Possible to control ceiling fan / light combo without having an actual switch?

Devices & Integrations
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My living room didn’t have a ceiling light so I installed a ceiling fan / light combo… It was too difficult to run wires down the wall and install an actual switch so I just pulled power from a box in my attic and have a fan/light that came with a remote…

Currently I have 3 smart bulbs in it so I can at least control the lights… Problem is, when we turn the lights off with the remote, obviously I then can’t see/control them with ST… I also can’t do anything with the fan either way…

Is there anything I could use to fully get the fan and lights to work in ST regardless if someone hits the remote button?

Thanks for the help!

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Chungear makes a “Wink Enabled” (Zigbee) ceiling fan receiver - MR101Z. It works well in ST. It also works with many universal RF remotes for when you don’t care to use an app or voice assistant. Home Depot sells them, but they are near always out of stock. If you are really interested, King of Fans is a parts distributor out of Ft. Lauderdale that many people here have bought the receiver directly from.

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At Home Depot they sell/sold a 52in ceiling fan: Gardinier LED that has a wirelss remote and also can be remote controlled via Wink hub and supports Wink app.

(might be the same one mentioned earlier)

HTH

John

4

Why not put a switch in the attic? I’ve thought about doing that for a hotwired fan in our bathroom.

Do you remember if your fan has separate light/fan power? Are there more than 3 speeds to the fan? If so, you have a variable speed motor which doesn’t play well with conventional fan rheostats.

I went as far as donating a newly bought fan because it couldn’t be controlled with switches. It was one of them newer remote-controlled fans with a variable speed motor and a single line for power. Replaced it with a nice, pull-cord fan with separate lines for the lights and fan. Removed the cords.

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There is an [RF transmitter on amazon](BroadLink New RM Pro ,WiFi Smart Home Hub, IR RF All in One Automation Learning Universal Remote Control Compatible for Apple Android Smartphone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01GIXZDKO/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_5m-JAb30GEDXQ). It’s like harmony for fans. It’s not directly supported by smartthings. You may need to use ifttt or similar YMMV.

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The Zigbee fan controller is available right now at HomeDepot if you hurry:

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Bought two of these lol. .Not sure if they will work for me or not but figured I’d jump on them fast just in case they do…

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I have them throughout my house and they work great. Only issue is poor signal. But adding a cheap Zigbee repeater nearby fixes that.

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Do they work with Alexa? Right now I don’t have a whole ton… I have 7 Zigbee bulbs, a Z-Wave lock, two Z-Wave switches, and two sensors…

Still pretty new to the tech… So I may have issues with range? My ST Hub is in my living room on the first floor… I want to put one of these controllers on the second floor master bedroom and one literally in the room where the hub is…

I don’t have any devices on the second floor currently…

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It does work with Alexa. The speed control is a little gludgy (Alexa, turn on the Master Bedroom Fan Medium), but it does work.

This is by far the best deal in Zigbee repeaters. Most bulbs don’t repeat. And since you have no other Zigbee devices that do, I’d get a few of these.

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Thanks a lot for the help!! I appreciate it!!

So with my current devices… If I just add a couple of these to my second floor it will help with “Zigbee” coverage? And they work with ST just fine?

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Yes. And yes, I have them paired as a generic “ZigBee Switch”.

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Nice find. The broadlink sucks if you have casa viaja or Hampton Bay fans, since there on the 303Mhz band, which doesn’t work with it. Only 315, and 433, 445 I think

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So I installed them both. The one in the same room as my ST hub paired right up, which is in the first floor of the house.

The second one, in he second floor of the house will not. I have two zig bee plugs, the ones recommended in this thread in the same bedroom.

Do I need some more plugs around the house? How do you know if it’s a range issue?

Thanks.

EDIT TO ADD: Is there a custom handler thing or whatever for this? I paired my one and it shows up as “Tiles Missing” in the ST app.

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Can you tell me how to set this up, please? I have Smart Light Bulbs in it now which I’m guessing I no longer need since this controller can do it…

I can do “Alexa, Turn on the living room fan” but it just turns on the lights… Same with off… I have installed this handler but not sure if that’s correct or not…

Really appreciate the help…

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I got Alexa working fully to control my one fan… Removed the smart bulbs and just put standard LED in…

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If you are handy you can do this with a GE fan contoller -

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I have the BOND smart ceiling fan controller for dumb fans all setup and it’s prett slick. It controls ALL my ceiling fans and fan lights in my home from the Master Bedroom. Learning the remotes of the Hampton Bay fans was quick and easy, maybe 5 minutes for 4 fans. My Lamps Plus fan “Casa Vieja” was not as smooth to learn. Apparently I was holding the fan remote too close to the BOND transmitter when trying to learn it. Support had me backup to about 3 feet and it worked on the first try after that.

Incredible bang for your smart home buck at $99 on Amazon. Controlling 5 fans and the lights on 3 of them for only $100 is a great deal. Smart Fan 3 speed wall controls are $50 each for 1, and don’t even control the fan lights!

The integration with Google Home is pretty good as BOND login is supported under “home control.” Bond also integrates with IFTTT so i created virtual switches for each fan and another virtual switch for each fan’s lights. Now the lights and fans are full automated in ST.

I ended up returning the $40 broadlink from Amazon, it didn’t support the frequency of two of my fan remotes. Also the app interface was a bit wonky at times.

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Shame it will never be able to report status.

1 Like
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truth, have to turn it on or off to know the status.