Interesting. That’s how I have mine wired. I have a 2 in 1 to the light and the fan to the fan input. I’m not using the special control wires or anything else. Just the fan power wire and the light power wire.
What are the dials set to on your multi speed?
I actually have a theory it may be something to do with the modules. I’m going to test on Tuesday when I get time.
I tried it on both the lowest and highest speed setting on the 50/80/110 CFM switch built into the fan. I didn’t try the middle speed, but I expect it would be the same. That’s the switch you were asking about, right, not the one on the dual-speed module?
Oh, I didn’t pick up on the fact that you were reporting an intermittent issue. God, those are the worst to troubleshoot.
I’ll play with mine a bit more this coming week and see if I can get it to misbehave. Can you clarify exactly what sort of bad behavior you saw, and what (if anything) triggers it?
Unclear what causes it. Do you have this module also? I’m thinking this may be the cause.
I’m planning to just short the red wires to see if that helps.
The behavior is basically that the fan will work once, but then once it shuts off it won’t spin back up until you completely kill power via the breaker.
That’s actually why I’m wondering if the module above is causing issues. It’s supposed to run the fan continuously at low speed for ventilation and then increase when the red wires short.
Yes, I have that same module, and it works as you described.
Unless you also have one of the sensor modules, or a dry contact switch/relay on the red signal wires, I don’t really understand what benefits you’d get from using that module with a switch wired up to power. It’s intended to be used with constant power.
I would expect that you’d get the same result from shorting the red wires to each other as with simply removing the dual speed module.
One benefit is built-in timer (which is moot, if the fan is controlled via a smart switch since they either have built-in support for auto-off, or can be scripted in HomeAssistant/automation platform). The second benefit is fine-tuning of the fan speeds which might be of some use, as in trading off noise of efficacy.
I don’t have any other modules, and I see the same behavior (starts once, then never starts again).
I ordered the following Fan for new additional unit (in construction)
Panasonic WhisperCeiling DC Fan, with Pick-A-Flow Speed Selector 50, 80 or 110
Should I expect an issue with Inovelli FAN blue switch?
I have old Panasonic one speed in bathrooms and no problem using it as on/off switch, but new one will have multiple speed
Thanks
This afternoon my WhisperGreen Select FV-0511VKS2 with multi-speed and humidity modules installed in it refused to turn on, even though the Inovelli Fan Switch was on. So I can at least sometimes reproduce this intermittent problem.
I was able to fix it by:
I first tried air-gapping it with the switch in the on position, and the fan didn’t come back on, although it’s possible I didn’t wait long enough.
Can you try shorting the red wires? What settings do you have on the multi speed module? I’m thinking that may be the problem.
I have my red wires connected to a dry contact relay. Toggling that relay did nothing to wake the fan from its hibernation when it was refusing to turn on.
Now that I’ve power cycled it, it’s functioning normally again… for now.
Can you explain how you have the switch wired?
@mbbush did a good job describing it above, but based on the fact that you have the timer module and the fact that you said “I’m planning to just short the red wires to see if that helps” I’m almost willing to bet you don’t have it wired right.
See this video: WhisperGreen Select - Wiring
The Inovelli Blue Fan switch isn’t designed to handle a dry contact relay (red wires in the video.)
Your options are likely:
It’s wired correctly. Shorting the red wires should basically disable the timer.
See this diagram.
Basically it seems that setting that module to 0 minutes or shorting the red wires should force the fan to ignore the timer module part and just run at whatever the pick a speed is set to.
Setting the delay time to 0 will not disable the multi-speed function, or force it to always run at the “High” speed. Shorting the red wires will do this. So will removing all the modules.
My mental model of the fan is that it has two speeds, Low and High. Exactly how fast those are is adjustable, by the 3-position CFM switch for High, and by the multi-speed module for Low. If the multi-speed module isn’t installed, then Low is just Off.
The fan accepts multiple signals, (humidity sensor, motion sensor, red wires) any one of which cause it to switch to High speed. After all of the signals become “off” (motion stopped, not humid, red wires not connected), there’s a configurable delay period. It only respects the “0 delay” setting for the external signal (red wires). The internal ones (humidity/motion) will always have at least 30 seconds of “debounce” time, to make sure they’re off for real and not just some signal noise.
The fan operates at “Low” continuously (Low speed might be zero, but even then it uses some power for the electronics), using the constant power coming off of (in your case) the Inovelli fan switch. This model works whenever there’s at least one module installed. If I were building this, I’d probably make “there are no modules installed” another signal to switch into high speed, which would cover the last case, with no modules.
I think your assessment is correct. I have an older WhisperGreen that was installed primarily to help vent/circ our tight house, so it runs on low 24/7.
We only need the high boost during showers, so I long ago just wired a relay (originally Qubino, now Zen51) up in the fan’s main housing where I could access all the “real” wiring in its junction box. Automated that to a humidity sensor in the shower (currently Zse44), and that overall setup’s been working like a champ for 5+ years now.
For the original high-speed wall switch, I just capped those two wires and put a blank cover over that box (no other wires available in the box - it was added just for the fan switch). If I ever felt we needed that wall-switch option back for some reason, I’d just pop a Pico or Zen34 in a faceplate on that box.
I thought I fixed it by removing that module and shorting the red wires. But it was short lived… still sporadic.
I think I’ve got consistent steps to reproduce now.
To clear the fault, open the air gap switch and wait for 30 seconds, then close the air gap switch. This restores the switch to a (temporarily) working state. If I open and immediately close the air gap switch, it does not clear the fault.
To create the fault, leave the switch connected to the WhisperGreen select fan for 10 minutes, with the switch in the OFF position. Perhaps less than 10 minutes is enough, but it needs to be more than a few seconds of being off.
Even if the switch has never turned on since the last 30-second air-gap reset, after 10 minutes of being off the fan will no longer start when the switch is turned on. If the switch is turned on shortly after the air gap reset, it will stay on for a long time (I ran mine overnight), as long as it’s only switched off for brief periods.
I feel like this has got to be caused by some sort of capacitance buildup somewhere, but I have no idea where. I only know enough electrical engineering to be moderately dangerous, not to actually fix complex issues.
I ran my tests with the multi-speed and humidity sensor modules installed, and the red signal wires open, but given that this is happening when the power is switched off, I suspect the modules and signal wires won’t make any difference.
Other folks who are having this issue, can you confirm your switches behave the same way, as far as being able to create and clear the fault?
I’ll confirm. Mine does exactly the same
I wonder if the fan switch is leaking some current and that makes the controller unhappy.
