I have a room upstairs that unfortunately was not pre-wired for a fan, so there’s a single switch that controls the fan and the light together. There are two other switches in the room that can control the light/fan, making it a 4-way setup.
Can I use a blue series switch plus two white series auxiliary switches for this?
Would I be able to use the dimmer to dim the lights? Or would that not work because the power is also going to the fan and not just the lights?
Not being able to use a dimmer is not a deal breaker, so I’d be fine if I just have to put the switch in “normal” mode to not act as a dimmer.
The best approach would be to use a Blue 2-1 with 2 Aux switches and a canopy module.
Presuming that the power originates at the first switch box, you would re-wire at the switch boxes to send a hot, neutral and traveler down the line to the two other switch boxes, then send a hot and neutral (unswitched) to the fan box. This way you have a constant hot/neutral at the fan.
To control the module, you can control the light and fan using multi-taps and automations, or you can bind the 2-1 to the module. Depending on the hub, the bindings can be complicated (apparently), so since you are looking to control the module from all three locations, I’d seek further info here if that winds up being the plan.
I honestly don’t even care about controlling the fan separately with the switch or from Home Assistant. I just want it to operate like the current switch does and we can control the fan or light with the pull strings. So I don’t need a separate module for the fan or anything crazy like that.
Then you need a true on off switch. You should not use the 2-1 or the fan switch as they are both rated for one type of load. When you have one switch controlling both the fan and the light, then you need a switch that will handle both.
So for now that would be a LZW30-SN or you can wait for the new generation on off switch under development.
Yes there is an on/off mode, but that does not make it a true on/off switch. This was originally Inovelli’s intention, but things got wonked in the design process. Unfortunately, even in the on/off mode, power is routed through the dimming circuitry.
So it’s not a true relay-based switch. That’s why you see the limitations posted on the product page stating the switch isn’t rated for motors, ballasts, etc. Project Vernacular, presently under development, is the response to this shortcoming. It will be a true relay-based on/off switch, so it will be rated for both lighting and motor loads. It’s more or less then next gen to the LZW30/LZW30-SN.
If you want further details about the 2-1 and it’s limitations, search around here. It’s been discussed ad nauseum.