Micro dimmer that works with a fan

Can the fan speed be increased or decreased from a scene controller or other wall mounted button or switch?

Scott,

It’s going to depend on how you end up setting up your light and fan. Some people control the light from the wall and some control the fan. Others do it just the opposite. You will need to see what wiring options you have and then decide which way works best for you. I did not use a Micro switch to control the light.

I set mine up so the light was controlled by the switch since that is what we use the most on that specific fan / light combination. If it were say my living room one it would be the opposite way for me since in there we use the fan more that the light.

To answer your question about other ways to control the hidden switch be it fan or light. Yes you can use other switches battery or whatever to control it. We have Minimotes that we currently use to control both the light and the fan speed from one remote. You could also use a battery operated switch to tell smart things you want to change the light or fan. In turn your settings in smart things would perform the function.

There is a lot of different ways to go about this and everyone has their personal preference. Somewhere else on another topic @JDRoberts gave me an example of a good battery switch that mounts on the wall. I’ll try to find that and post it here if he doesn’t beat me to it.

Just remember you HAVE to have a fan controller for the fan. A regular dimmer will not work for the fan. You can use a regular dimmer for your light just not the fan.

Either way your going to have to do more wiring than just connecting the wires where the old switch use to be. If you are not comfortable doing this or able to safely. I HIGHLY recommend hiring an electrician.

Many choices for possible wall mount controllers in the following thread:

Just remember that if you do choose a battery operated controller, you will not be able to turn the fan on or off if the smartthings service is not available. So you may want to leave a secondary method of control to deal with Internet or smartthings outages. :sunglasses:

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@Scott_Barton This is another reason I chose to have the light on the physical switch. I can go without a fan if there is issues.

Thanks @JDRoberts once again your Johnny on the spot with the great helpful advice.

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This comes up pretty regularly for ceiling fans. The one that @TN_Oldman was referring to that I did was because I didn’t have a light switch.

And here is one that applies to you that I think would work best. I would have done it this way if I had a wall switch on the wall. So put your GE Fan controller on the wall switch location…

Good news and bad news. Using this method worked and does exactly what I want to do. GE Fan controller wired into fan box. I’m using a Lightify Bulb so no need for a micro dimmer for the light. Replaced the GE Fan Dimmer that used to be mounted on the wall (no in light) with a regular On/Off on the wall. It needs to be in the On position at all times, but toggling it Off then On, allows me to turn on the Lightify Light without a remote.

Problem is the fan cover is too small to fit a large dimmer switch inside it. The WAF is 0 for a large dangling switch and exposed wires above the fan. :frowning:

Any ideas where I can get a large white fan box cover while I wait for @TheSmartestHouse to build a micro fan dimmer? :wink:

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Any electrical supply house should have standard gray/white project boxes that would work. The big ones are often used for pool equipment.

You may be able to find them on Amazon as well, here’s one that would be too small but it’s the same idea.

https://www.amazon.com/Waterproof-Position-Terminals-Electric-Junction/dp/B012NJUUG4

I had kinda the same issue. It was a VERY TIGHT fit with the switch. I had to bend the metal heat sync some to get it in above the fan mount in the box. It was not easy but I got it in there. I believe I had to actually have some one hold the fan out of the way. Then set it back in the holder.

It has worked great since I put it in.

@Scott_Barton,
Now I think about it some. I might have even taken the fan mount down some and pushed it all in there. The screwed fan mount back on and put fan in and wired the fan and light back up. Was a pain in the ARSE but with it when it worked.

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Can the Enerwave 7-Button scene controller be used to manually dim the fan? Ie, push or hold a button to increase the speed. Similar to how the GE Fan controller works?

@Scott_Barton Just like Don mentions I had the same issue and ended up bending the corners of the heat sinks with some pliers to make it fit in the fan ceiling cover. BUT don’t forget to try to fit it up inside the gangbox in the ceiling first. I couldn’t do that with mine because mine is mounted using a pancake flat ceiling fan box directly to a ceiling joist.

Here is an idea, go by your local home improvement store and look at the ceiling fans with large base covers. If you find a big one that will fit then you can contact the manufacturer for the one piece as a repair part. Also another option then is to even replace the existing ceiling box with a larger capacity box that is rated to hold ceiling fans so that you could put the switch up in there. Of course the best option to help with WAF is purchasing a new ceiling fan that she always wanted (with a big enough base to hide the switch in so you need to do your homework first) … that is what I did. :grin:

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Not exactly.

The SC7 basically works like a minimote. It is not controlling the current to the fan itself. It sends an instruction to the hub which sends an instruction to whatever network device you have that is controlling the current to the fan.

If you put the GE fan controller up in the canopy, you could put the SC7 on the wall and it would just be like any of the other button/remote options at that point. But you can’t use the SC7 instead of the GE fan controller, because it’s not able to directly control the fan.

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Yet ANOTHER item on my smartthings to do list!!

I’ll die before that list EVER gets done.

Actually I had looked at a different switch that looks like all my other toggle switches. Still on my amazon wish list and to do list.

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Right, so what I’m wondering is, is there a way to bump up the power level. In the ST, app there is a slider that allows you to control the power level. In Smart Apps, you can turn on and set level (in 10% increments).
What I would like is an app that when you push a button, it increase the current level by 10%. Ie The fan is at 30%. I hit the button, it goes up to 40%, I hit it again, it goes to 50% one more time, it goes to 60%, etc.

That was my first thought, but probably too time consuming. I’m also thinking maybe a large white plastic bowl.

Ceiling fans don’t work like that, unless it’s made for it. Your standard ceiling fan does 3 speeds. Low,medium and high.

Now @JDRoberts is going to post an example of a fan the can be used like this. I believe they are fairly new and fairly expensive.

JDRobert’s? You’re up!

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The fan we currently have works with the GE Fan control dimmer, and I can set the fan speed to 10% and up using the slider in ST.

You can get pretty close. Use the quick browse list in the community – created wiki in the smartapp section and look at the smart apps for HVAC. I know there’s one in there for button controller fans. Or look at the list for remotes, because button controller + can also do it. I don’t know that it will exactly do 10% increments but you can definitely use a minimote or an SC7 to bump up the fan speed

http://thingsthataresmart.wiki/index.php?title=How_to_Quick_Browse_the_Community-Created_SmartApps_Forum_Section

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Ahhh, yeah but as I understand it. Any setting say below 33% be 10,20,15 whatever is still only low. Then say 33% to 67% is medium. 67% and up is interpreted as high.

I could be wrong, I’m not a programmer,electrician or anything just how I thought it worked unless you had a fan designed for it. (DC drive)(I think)

The smarter and engineering types have explained it before on here somewhere. I’m not going to try and search for it on my phone.

That’s just the way the switches are typically set up. After that it depends on the specific model of fan. In many, the motor doesn’t care. So if you have a fully variable fan controller you can have smaller increments. But some are set up more like gears where the motor itself has low, medium and high. So you need to read the manual for the fan to see if you can use an “infinite variable controller” with it.

You guys inspired me to deal with my ceiling fan. I had always wanted the fan and it’s light to be on Z-Wave but I could never find a device that would control the light and the fan in a single gang box. So… I just put a $35 micro dimmer up in the fan and that worked very well!

Now I’ll get myself a fan controller for the wall and I’ll be all set.

True, I can’t control the light from the wall but I don’t need to. The room has other lights, so this light is extra. Now I can program it to come on when I come home, which I can’t do with the other lights.

So thanks for the inspiration!

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