I’m trying to figure out whether my proposed smart home setup for a ASHBY PARK 52-inch ceiling fan (with an AC motor and RF remote) is even possible, given the restrictions in the manuals regarding inductive loads and LED lights. Despite a lot of research, it is still not clear to me. Here’s what I am planning to achieve:
• Inovelli Blue Series 2-1 Switch (in “smart mode,” always on, without directly switching power)
• Bond Bridge to send RF commands to control the fan speed and light settings
Proposed Setup:
• The fan and light would be powered through the Inovelli switch, but the Bond Bridge would handle all on/off, speed, and dimming control via RF signals to the fan’s internal electronics. My assumption is that the switch would only provide constant power, and all actual control would happen internally within the fan unit.
Where I’m stuck:
The Inovelli Blue 2-1 Switch manual warns against controlling inductive loads (like ceiling fan motors) and LED lights directly. Since the switch wouldn’t be toggling power or regulating the motor/light directly in this setup, I’m wondering if those warnings still apply or if this setup is fundamentally not possible.
Questions:
Is this setup possible at all, given the inductive load and LED light restrictions in the manuals? Or is there still a risk of damaging the switch, even though it’s set to “smart mode” and only supplying constant power?
Would the Inovelli Blue Fan Switch be a better option here, or does the fact that the switch isn’t actually controlling the fan or light make this a non-issue? I also noticed that the Blue Fan Switch manual warns against controlling LED lights directly, which confuses me further. Does this mean I would not be able to use that switch either?
Does this setup require different wiring to work correctly or avoid potential issues?
Would I be able to avoid issues by using the canopy module despite the fact that my fan already has a RF control unit?
I’d really appreciate any advice or clarification. Thanks in advance for your help!
Do you have a 2-wire or 3-wire (exclusive of the ground) connection between the light switch box and the fan box? In other words, do you presently have separate switches to control the fan motor and the fan light?
I hope this answers the question: There is just one wall switch and then a separate RF-remote. When I toggle the wall switch it turns the entire fan+light on or off. I have to keep the wall switch on to control fan and light separately through the remote.
I think the best configuration is to use an Inovelli switch with the canopy module. Since the switch controls both the fan and the light, you need a way to separately control them. The canopy module serves this purpose.
The canopy module goes in at the fan and replaces the fan’s remote module. You can either remove or wire around that module.
You can use the Blue 2-1 dimmer, which will not have a load on it, only a hot and neutral to power it. If your hub supports binding, you can bind it to the canopy module to provide independent light and fan controls. If you don’t want to go the binding route, you can still have independent control using automations.
Both the canopy module and the switch will be powered with a hot and neutral. Wiring is easily adjusted if need be.
Ok, thank you for your response and recommendation!
Just to avoid any confusion on my end, my proposed setup with using the bond bridge in combination with the 2-1 dimmer switch (connected with hot and neutral without load) would then work as well, correct?
I have never used a Bond bridge, so I can’t totally answer your question. My understanding is that Bond is a WiFi device, which means you can’t bind the Inovelli to it. Binding the Inovelli switch to the canopy provides reportedly optimal control of both fan speeds and dimming. So if you can’t bind the switch, you are left with using automations for control. My sense is that while automations may work, the means of control will be less than optimal.
The bond bridge is a wifi to RF and IR bridge that I would be able to integrate directly with my hub. I am fairly confident that I would be able to program it to control the fan and light even with the present wiring to a dumb switch.
I get the sense that the canopy module is probably the optimal solution, albeit more expensive for me since I want to eventually integrate 3 ceiling fans. The bond bridge would allow me to control all 3 with one device.
My primary concern is using the Inovelli 2-1 dimmer switch in combination with an A/C fan. But it sounds like that should be fine as long as the switch is used only as a control device and not to actually power the fan. Am I getting this right?
Yep. With just a hot and a neutral wire to the switch, it does not have a load and is a scene controller that you will use to send button presses to your hub.
