Not sure which switch I should purchase

I am unsure of which switch to purchase that will control my ceiling fan. I do not have a light in the fan. The only wiring I have at the current switch box is a black, white and green. Thanks in advance for your input.

Is the white a single wire or part of a bundle (that probably wouldn’t be connected to anything)? If it’s a single wire, the black and white wires are probably line (from the panel) and load (to the fan), though there’s no guarantee which is which (black might be hot). If the white is part of a bundle, it’s likely a collection of neutrals, and the black is likely hot (but then you should have another wire going to the fan, i.e., load). Green is almost certainly ground.

The Inovelli Fan/Light Combo Switch (LZW36-SN) requires a neutral at the switch, so I don’t think it would work. The upcoming-but-on-hold Project Hurricane also appears to require a neutral at the switch (EDIT: got the project names confused; looks like they’re going try to do it on Windy City, which is the fan switch I meant to reference). I’m not aware of any wall switches for fans that don’t. One non-Inovelli (sorry!) solution is the Hampton Bay Fan Controller, which is a Zigbee canopy module — sort of like the LZW36-SN, except all the smarts are in the canopy module (the LZW36-SN requires both a canopy module and a switch, but the Z-Wave smarts are in the switch; the Hampton Bay is only a ceiling module, so you’d have to either use their remote or some automation on your Zigbee hub for control). This works with SmartThings, Hubitat, Wink, and probably other Zigbee controllers.

I think no-neutral is something they’re exploring for the future (IIRC, they wanted to with the 36 but it wasn’t feasible this time around), but since this one was just released, that’s probably a ways off. :slight_smile:

You are smart to ask, many dimmers / switches are not designed to control motors.

The Inovelli “Fan + Light switch” is probably not what you want. It is a special unit that communicates to the fan/light with an RF signal.

I don’t think Inovelli makes a switch for use with a fan. Eric can verify @Eric_Inovelli.

There is the GE Enbrighten Z-Wave Plus Smart Fan Control 14287 but I am not familiar with it (only found it with a quick google search)

The HomeSeer HS-FC200+ is rated for fans.

A question: Your post asks about a “switch” did you mean literally an on/off switch or were you using the term as a generic controller?

John

The On/Off can support a fan, but only rated for about 300 watts.

The switch you are looking for is Windy City, but unfortunately, development is on hold for it for now while Inovelli focuses on some other projects.

Hop on that thread and show your support for it! I am looking for one also!

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But do note that based on what the poster describes, it is likely they do not have a neutral in the box. Unfortunately, most of the above would not work in that case (except the Hampton Bay, as mentioned) — unless they manage to pull it off with Windy City, which it looks like they’re trying to do. :slight_smile: (I know they didn’t with the LZW36, whose project name I confused with the fan-only switch above…sorry for that!)

@BertABCD1234 - Correct. You’ll need to see if you have neutral available in the box in order to use any of the non-dimmer switches. You cannot use a dimmer switch in its place.

@govtechster The short version of the above is that from your description, it does not sound like you have the sufficient wiring for a smart switch. That being said, I know from experience that descriptions aren’t always accurate. If you want to post a picture of the switch and box with the switch pulled out so I can see the wiring. I’ll be glad to take a look and let you know what you have.

Thank you all for the information, it is appreciated. The wall switch is on/off and it does not have a neutral wire. I was hoping a simple on/off switch would be available and I am sure it will be here soon. I will look at the Hampton bay controller and hopefully that will suit my needs. Once again thanks to all for your advice.

Rick

@Bry - Now seeing no neutral, but what if he used the LZW36 and rewired (autocorrect got me) to send neutral down to switch (vs looping line back). Canopy will connect via RF and have line/neutral. Or does the switch also need a load output?

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@harjms That’s a really good point. If the switch is just switching the hot, then there is a hot and neutral at the fan. You can send both via the 2-wire to the switch box. AFAIK the switch just needs a hot and neutral. There is no load for the switch. That should work.

@govtechster What James is saying is that if you just have a 2-wire at the switch, then your hot and neutral is at the fan. With a minor tweak, you can send the hot and the neutral to the switch box and use a LZW36 combo switch. Not sure anyone has done this yet, but I don’t see why that wouldn’t work.

You may not like the aesthetics, since you have no light and the switch has two switches.

Also, read up on the LZW36, as there have been a couple hiccups. There is a promising firmware fix, however. If you don’t want to go through that trouble, you might want to wait until Inovelli is shipping switches with the updated firmware.

Thanks for the info, I think I will wait for Inovelli to ship the switch, then have a electrician put it in. Once again thanks for all your help and assistance.

Rick