I’m just getting started with Innovelli and would appreciate guidance on selecting the right switches for my setup. My home runs entirely on Home Assistant. I have over 70 Philips Hue bulbs, and most of my other devices use Zigbee.
My initial goal is to automate my AC ceiling fans. If that goes well, I plan to replace all of my existing switches — including those controlling lights — with Innovelli products. Based on my setup, I intend to go with the Blue Series.
I need help selecting the right switches for a fan/light combo. I’ve attached a picture of the switch box for reference. The current configuration is:
The right switch controls the light (on/off).
The left switch controls the fan (on/off).
The fan itself has two pull chains: one for toggling the light, and one for controlling the fan (on/off + three speed settings).
Here is what I’d like to achieve:
Use the right switch to control the Hue lights without cutting power — ideally using Smart Bulb Mode, where pressing the switch sends button events rather than toggling power.
Use the left switch to control the fan, including on/off and speed control.
Control both the lights (on/off, dimming, color) and the fan (on/off, speed) from Home Assistant.
Could you please advise which specific Innovelli Blue Series switches I should purchase to accomplish this?
Blue Dimmer for the Light, Blue Fan Switch for the fan. You have a non-neutral configuration in the box. While both switches will work in a non-neutral environment, there are some drawbacks. The fan switch will only run at low and medium settings i.e no high. The dimmer may need a bypass at the light. Non-neutral configs and smart bulbs can be finicky.
Switch or Switches with a Canopy Module
You can re-wire at the fan to send a hot and neutral to the switch box. In this configuration, you can use one or two Blue Dimmers for the fan and lights. Both switches will have no load (hot and neutral only) and will be Zigbee bound to the Blue canopy module, which installs in the fan box.
With this configuration, you’ll get all three fan speeds. No bypass needed for the lights, as they’ll be powered full time via the fan box. You’ll have to throw the breaker to cut power to the fan, fan lights and the switch box.
It sounds like your fan has an AC motor based on your description, but I would look it up to double-check.
@Bry has the options laid out correctly. I’d recommend going with the latter option with a modification:
Use the canopy module to directly wire to the fan / light and then re-wire at the fan to send the hot and neutral down to the box where the switches are.
Use one blue series on/off switch (not dimmers) without a load connected and bind it to the canopy module to control fan/light. Since the on/off switches will only be scene controllers, they can operate the same way while bound to the canopy module and you get the benefit of a humidity sensor and a temperature sensor if that’s useful for you.
I agree with @rohan, the canopy module and a single switch works great to control the lights and fan. This leaves room in the wall box to add the upcoming scene controller, if that would be useful.
I will disagree with the other suggestions. There is no need for a canopy module here.
Re-wire the romex going to the switches at the fan box end to provide line, neutral and the red connected to the fan.
Connect the light wire of the fan directly to line power.
Install a Blue fan switch into the box, line and neutral connected plus the load output connected to the red wire so it controls the fan. Pretty simple, this directly controls the fan.
Install a Blue on-off or dimmer into the box, with only line and neutral connected. This switch can be used as a scene controller through your hub. It can also be directly associated to the Hue bulbs in the fan (assuming the Hue are on the same zigbee network) so that it turns them on and off and dims them directly. Either device can work here as far as I understand because the on-off switch identifies as a dimmer but doesn’t have the dimmer hardware so it’s either on at any dim level except level 0 where it goes off. The on-off is cheaper.
Thanks for all the replies. How about, if I decide to only upgrade the light switch (right). Can I do that without updating the canopy module or the fan switch (left)?
