I’m on a mission to gradually make everything in my home smart(er), including myself by learning how to correctly do everything. One of the first things I learned was to not use a smart switch for my garbage disposal! (80s horror movies have taught me this too…)
I use Home Assistant as my central hub. I’m trying to stick with Zigbee, ideally 3.0+ with devices that can be upgraded to Thread/Matter. I’ve been waiting for the Blue Series 2-1 Switches, mainly because of the Smart Bulb Mode, and ordered quite a few to upgrade the entire place. Thanks to Inovelli support, the manual, and this forum, I’ve realised that I was about to make some key mistakes, and use these switches in these areas:
Bathroom switches that control the lights and exhaust fans at the same time (I have two switches there: one controls a light fixture and exhaust fan, and the other controls another exhaust fan that also has embedded light)
Control my ceiling/light combo fans in various rooms (Hampton Bay with pull chain for fan control, light bulbs are Philips Hue)
Garage switch that controls halogen lights
I’m guessing that my best situation is to wait for the Blue Series Fan/Light Switches (I think they’re still on the roadmap?) and under no circumstances use the regular Blue Series 2-1 Switches in the previously mentioned scenarios. I see some forum posts say that fans can be used with the on/off switches, as long as they don’t exceed a certain wattage load, but the Blue switches are obviously dimmer and on/off.
I also need to check if there are better/smart ceiling and exhaust fans, but that’s something I’ll keep looking into.
Some of us will be using the on/off for bath fans. I believe one of the beta testers used it purposely for their bath fan. Inovelli cannot recommend using it for motor loads due to the UL approval they went.
Me personally will probably use it for bath fan (gotta count how many I’ll have left over). I’ll use a paddle switch until the fan switch comes out for actual ceiling only because I have a couple AC powered fans. Otherwise I’d probably use either. My ceiling fan loads are much less than the amps drawn.
So if you can wait, just use cheap paddle switches until the fan switches are released. It’ll also give you some time with them to see how they work (and awesome they are).
Pretty sure the official answer on this one will always be a hard no. Will it work though… It may be a YMMV situation.
My recommendation here would require some re-wiring at the fan. I’d wire this so it’s always powered. From there I would bind the switch to the Hue bulbs. Within binding the switch will directly speak to the bulbs and bypass the hub so speed is near instant. So this way the switch will control bulbs on/off/dim and the fan functionality stays as-is. You won’t have to worry about code violations.
Instantly thought of Final Destination… That scene always freaks me out with the garbage disposal (that and the log truck scene that flashes in my head every time I see one on the road).
Definitely a CYA moment for us and you summed up our stance perfectly lol
@Sinayion - first, thanks so much for the support and welcome to the Inovelli fam – happy to have you!
If it’s any consolation, I’m still learning too. There’s been countless times people have posted here and I go, “dang, I didn’t realize our switch could even do that - that’s awesome!”
Regarding your question about the release of the fan switch. It’s definitely coming. My hope is by the end of the year as we have everything completed except the certifications. I’d definitely wait for that one for bathroom fans.
Anyway, thanks for taking the time out to post and I’ll look forward to hearing how you like them when they arrive!
Every single time on the road as well, I totally feel you!
I’ll be keeping an eye out. I’ll have to check out how my 1970s house is wired in those rooms with the ceiling fans, because they still have the original light switches that come with the house.
@Eric_Inovelli , I read in the certification that these switches are not to be used with halogen lights (garage). Are there switches that you make that can be used for halogen lights, or should I grab some Enbrighten switches for this case? I’ll hate to not have the notification light there, but I’m trying to be good!
I also need to double check the bulbs in the garage, because they may be fluorescent instead of halogen. Definitely getting an electrician to switch these out for a fixture than will take LED bulbs…
EDIT: I just learned that I can replace the fluorescent garage lights with “ballast compatible” LED tubes. Doing that and placing the Inovelli blue 2-1 switch in there!
Let me double check on this. Do you know if they are dimmable or would they just be on/off? Also, do you happen to know the name/model of them and the appropriate wattage?
Or was this related to your edit where you mentioned it was a ballast?
Sorry, it’s related to the edit. The wife told me they should be fluorescent lights, not halogen. So it looks like I’ll be fine after I replace them with dimmable LED tube bulbs.
It may be a YMMV situation.
