So I’m finally getting around to installing 3 LZW36 switches I had forgotten that I ordered from a couple of years ago. Also got 2 sets of Hue RGB lights for two different rooms since I wanted adaptive lighting.
Out of what is mostly laziness and perhaps a lack of confidence in home wiring and electrical knowledge/experience, I tried to setup one fan/light switch with the existing Hunter RF module that’s probably over 20 years old. I integrated the Hue hub and a previously setup Bond Home Bridge that’s programmed with the original RF commands that I’ve been using for a few years already. It has 4 buttons for the fan: off and 3 discrete fan speeds. Downside is the light toggle behavior in the existing Hunter fan RF module but fortunately since the Hue bulbs need to be constantly powered this is no longer a pain point.
Moving to HomeAssistant unexpectedly also provided a huge improvement (vs Smart Things) in response times since it can do LAN level interaction with the APIs of both Hue and Bond bridges. Basically it’s not an issue anymore despite having multiple systems in play.
It took some perseverance in setting up some elaborate automations and rules but it’s working rock solid. Basically for that fan the LZW36 canopy module is actually still sitting in the box and given how reliably it’s been working I see no reason to swap over to it. In fact I decided to setup the same for my second Hunter ceiling fan with the same RF module and Hue bulbs.
Which finally leads to the question I’m asking: the third and final ceiling fan is a plain dumb fan with a single pole dumb wall switch and two pull chains: one controlling light on/off and another that rotates between off/low/medium/high. So at this point for the final LZW36 switch. Just how bad is the connectivity issues between the RF module and wall switch for the LZW36? Is it bad enough that I should look at other options? It will be the only LZW36 RF module in the house. However I also live adjacent to an apartment complex so 2.4GHz is pretty congested where I am.
I’d prefer to only tear apart this final ceiling fan once since either way I’ll have to ask a friend for some assistance to set it up since I have a bit of a confidence problem with this kind of stuff. I’d prefer if I can use what I already have setup, so preferably not Zigbee.