Yes, if you have two switches already then you’re all set to replace with one of these and a light switch.
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I’ve read through most of this page and I think that I follow the capabilities, but I am looking to confirm.
I have two use cases in my house:
First: Living Room has a AC ceiling fan and a 2-switch gang box. One toggle switch controls the power to the fan and the other does nothing does nothing. The fan speed is controlled via a pull chain. It sounds like I can replace the 2 switches on the wall with a Blue 2-1 Switch to control the lights and a Blue Fan Switch to control the fan.
Second (and the one that I am confused on): Bedrooms all have ceiling fans with one toggle switch on the wall that controls the power to the fan and a pull chain to control fan speed. If I am following correctly, I would need to put in a second switch on the wall (to mimic the Living Room setup) or go with a different product. Is that correct? Where I am confused is that Eric has a picture from May that shows something that looks like it goes in the ceiling to allow for one switch at the wall.
I am fine with 2 switches for the Living Room, but would prefer to have a solution with only one switch for the bedrooms.
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I think you should be good depending on what that switch that does nothing is wired to. If it goes up to the light and is just disconnected up there, you should be good.
There are usually a couple different scenarios (that I’m aware of, I’m not an electrician though and am just going off personal experience with ceiling fans):
- There is a 12/3 or 14/3 cable coming into the box (ie: Black, White, Red & Ground) and the Black and Red control the fan speed and lights. If you have this, then you’re good to use two switches down there (Blue Series 2-1 for lights, Blue Series Fan for fan)
- There are two separate 12/2 or 14/2 cables that are coming down – one is for the fan and one is for the light (you’re also good here to use both switches)
If you don’t have this setup and only have one 12/2 or 14/2 wire coming in, then unfortunately you will need the Fan/Light switch that we used to make and are bringing back.
NET: It really depends on what that switch does that does nothing and if it’s wired to the fan or not. At the very least if your one switch controls the fan, you should be able to use the fan switch.
Yes, this is correct. We had a solution for this, but unfortunately had a falling out with the manufacturer so we’re having to start from scratch.
The picture I posted (I think what you’re referring to) is what I tried to explain above (sorry for the confusion… I’m not the best at explaining things).
Scenario #1: You have either one load cable coming into the box that has black/white/red that goes to your fan (you will also have another cable in your box that has Line/Power – hopefully…) or you have two load cables coming into your box (likely 2x black/white cables) – one of the black wires is for the fan, whereas one of the black wires is for the light.
In either case, if you want to use our switch, you will have to have two light switches – one for the fan and one for the light. If you want one switch, unfortunately we don’t have a solution for that right now, but we plan to work on one.
Scenario #2: You have one load cable coming down that has only a black and white wire inside (plus a separate cable that carries power). If this is the case, then if you want both fan and light control, we don’t have anything right now that will solve for that. We used to, but we’re redesigning it and hope to have it back in the summer.
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Thank you very much! Your explanations were good, I just didn’t catch on that the solution that you had pictured wasn’t viable anymore.
I’m still waiting to get my Home Assistant setup installed and very much looking forward to putting in all of my Blue series switches. I wish you success and good luck on expanded products.
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Are there any plans for a combined fan/light control like the current Red Series product? None of my fans have a place for two switches in the current j-box, and I really am not looking forward to replacing 6 j-boxes in the house (currently they are controlled with an Insteon FanLinc and a Insteon KeypadLinc). In addition, at least two of the fans are only wired with a single pair of wires, so I don’t have separate control wires for the light and fan. Most of them were just ceiling lights at one point, so whoever wired them initially only ran hot, neutral, and ground.
I’m thinking I should have purchased 6 of the Red fan controls while they still existed… 
Hopefully sometime soon but time will tell.
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I can’t find the answer anywhere in this thread, but will these work with low startup current exhaust fans like the Panasonic Whisperquiets? I assume so since it has a neutral?
They should! It’s more about the switch handling motor loads and the whisper quiet should definitely be minimal load.
