I have a patio ceiling fan that also has light output. It’s wired to a single-pole switch. The lights and the fan itself get power from the single-pole switch setup; meaning that the switch needs to be in the on position for the fan and/or lights to turn on via the fans remote. So the single-pole switch acts as breaker in this case, for lack of a better term. I want to split the functionality of the fan in three different ways:
Add smart bulbs to the fan (done) - Tapo TL135E
Add a smart single-pole switch that supports smart bulbs (done) - using Inovelli White Switches
Be able to control the lights of the fan and the fan independently using the Inovelli smart switch
I use Node-Red for all of my automations in HA. Question(s): How do I
Program my Inovelli switch so when I single tap, it turns the fan on/off but still keeps power to the bulbs (smart bulb mode)?
Program my Inovelli switch so when I double tap, it turns the lights on/off but still keeps power to the bulbs (smart bulb mode)?
In the end, I want to control my fan and fan lights from the switch without the need of using the fan’s remote but also ensuring that the power is still sent to the fan so that I can still control the bulbs and fan via HA. I also have a Broadlink RM4 Pro that I could use but I don’t know if this will complicate things more.
You didn’t say which White switch you are using, the dimmer or the fan switch. If you are using the dimmer, that is not rated for a fan load, so remove the load conductor and switch it to the 2nd hole on the line connector so that the fan box is powered full time. EDIT: If it’s the fan switch, do the same.
So now the switch is simply a scene controller and you can send instructions to the hub for multi-taps to control the smart bulbs. Someone can help with the HA stuff, but you have a bigger problem.
Since the fan box is constantly hot, there isn’t a way with just the switch to control the fan. And you can’t use a fan switch to directly control the fan because that will cut power to the lights (and you shouldn’t have smart lights on the fan switch).
The solution is to use an Inovelli canopy module. This is presuming your fan has an AC motor. The wite verision is presently on pre-order. I’d probably just control the fan via the module and leave the smart lights fully powered. You’ll have to control the fan through automations. (If these were the Blue Zigbee series, you could use binding, but that’s not a thing for Thread/Matter yet.)
So the TLDR is I don’t think it’s doable until you get a canopy module. Since you have to use automations to control the fan anyway, you could use a Blue canopy module for that.
The other issue that I forgot to mention is that the entire unit of the fan is wired A/C. However, there’s no separate A/C for the lights. It’s not like the traditional fans where you have two pull chains, one for fan and one for lights, hence, two A/C wiring for each at the unit. In this case, it’s just one A/C romex to the fan and perhaps the wiring in the fan unit itself splits current to the lights. (These fans were already here when we purchased the home).
I’m wondering if it would be easier to put the fan switch the way it was and remove the Inovelli switch and then program the Broadlink to button map the fan’s remote. Then perhaps in HA, I can use the Broadlink to trigger a Smart Button like the Aqara Mini Switch to control the fan and the lights?
In other words, using the Broadlink as a Virtual Remote in HA to mimic the physical remote the fan came with.
If that works, I could add a light switch cover to prevent anyone from ever hitting the switch and force the control of the fan and lights using the physical Aqara Mini Switches.
Yep, as you alluded to, that is because there is a receiver module in the fan that communicates with the handheld remote. That would have to be removed if you were to use a canopy module.
I don’t have any experience with a Broadlink so I cannot comment there.