Advice for 2-1 White and Fan White Switches

Switches General Discussion
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#1

I apologize in advance if this is the wrong forum for these questions.

I purchased a newly built home in late '22 in the US and am looking to use Inovelli 2-1 White (Matter/Thread), Fan White (Matter/Thread) and mmWave Blue (Zigbee) switches to swap out all the dumb switches in my house for smart switches.

There are a total of 25 switches in my house, 24 I will be converting to smart switches with varying purposes. (The one I will not be converting is a garbage disposal and I like my fingers)

  • 15 light fixtures (With 2 separate multiway configs)
  • 2 outlet switches
  • 3 exhaust fans
  • 4 ceiling fans (no fans installed yet, but I will in the future)

I’m looking to use the following switches:

  • 10x Inovelli 2-1 Switch Thread/Matter White (VTM31-SN)
  • 7x Inovelli Fan Switch Thread/Matter White (VTM35-SN)
  • 5x Inovelli mmWave Blue (DZM32-SN)
  • 2x Auxiliary Switches (AUX01) - I might do two more 2-1 Whites in a 3-way instead

Here’s a visual representation using my home’s floorplan. Not really helpful but it’s pretty.

Current Appliances:

  • Lights: ??x MAXIM Diverse 7.5" LED Flush Mount (57647)
    • 120V Dimmable
    • I’m going to be eventually swapping some of these out for some Matter over Thread lighting.
  • Exhausts: 3x Air King AS54 or AK80LS or AK110PN
    • 120V 60Hz
    • Not sure which I have, builder really didn’t specify, but it’s one of those. They’re all the same voltage. Pretty sure it’s three AS54’s.
  • Ceiling Fans: TBD
    • I’m having a hard time making a decision. Not sure if I smartify dumb fans (or how to) or wait for Matter over Thread enabled smart fans.

I have the following questions:

  • I currently do not have any ceiling fans installed, so for the time being I would be installing the new White Fan Switches on the MAXIM Diverse ceiling lights. Will this create any issues? The product page states the switches are for fans only. What will happen if I do this?
  • The White Ceiling Fan Canopy was also recently announced and I don’t fully understand the purpose of a 2-1 White Switch with the Canopy (Blue for example since there’s no White docs) over the Fan Switch White.
    • Is the use case for the canopy fan dependent? How would I know if so.
    • Or is this to retain all the 2-1 switch features while being able to also control a ceiling fan?
    • Since I have no ceiling fans at the moment, would I be better off going all 2-1 Whites then adding a canopy once I do purchase a ceiling fan?
    • I haven’t really dived into ceiling fans yet, only switches.
  • For the two outlet switches, I’ll be using them in smart bulb mode, I read the guide and it seems my usage here is correct, but is it?.. I want the outlet to be always on and I’ll be using the switches to control other automations/devices.
  • Any other recommendations or suggestions? Anything I’m doing wrong or should look into further before pulling the trigger.

I’ve already preordered 5x mmWave Blues, but haven’t preordered any of the White 2-1/White Fan because of the above questions. I’m using Home Assistant with a SkyConnect 2.0 for Zigbee and a Google Nest Hub 2 as my Thread Border Router.

#2

You shouldn’t be physically switching receptacles with a smart switch, Inovelli or otherwise. Generally speaking, smart switches aren’t rated to handle the capacity of the circuit, which the NEC and likely your local code requires. If something that exceeds the capacity of the switch gets plugged in, you’ll smoke the switch.

The common workaround is to convert the receptacle to unswitched (ie hot full time) and then use a peanut plug controlled by the switch via binding, association or scenes.

Whether or not you need a fan canopy module depends upon your wiring. In newer homes, power is generally fed to the switch box first and then routed to the fan via a 3-wire to allow for two separate switches to control the fan and the light. In older homes, there may just be a 2-wire feeding the switch, so a singular switch feeds both. And in some new homes, builders just wire a hot to the fan and then install remotes for control.

So if you can post what your fan/light wiring situation is, we can evaluate what you need.

I wouldn’t install a fan switch on a light, even temorarily. They’re just not rated for lights, and I have no idea how well they would work. However, if you have separate fan and light switches (which you may not based upon your canopy question), then just wire the light switch.

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#3

Thank you so much for this information Bry. This is incredibly helpful.

Understood. I do want the receptacle to be unswitched/hot full time so wiring it as such and avoiding the outlet is what I’m going to do. Thank you!

My builder was pretty bare-minimum and as far as I can tell they did not use a 3-wire feed. (That’s a switch in question which I’d like to install a ceiling fan on) I tried to remove the recessed lighting off my ceiling to check there but I couldn’t get it off for the life of me, which is crazy because I’ve done this before on other lights in my house, the tension clips are absolutely stuck. It sounds like I may need to purchase a canopy or if I purchase a smart fan use Home Assistant and IR/WiFi/whatever or Matter binding if/when that becomes feasible.

I think the new plan is to just get the 2-1 White light switches for the switches that I know that I’m going to be using as lights and work with installing those on the lights I use the most. I’ll also move ahead with the Fan White switches for the exhaust fans since those are their intended function and the exhaust fans are already installed. Then later I’ll figure out the ceiling fan situation once I’ve picked a ceiling fan. It’ll just mean patience between ordering instead of having it all prepped.

Thank you so much Bry. This is one of the reasons I’ve been interested in Inovelli’s products, the community. Absolutely fantastic help.

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