I have 3 rooms with something like scenario #2. There is 1 switch with 5 wires:
Black
Black
Red
White
Ground
(the fans connections to the wires also plays a role into the behavior of the switches. Adding complexity.)
To keep it simple, I was planning on getting a blue-series FAN switch and a Zigbee light bulb in the fan. The Inovelli blue FAN switch would control the fan motor, and then I would program a couple virtual switches in the Blue Series to control (on/off/dim) the lights. (I am hoping that smartBulb or scenes can allow this to work?)
If you notice any issues or have suggestions, please let me know. Thanks!
I think it’s been asked a couple of times and we still don’t have a solid answer as to which color paddle we should be ordering for these switches. Let us know! Thanks!
Is white already a given? That would be my vote for color.
I just wanted to say I’m super excited about this product! We have three fairly basic Hunter fans installed in our place. But I’m short (and have disability/health issues) so turning off/on and controlling speed is always a pain. I’ve been considering the Lutron series but haven’t been able to convince myself it’s the best option. Having your product as an alternative that will not only turn off/on but control speed would be a dream! And with Hubitat able to expose to HomeKit…awesome. And also super happy to see that these will support Matter!
I’ll have to check our actual wiring but I know our main living area just has a single fan switch with no lights, which should work fine and the two bedroom fans have separate light and fan power switches. I currently have smart bulbs in one of the fans already so might not need to do more there.
Just out of curiosity, whereas the pull chair has three set speeds, I noticed you mentioned two wires that should be available to control speed. Does this mean that speed controlled by the switch would be more variable (like a dimmer for speeds) or will it also have three set speeds like the pull chain? I don’t honestly mind that much either way (certainly not a dealbreaker) but I’m curious how it will work.
If I can help test these at all, please let me know as I’d be most happy to!
For directly attached ‘dumb’ fans, it is three speeds. For ‘smart’ fans it will be levels 0-100
Great question – there will be a dedicated fan paddle. Unfortunately it has a longer Air-Gap than the other switches, so we couldn’t share tooling with the 2-1’s.
I will add the variation to the site shortly.
Awesome! Happy to be in your consideration set, that means a lot!
Great question – @mamber summed it up perfectly.
Initially you’ll have to pull the chain to set the fan on the highest speed, but once you do that and install the switch, you’ll be able to set the fan to low-med-hi from either the switch, remotely or via voice control if applicable.
Thanks for volunteering! We’re at the end stages of testing these, but if there’s any other projects you’re interested in testing in the future, let me know!
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How is everything going with these? Are you still on track for April/May?
Great question! As far as I’m aware, yes we should still be on schedule. We do have a call on Thursday where I should be getting an updated timeline if things change.
I know there were rumblings of the MG24 having longer lead times, but we placed the order back in January so I don’t think it will affect this batch.
Ping me if I don’t give an update by EOD Thurs!
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Will do and thanks for the quick response. I only needed to order 5 of these, but they will certainly fill a large void in my setup at home. I’m looking forward to these.
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Hi, I’m looking for a smart switch to control a 120V AC, 2A, 196W duct booster fan.
I would like to be able to turn the fan on and off, as well as adjust the speed.
Is this something that could be done with this planned switch?
I could not find a max watt, amp or HP rating.
All the other switches I could find were to adjust a 3- or 4-speed fan.
Did you mean 120 VAC or is this a DC fan that is feed 120VAC and stepped down to DC?
Sorry, my mistake, I corrected the post. It is an AC fan, Fantech FT 10XL.
Their datasheet I just found lists 2.24A, on the website I found it lists 2A so not sure which it is.
It is NOT a smart fan
Thanks.
Yeah, their power specs are a little wonky. Looking at the data sheet you posted, 2.24A @ 120VAC is NOT 190W, it’s 269W.
In any event, the Blue Fan switch is rated at 120VAC @ 2.5A (300W). So your specs are under the published max. I don’t think the fan switch has been tested with a duct fan, but that shouldn’t be any different than a bathroom or ceiling fan.