Zigbee Fan Canopy Module | Project Cheryl

Well, I was thinking more A19 style to begin with, but this is an interesting idea!

2 Likes

I can only speak from my experience but ceiling fan shopping in the last year was difficult to find something that worked with our smart home and the wifeā€™s style lol. Most of the market seems to have moved to these LED lights instead of bulbs and required remotes instead of pull chains. We had to specifically search for bulb fans or pull chains but with the limited options we found nothing we liked and ended up having all LED ceiling fans with remote modules.

I would think there is a gap in the market for having a smart light like this. A19 is not a bad idea either since I do have many of those but I donā€™t think I have any that face directly down, so a mmWave sensor could be difficult to position. I do have BR30 bulbs that could be in great locations for a mmWave detection and face directly down. Interested to see what others think but thought I would share my experience!

Also here is a link of what Aqara has done recently with a ceiling light fixture but it isnā€™t just the light. Not sure if this could be standardized anyway.

The fan switch works using two conductors between the switch and the AC fan. So if you have a fan with no light and there is a 2-wire between the switch box and the fan, youā€™re in business.

But some fans with light kits only have a 2-wire between the switch box and the fan. The benefit of the canopy module in this situation is that you can control both the light AND the fan using the canopy module, because the Zigbee switch talks wirelessly to the canopy module. ANY Zigbee switch on the network can control the light and the fan through the module, so if your fan switch is in an inconvenient place, this may be your answer.

1 Like

n A mmwave sensor on a fan probably wouldnā€™t work well considering a fan always moves a little bit.

Eric, I donā€™t think you can squeeze an mmwave sensor in the pull chains. :wink:

1 Like

Gyro/mmWave combo unit. :persevere:

ā€¦but an add-on or replacement LED light kit could have enough space. Can a mmwave sensor be incorporated into a smart light bulb???

Super excited for this. I have 4 of the Hampton Bay Zigbee fan modules and have not been a fan of them, but donā€™t have separate fan and light wires run for a wall switch. Iā€™ll definitely be replacing all of the Hampton Bay modules when these are available.

Will these also act as Zigbee routers/repeaters? I mistakenly assumed the Hampton Bay modules would since they were AC powered, but turns out thatā€™s not the case.

1 Like

I prefer Z-Wave, as thatā€™s what makes up the mesh in our home, however, reasonably priced, I can guarantee 6 of this sold right away.

1 Like

:eyes: :face_with_monocle:
image

The $64,000 question is whether or not the fanā€™s vibrations will cause issues with the mmwave sensorā€™s performance?

In my experience, I have only seen one home ceiling fan that didnā€™t have some shake in it due to manufacturing tolerances in the blades. The one that didnā€™t was because my long-dead father spent hours gluing tiny washers to the tops of the blades to balance themā€¦

Oh, great! @Eric_Inovelli is probably thinking that I have hacked into their office computers yet again by figuring out yet another project before it was announcedā€¦ :rofl:

Think about all the different sizes and shapes of fan. It might be more work and cost to accommodate every fan.

However, that is not why I droped by. I really just want to throw you an idea. I have several fans that have lighting above the blades and separate lighting below the blades. The remote lets me set the brightness independently on both.

That would require two dimmer circuits. I know it is too late and i hope you will to consider this as a future option.

I donā€™t like suggesting products from competitors but you should look at the Insteon FanLinc and Keypad. It is currently the best setup for controlling ceiling fans.

That brings up another point. I looked at the list of recommended ā€˜hubsā€™ on your site and there is one very obvious omission. Universal Devices eISY is not listed. It is most likely the single best hardware/software system currently on the market. You know my background and credentials so Iā€™ll leave it at that.

Now we get to the theory discussion. Ceiling fans come in many configurations, AC and DC motors. Built in controllers with a pull chain, three speed controlers and variable speeds with a specialized rotory control.

First we dismiss everything witb a DC motor. Those with a three speed remote are your direct target. Those with the variable speed control should also work witb a three speed controller.

The ones with a pull chain will most likely need a bit of hardware modification but it can be done by those that are capable of installing the fan and a remote controller.

That leaves a lot of fans with which your controller will work. Three speeds, four speeds, six speeds or more. Generally the speeds depend on the hardware in the fan controller. The hardware sets the voltage going to the motor. I donā€™t know whom the great decider is but the voltage was set and the fans run on those settings.

Ideally, we should be able to tell the controller the percentage of voltage to apply to the motor. Then the user can have whatever speeds the user decides to configure.

I think that is enough for now. I have to sleep now and work in six hours. Take care and be careful.

Gary

This is great news! I just went through removing the last bits of my Insteon system that I kept because of my canopy fan module and went through a LOT of researching trying to find a replacement and landed on a Sonoff iFan04 that I then flashed with ESPHome, but I would much rather have had this Zigbee module instead since the Sonoff, while it works, isnā€™t a perfect replacement for a device that was amazing for many years.

Anxious for this to get to production!

1 Like

Does the remote still works after you flash it to esphome ?

Mine didnā€™t come with one but Iā€™ve read in the forums that you can get it to work with some ESPHome coding, but I have not had a need to try.

For me I never needed a remote because my house is 100% voice controlled or automated for the past 10 years, so my fan comes on when itā€™s needed without any interaction from me and if I want it or the light I can just ā€œHey Siriā€ my way to happiness.

1 Like

Holy cow look at all those badges! Over-achiever much? :joy:

Hi, Iā€™m new here. I hope Iā€™m in the right place. Iā€™m looking into a smart switch for my ceiling fan and lights. Itā€™s currently setup with two simple wall switches, one for lights, one for ceiling fan.

From what I see, yā€™all only make single gang switches. I donā€™t currently have any smart switches, Iā€™m a little apprehensive about losing functionality if the internet goes down.

So, what if one switch was a smart switch to do all of the smart switch stuff, and the other is a dumb switch that can bypass the smart one and power the fan/light directly. Is that possible? Is it a good idea? If not, why not?

Thanks!

Your wiring supports what youā€™re asking for with no extra complexity requred. You need a Project Zephyr fan switch (ZigBee Fan Switch | Project Zephyr (Blue Series) - Projects & Roadmaps - Inovelli Community) and a Blue switch to control the lights. If your network / hub is offline, everything works as normal.

You could accomplish the same with a canopy module (Project Cheryl, this thread) if itā€™s communicating with the switch/scene controller (Project Walt) via zigbee binding (aka if the network is down, the two devices still communicate directly with one another) , but I canā€™t think of any reason to do that when the basic setup covers your bases.

2 Likes

First of all, what @MarkTr322 said ^^^

The three most popular hubs for users here, SmartThings, Hubitat and Home Assistant all communicate locally. So any automations will run unless there is some cloud based element to them. (Not sure about the Echo.) Additionally, the switches work like regular switches anyway, so you can operate the fan and light without the Internet.

Since the smart switches work just fine without the Internet, there is no need to do the bypass you described. Just press the paddle on the switch and it will work fine, Internet or not.

2 Likes