Switches for Resistive Loads

Digital Lounge General Discussion
#1

My bathrooms have combo exhaust fans with heaters. There are separate switches for both fan and heater and I’d like to have a smart switch on the exhaust fan as well as the heater. I’ve looked around at the fan switch but it doesn’t have resistive ratings listed, should I assume that it isn’t capable or is there a chance it actually is?

This is an example of what I have (though not this exact one, but probably what I will eventually replace my aging ones with): Panasonic FV-0511VHL1 110 CFM 0.7 Sone Ceiling Mounted | Build.com

#2

I think you be fine with the Blue fan switch on the FAN side, as the architectural specs max it out at 25W.

However, the HEATER side pulls 1600 W resistive, which far exceeds Inovelli switch ratings. The Gen2 switch was only rated for 1200W resistive.

What you can do since you should have plenty of room up in the fan ceiling-side is use a smart relay to turn the HEATER on and off. Then you can use a Red or Blue 2-1 (depending on the relay protocol if you want to associate or bind . . or not) to turn the heater i.e. relay on and off with an automation.

The only problem with this may be finding a smart relay that is rated for 1600W resistive (about 14A). I’ve seen some that are rated at 10A resisitive, but there may be others with higher ratings.

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#3

Do you know this brand? It’s rated to 16A.

#4

I would check w/the manufacturer to see if that covers 16A RESISTIVE. The spec sheet doesn’t reflect the resistive load spec.

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#5

Under key features it says resistive and capacitive loads but doesn’t list a max load rating.

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#6

If you’re up for Z-Wave, there’s the Zooz ZEN16 - up to 20A on one of the contacts.
Slightly awkward since it needs somewhere to plug in a USB power supply also.

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#7

You don’t need a smart relay to use it with a smart switch. Just use a plain old relay and control it with the smart switch.

#8

Yeah, good point!