Are they Zigbee bulbs???
They were two different brands one type was IP based and the other type were zigbee I removed both from the room… I still have a zigbee window sensor in the room however.
Yup, 2.4 GHz interference…
It’s been a year since the last post on this thread. Unfortunately, my issues persist. Because the two lights & fans in which I have the controllers installed were retrofits that have no direct electrical connection to any switches (they were evidently installed to be controlled only by handheld RF remote), my options are pretty limited.
Maybe worse than not being able to control the fans is what happens when there is a power outage: the light cycles on and off for several minutes while trying to restore its connection to the switch module. That has happened in the middle of the night… while we’re sleeping. The WAF is impacted dramatically by these events.
At this point, unfortunately, it’s probably best to consider swapping out the canopy with a different solution. The Blue canopy is Zigbee so it doesn’t exhibit the same issues you are presently experiencing. If you don’t need speed control, you can also consider a third party smrt dual relay.
I agree. There wasn’t a solution when it was an active product in the catalog, and I doubt anyone’s interested in revisiting it to find one now.
Except for a few intentional exceptions, my home lighting is fully automated and Inovelli products make up 90%+ of the (hardware) controls. I’m generally very happy with them… but feel a bit hung out to dry on these devices. I don’t have any Zigbee devices but may have to consider adding it if it’s the only path forward.
Inovelli and the LZW36 manufacturer had a less-than-amicable breakup. There is no possibility of revisiting the canopy/switch hardware, and no other updates possible for switch’s firmware…
Sounds like a great excuse to start upgrading to the blue series 
Honestly, I’ve been slowly swapping out my old zwave reds for the blues. And while the reds have always been completely rock solid, the blues are just as solid but noticeably faster.
I do still have an LZW36 deployed though and about 2 weeks ago it started having the disconnection issue for the first time. Thinking as I type this, I had also added 3 new zigbee plugs in that room right around the same time and I’ve often theorized this issue was caused by radio interference in the 2.4ghz range.
My workaround is to put zigbee bulbs in the fan fixture, turn the switch on and enable local protection. Then I create an automation triggered by the action of the button press to toggle the zigbee bulbs. Works flawlessly.
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I haven’t had any control over my two LZW36 canopy modules in probably 6 months. And now that winter is approaching and I’m considering favoring baseboard heating over the heat pumps I’ve been using the last few years, I’m interested in getting those fans to work.
The cause hasn’t been conclusive, though WiFi interference offers a plausible explanation. But even if that’s the case, there’s not much I can do to eliminate 2.4GHz from those areas. So in the absence of a resolution from Inovelli… what are some Z-wave alternatives to controlling fans and lights? Ideally, I’d replace the canopy module with a device (or, two?) that controls fan speed and light dimming. These are AC fans; the originals were DC, but I got rid of those.
I can at least link the on/off, dimming level, and fan speed from the dual wall switch to whatever device(s) I can add to the fan. This is really my only option because these fans are hardwired with no switch between them and the main panel.
I see Shelly has some options, but I haven’t found one that does fan speed. Enerwave, same. I found this website for Confio Labs that has some devices, but it’s the first I’ve heard of them. I sent an inquiry.
Any ideas? The canopy module is pretty big, so I could likely even use two separate small modules… if I could find some that will do what I need. It chaps me a bit to have to dole out more $$ to get the functionality that the installed devices are supposed to provide, but this looks like a dead end otherwise.
EDIT: I didn’t consider mounting an actual single-gang Z-wave fan switch (like a Jasco 14314) in the canopy. If there’s room, that’s probably what I’ll do.
Thanks - that is an option… though, I have zero Zigbee devices and zero experience with it. And how sure can I be sure that these switches and modules will work any better than the Red Series?
If I choose to go another route… I’m not sure how the Red Series fan/light switches will behave without the canopy modules. Will they constantly be looking to pair? Proposed use case: keep the Red Series fan/light switch installed because I like it and have lots of notifications set up for the LED strips, and link (via automation) the light and fan commands to some other module (like the Zigbee one above, or a Z-wave device in the canopy).
EDIT: I didn’t realize until just now that the HUSBZB-1 I’m using as a Z-wave hub also supports Zigbee. That might be the easiest option.
EDIT 2: I just configured the Zigbee integration in HA. I have no devices to test, but maybe I’ll pick up that Zigbee canopy module that @Bry linked.
There are a lot of Blue modules/switches in use, and there haven’t been widespread disconnection reports as there have been with the LZW36, at least here.
According to the manual, the LZW36 starts the pairing process by pressing a paddle combination. So my GUESS is that the switch won’t be looking to constantly pair since it has to be kicked off manually.
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Also worth mentioning that the Red series canopy / fan module (LZW36) you’re referencing used a proprietary RF communication between the canopy and the switch. That’s where all of the disconnecting issues came from.
The Zigbee canopy module uses standard Zigbee for both the switch as well as the canopy, which is (in my opinion) much more “battle tested” than a custom RF implementation. Especially since all of the Zigbee equipment that Inovelli sells is tested and approved by the standards board.
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I need to experiment with some Zigbee stuff. I have one fan on one floor in the same room as the hub. The other fan is one floor below and on the other side of what used to be an exterior plywood-sheathed wall.
I want to know if range will be an issue. I’ve been using exclusively Z-wave hardware for at least 15 years.
In beta testing, I went across my 1800 sf 2-story house furthest corner to corner and up a floor and it worked great (no middlemen). Probably 40 ft and 2 walls and a floor. Not advertising this as a good idea, but there shouldn’t be much of an issue there. Zigbee is also a mesh so the more you have the better it will work and heal!
FWIW in my parents house (which has like 4 zigbee devices), I did have to throw in one of these Aeotec Range Extender Zi (Plug type A) to make the fan canopies happy, but at my house where I have some 60+ devices, it wasn’t an issue.
I picked up a few Zigbee receptacles yesterday as a test. The first one I tried I plugged into an outlet in the basement. The Z-wave/Zigbee hub is on the 2nd floor, so a full floor in between. It connected instantly. The three others I tried in various places also connected quickly. So, I’ve placed an order for two of the Blue Series fan/light canopy modules to hopefully get my fans working.