just outside the bedroom with another repeater inside the bedroom to work reliably. These repeaters [Iris Wall Plugs] are less than 6 feet from each other and if I remove ether repeater the fan will drop off-line. I too have other zigbee devices further out from the hub that have always worked fine without the additional repeaters.