Fan & Light Switch (Project Hurricane)

When I went to pre-order, that scenario is actually already on description that you can cap one off and best of luck at CES!!

Slightly different use case -

Iā€™ve got a lightless ceiling fan, being bordered by 4 recessed lights. Could I theoretically replace the two switches for these, and run the load from the lights into the can for the fan, and tap into the output of the module?

Also, how do I sign up for beta testing? Iā€™ve got 7 of your switches right now including 3x Gen 1ā€™s and 4x Gen 2 (mixture of red/black/dim/etc).

Based on the schematic and design, the load lines for the light in the fan are built into the fan module that goes into the canopy. You could connect a wire to the light load line from the canopy module, and feed it to your recessed lights, but you would also need to take into account the load of those lights (are they LED, CFL or incandescent). If incandescent, the load may exceed what the canopy module is designed for.

If you have ever disassembled a ceiling fan, most, while attached, the lights are distinctly separate from the fan from a wiring perspective.

Thatā€™s fair, but assuming that Inovelli switches could be directly associated with the Z-wave canopy module in the same way that they can be directly associated with the Illumin Z-wave bulbs, you would still have that capability, it would just be using a z-wave association between the two instead of a proprietary RF signal.

Thatā€™s incredible. I would have expected it to be a very common scenario. Older house, light fixture without neutral wire to the switch, then someone comes along and updates things, replacing the light fixture with a ceiling fanā€¦

Got the 2 I need on pre-order. Looking forward to seeing them!

Fair point I suppose. Honestly just getting started in home automation, so only recently learned about that capability.

Iā€™ll second my surprise there. Old (100+ year) housing I would think would be a lot of this. This described nearly every fan in my old house (1844). Pretty sure they replaced the gas lights in the house with a single circuit that hit just the ceiling positions. Then someone started adding wall switches and just ran switch loops down to them. My new house (1920) is a little betterā€¦ But Iā€™ve only looked in a couple of switch boxes so far.

My house is only 70 years old, so gas lights were never an issue, but Iā€™m sure the ceiling fans were all added much later. If I had to guess, Iā€™d say that most of them were probably installed around the time that a new furnace was put in, with all new ducts run through the attic venting down through the ceiling.

Dang it. So anybody got suggestions on how to ā€œsmartenā€ my setup?

I was thinking maybe a fan rated zwave controller in the ceiling box (where there will be neutral) and some sort of no neutral zwave scene controller (like the red series dimmer set to passthrough mode) in the switch box but not sure if both items need to be rated for fans or if only the item that is switching the fan needs it.

Could this setup work? Iā€™m using openhab if that makes any difference on the control end.

So I just realized this device might fix a different problem that I had which is different from the intended usage. Right now in my bathroom I have two switches in one box. One switch for a bathroom fan and one switch for a can light in the shower. I just installed a new fan that had a light in it in addition to the fan (Currently the fan switch is just on a simple timer switch). I want independent control of each (the fan and the fan light), but I only have a single set of Romex going up thereā€¦so with this thing, Iā€™m going to put this switch in the space next to the timerā€¦the one for the light in the showerā€¦then connect the fan remote assembly to the light in the fan, then run another piece of Romex (since this is all in the attic its easy to do), to the shower light and the existing timer switch will stay just for the fan because I like the different time settings for the fan (60 minutes for a shower, 10 minutes forā€¦other stuff).

So in this setup I wonā€™t use it as a fan/light. Iā€™m gonna use is at a light/light, one of which is actually embedded in the bathroom vent fan. @Eric_Inovelli any concerns with that setup? Wouldnā€™t see why, just just a pair of small LED loads for each item. Thatā€™s got to be way less than a fanā€¦ If this works, Iā€™m gonna do the same thing in my other bathroom (once I also install the new fan like the other bathroom)ā€¦

Shipping is free after 60. But this product is 59.97 is there a free shipping coupon we can use for this product? Or something I can buy that costs 3 cents?

Maybe a spare neutral wire jumper? :wink:

I got you - check out the site now :wink:

Hey Eric, I didnā€™t want to be the one to ask but will you be crediting the shipping of the orders already placed? I only ordered one for now.

Lol yeah of course. Happy to!

Awesome product! Wish I saw it earlier. Purchased 5 fans with the RF remote module and Bond to control the fans. Works OK but having an integrated wall switch and Z-Wave should be a much better solution. I do have 1 Hampton Bay zigbee fan/light control module that has worked flawlessly with Smartthings for several months. I have a unique installation in that I installed the fan module in an over sized dual gang box. Mounted a tablet with Actiontiles to cover up the dual gang box. Would not recommend or do it again myself. Looking forward to the day that all the guts can be integrated into a switch (even if it has to be designed to fit in a dual gang box). Sorry for the rambling but this project got me rethinking my fan/light automation.

Two questions,

  1. What should I be looking for on the Fan side to ensure fan compatibility? If the fan comes with a wireless remote, will that include/exclude the fan from working with the RF module that is included with this product? And would the Project Hurricane device replace that included remote or work in addition to it?
  2. Iā€™ve seen a few mentions of ā€œProject Windy Cityā€. I checked it out and it basically looks like your existing light dimmers. What is the difference between the light dimmers and the Windy City ā€œdimmerā€.

ā€œRegularā€ dimmers for lighting should not be used on fans (just Google it and youā€™ll find a lot of explanations). They are similar from an exterior perspective so that you could install them side-by-side, and then weird people who insist that all their switches look a like even when they do different things wonā€™t be able to complain about it. :slight_smile:

Staff may have to comment on this one. I havenā€™t seen many specifics, besides the actual module as demoed at CES recently, and this general mention on their site:

My guess is that it will be similar to the ceiling module for the Hampton Bay Fan Controller, where it will basically fit in the existing canopy cover (so youā€™ll probably need a ceiling fan that has one, usually a downrod and not mounted flush to the ceiling). If your existing remote has a canopy unit, my guess is that you would need to swap it out with this one, but it probably depends on how your existing one connects. Most Iā€™ve seen, "smartā€™ or not, look about like this one (and the Hampton Bay), so itā€™s probably similar.

Does the canopy module communicate 2-way with the in-wall controller, or does it strictly receive commands? In other words, is there true status reporting? If not, there is always the possibility of things getting out of sync. Also if not, how is this any more than marginally better than Bond (which I hate because itā€™s a dumb device trying to be smart)?