I have two fans on the patio on the same switch. I was thinking about trying the GE or Leviton Zwave Fan Control switch, but I am not sure it will allow the operation of two fans.
Does anyone have experience with this on whether it will work?
Thanks!
It will depend on the load. You’ll have to look up the specs for the fans and for the switches to see if they match in that regard.
I had this same question. The GE Fan Control is rated for 1.5 amps. In the specs in the box it says:
Maximum Loads: 1.5A No more than two identical fans to the switch. Not to exceed 1.5 Amp resistive load. For use only with split capacitor or shaded pole ceiling fan motors.
Would something like this work?
Are they just on/off fans, or variable speed fans?
If they are variable speed fans, even just low/medium/high, then you have to get a switch specifically designed to control fans or variable motors as the wave pattern is different from a regular switch or light dimmer switch. All of which means you can burn out your fan motor if you put it on the wrong kind of switch or micro.
If you just want on/off you can use any switch or motor control micro that is rated for the load of the fans.
I am using the ge fan control on 2 identical fans for 6 months now fan control and the device handler is a z wave dimmer…and it worked like a dimmer ramping up from0 to 100% … But I think 2 loads has taken a toll on the fan control …now it has low and high and off…am using the same on other fans in house that still ramp up fine…kinda thought 2 fans would eventually fail somehow
I tried running two fans on a “dumb” fan dimmer and they didn’t work very well. On low and medium speed, where the dimmer was limiting the power output, the two fans effectively split the power, meaning that they barely spun at all on low speed, and spun very slowly on medium. I can’t comment on longevity or damage as I only had things wired up like this for a few minutes. I believe this experience would probably be the same with a smart dimmer, so even if the switch and fans can handle it without damage (which I’m not sure about), the behavior of the fans will be undesirable.
Having the same issue. 2 identical fans in the living room. It’s either high or low—which eventually one stops completely