Fan and Fan Light on a Single Wire Recommendation

What solution would you recommend if I have just a single wire/switch for the fan & light?

When you say “single wire”, do you mean a 2 conductor (plus possibly a ground) wire like Romex or fabric covered wire? Or do you literally mean a single wire, like in knob and tube wiring?

Yes, sorry, 2 conductor (hot, neutral, ground) so my switch is controlling the light & fan at the same time.

I would pair a canopy module with an On/Off switch (or Dimmer). If you use Zigbee (i.e. Blue), you can bind the switch to the canopy so that the switch can control both the fan and the light. I don’t know the binding capabilities of the whites, so I can’t comment on those.

Both the switch and the canopy are simply wired with a hot and neutral, so a 2-conductor wire between the switch box and the fan box will work just fine.

Thank you, that makes sense. There was a discussion going around z-wave solutions which is what I was looking into as I already have some z-wave devices going.

There is unfortunately no zwave solution available today that can do this.

If this is ALL that is available in the box, then it is a switch loop, and the white is not a neutral. You will need to modify the wiring in the ceiling box to convert it so you are sending a hot and neutral to the box.

If you are only referring to the wiring going to the fan, and there is a second romex suppling power to the switch box, then you’re good.

If it is the latter of the two, and you decide to go forward with a blue/white canopy module and an accompanying switch, I would recommend a On/Off switch instead of a Dimmer. Both operate closely enough to not matter when paired with a canopy module and used in smart bulb mode.

The Dimmers are not rated to handle both resistive and inductive loads, and while the Dimmer can simulate the operation of an On/Off switch, the load still goes through all the dimming circuitry. When following the instructions supplied, you attach the load directly to the line, bypassing the dimmer entirely, but this doesn’t allow for the air gap to kill power to the fan.

In comparison, using the On/Off switch does support both resistive and inductive loads, and has no problems being wired where the load is attached to the load terminal on the switch, which allows you to utilize the air gap if needed to kill power to the fan.

If you’re going to use a canopy module with the OPs wiring configuration, then the load the switch is capable of doesn’t matter, as there will not be a load on the switch. The OP has a non-neutral at the switch box (i.e. "single wire . . for the fan & light), so power will be fed from the fan box, with the canopy receiving it’s power directly from that source. So either the Dimmer or On/Off is suitable.

As there is some ambiguity as to what was meant by “single wire”, whether it is a single switch leg or a switch loop situation, which the two paragraphs prior to the ones you quoted address, the part that you quoted was intended only for if it was a single switch leg and not a switch loop.

I will go ahead and add a small note to that comment to make this more clear. :grin:

@googolplx Just curious if you made any move on this?

I have a similar situation in several bedrooms and have been working through how best to handle them. I too prefer the Z-Wave route and am looking forward to the Red Series canopy module. They have confirmed it’s on the roadmap and will be coming but generally the Zigbee (Blue Series) stuff is first in line. The good news is Inovelli has stated in their 2026 roadmap that Z-Wave will be given a bit more priority than it has been getting.

All that said, I did breakdown and buy one fo the Blue Series canopy modules to use as a Proof of Concept and it works great! I plan to wait until the Red Series version is released and replace this unit and do the other bedroom as well.

Very interested if you have made any headway here and what your plan is. Thanks!