Making attic fan "Smart"

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Hi everyone!

First post so be gentle.

I am planning on installing a new attic fan tommrow Attic Fan Here and I would like it to work and be monitored with my smarthings. I try to attach all new electronic devices via SmartThings when possible.

I know the attic fan comes with a thermostat but they tend to break. I plan to remove the thermostat and use a Aeotec Multisensor 6 instead. The reason I chose this temp sensor is because it can be powerd via usb. I do not want to go into the attic to change batteries. And also the temp readings go up very high.

So the attic fan will be plugged Into [This smart outlet](Leviton DZR15-1RZ Decora Z-Wave Controls 15-Amp Tamper Resistant Split Duplex Receptacle, White/Light Almond, Works with Alexa https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6HT2YN/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_WjLZCbH6WQ38S)

So the way I see it working is set automation for: temp sensor senses 100 degrees which will turn on the smart outlet which will turn on the fan.

The fan will be plugged Into the smart portion of the outlet and the temp sensor will be plugged into the second part of the outlet.

Am I on the right track here?

Thanks!

2

Personally, I would use the built-in thermostat for the Fan. It really will be more reliable than a cloud based solution from ST. My guess is the fan’s thermostat will have far fewer failures than the ST platform over the next 5 years… :wink:

I would use the Aeotec sensor as a trigger to notify you if the temperature gets too hot in the attic, basically as an alarm that the fan’s thermostat or motor may have failed. If you want an extra layer of information, you could monitor the fan’s power usage via a smart outlet as well. Using both the temperature sensor + power monitoring together would eliminate false alarms.

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Have you looked at this?