I have a number of Home Depot Merwry ceiling fans with lights. I purchased a Canopy/2-in-1 (Dimmer) combo pack a while back and it’s a fantastic duo. Looking to buy more and I’m wondering which switch I should be buying with the Canopy.
It seems as though the Dimmer only supports lighting loads, and if you’re using a ceiling fan, you need to use the Fan Switch. That said, I couldn’t fathom why you would have an option to bundle the Dimmer with a Canopy order if that were the case, as I am unaware of any devices that the Canopy could be used in that wouldn’t also have a ceiling fan.
If it is a problem to use the Dimmer with a ceiling fan, I can always just remove the Dimmer as an inline device and just power both the Canopy and the Dimmer separately, since there Dimmer would only be in Smart Bulb Mode anyway, and would therefore never cut the power. Just wanted to ask if using the Dimmer with a Canopy with a ceiling fan is an issue.
This is the only approved way to use the two. The load cannot be connected through the 2-1 to the fan. If you’ve wired it such that the line / neutral are the only thing connected to the 2-1, there is not problem.
The question is whether the switch is itself switching power to the fan.
The intent of the fan switch is to control a fan without a canopy (but only the fan)
If the switch is wired to the fan motor, then you need to use the fan switch.
If instead you have a canopy module, then that’s what’s wired to the fan motor. The switch is only sending Zigbee(/Z-Wave) commands to the canopy module & it’s switching the power. So you can use a normal/lighting 2-1 switch (or a fan switch, but not necessary)
The caveat here is that the power to the canopy module must NOT pass through the switch, do not connect anything to the load terminal of the switch. E.g. if you have live & neutral to the switch box, then the live that goes on to the fan should also be connected to the LIVE on the switch (so that it’s always powered).
If you do use a fan switch with the canopy module, then you can pass the load through the switch (so live to the fan would connect to load on the switch) - the only (rather minor) advantage is that the air gap button on the bottom of the switch will remove power to the fan, without flipping the breaker. But you would run the switch in “smart fan” mode - so it would leave power to the fan (or canopy module anyway) always on.