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Guy Axlerod
Dec 29, 2008
TP Link recently released their single-gang smart fan/light control. If you have a combo switch in a single "space" this might be what you want. You must have one hot and one neutral coming in, and two separate wires going to the fan. One for the fan motor and one for the light. https://www.kasasmart.com/us/products/smart-switches/kasa-ceiling-fan-control-and-dimmer-switch-ks240

I've had it for a couple weeks. It seems fine, I'm happy to have smart control of all the lights in this room now. I do wish I could have something that wasn't made out of cheap plastic. Some people complain about the backlight of the switch being too bright. For me it seems to turn on and off randomly. It does come on when I touch it, so I don't think it's broken, just weirdly programmed.

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Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

Henrik Zetterberg posted:

Yeah, I’ve got a few already. I guess my question is, are the requirements to being compatible with the PD-FSQN?

1. chain pull speed adjustment
2. no remote

There’s no 3, right?

There is, but it's really unlikely that you have it. I mean, people can install things wrong. There exist 3-spped chain pull DC fans that have remotes (that may not have been given to you) and/or wall switching that is not dimmer type but actually low voltage signaling to change fan speeds. But those are outliers, I don't beleive there are any standards for them, and if you just set it to high however and throw a PD-FSQN on it it may just work anyway.

japtor
Oct 28, 2005
If anyone uses HomeKit and ratgdo, there's a new firmware out, considered a 1.0.0 release build...just in time cause mine all of a sudden stopped working recently. Updated and removed and re-paired to HomeKit and everything working again (granted might've fixed it on the old firmware, but only tried rebooting).

If your old firmware was like mine, you had to upload the firmware manually, which I couldn't find on the regular ratgdo page. They're slightly buried on the HomeKit fork of it here:

https://github.com/ratgdo/homekit-ratgdo/tree/main/docs/firmware

If you had issues solved by rebooting, there's now an option for periodic auto rebooting. A bit of a kludgy workaround but it's something.

IUG
Jul 14, 2007


Motronic posted:

Okay, the lights work from a wall switch, what about the fans? Can you turn them on and off from another wall switch or do you have to control it with the chain? If you have to control it with the chain, does the fan run if the light switch on the wall is off?

What I'm getting at here is how the fans are wired/what wires are in your walls between the switch box and fan box. The best case scenario is that you have a load wire from your switch location to the lights and a seperate one to the fan. That gives you the most options and will allow you to use a fan/light controller or just a smart fan controller and then a regular smart light switch.

Also, what ecosystem/protocol you want the to be controllable by is important to know.

My fans are all only operated from the pull chain. The lights work from a light switch (but still have the chains, they just stay pulled “on”), except for one fan light that doesn’t have a light switch. I’m using Home Assistant with a Zigbee USB adapter.

Skinnymansbeerbelly
Apr 1, 2010
e: :ninja:

Skinnymansbeerbelly fucked around with this message at 14:59 on Mar 22, 2024

Motronic
Nov 6, 2009

IUG posted:

My fans are all only operated from the pull chain. The lights work from a light switch (but still have the chains, they just stay pulled “on”), except for one fan light that doesn’t have a light switch. I’m using Home Assistant with a Zigbee USB adapter.

Unfortunately that means you'll need to find zigbee fan controllers that get wired into the base of the fans, and this leaves you without a wall switch to control them, although I have seen solutions for that too. I'm in the HA/ZWave ecosystem so I'm not sure what's out there for zigbee.

Tapedump
Aug 31, 2007
College Slice
Any pointers or pointing to way on how to flash a ThinkSmart View for HA?

Tamba
Apr 5, 2010

Tapedump posted:

Any pointers or pointing to way on how to flash a ThinkSmart View for HA?

There's some instructions in the first post here:
https://community.home-assistant.io/t/is-this-the-perfect-standalone-tablet-for-ha/658422

toplitzin
Jun 13, 2003


Fwiw the xda thread instructions are easier/just unlocking vs a full OS reflash.

https://xdaforums.com/t/guide-root-unlocking-and-improving-your-lenovo-thinksmart-view-cd-18781y.4584033/

Tapedump
Aug 31, 2007
College Slice
Thank you both. Nothing like a rainy weekend to make for a good project.

movax
Aug 30, 2008

I have a corner of my garage that seems to be at the edge of my Caseta range... I have a plug-in dimmer acting as an extender right now, but not sure I can get it close enough to fix the issue.

The Caseta readme says:

quote:

A Caséta Repeater or Plug-in Lamp dimmer will be needed to extend the range of the system to accommodate those devices. There are 2 products that you can add to your Caséta system to extend the range of the RF signal:
Note: Only the first Caséta Plug-in Lamp dimmer added to a system will act as a range extender and only one Caséta Wireless repeater can be added to a system.

Does this mean you can only have one of the two, or that you can have both but only one of each will act as an extender?

Henrik Zetterberg
Dec 7, 2007

It reads to me like the latter.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


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Morbid Hound
I'm buying a house that hasn't been updated since the 1970s. Is there a good starting place to read up on potential upgrades and current systems, whats worth installing and what isnt, etc?? I'm not sure how current the various articles I'm finding are and this seems like a swiftly moving area.

I'm android / Google generally not Apple to the extent that might matter.

HamburgerTownUSA
Aug 7, 2022

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

I'm buying a house that hasn't been updated since the 1970s. Is there a good starting place to read up on potential upgrades and current systems, whats worth installing and what isnt, etc?? I'm not sure how current the various articles I'm finding are and this seems like a swiftly moving area.

I'm android / Google generally not Apple to the extent that might matter.

The first thing to do is see how the house is wired. If it isn't wired up with a neutral wire (given the age, it probably isn't), and you want to use smart switches/outlets, you will have to use ones specifically made to not require a neutral wire.

Hieronymous Alloy
Jan 30, 2009


Why! Why!! Why must you refuse to accept that Dr. Hieronymous Alloy's Genetically Enhanced Cream Corn Is Superior to the Leading Brand on the Market!?!




Morbid Hound

HamburgerTownUSA posted:

The first thing to do is see how the house is wired. If it isn't wired up with a neutral wire (given the age, it probably isn't), and you want to use smart switches/outlets, you will have to use ones specifically made to not require a neutral wire.

Good to know, thanks. It'll probably be a bit before I'm back in thebplace with contractors tho. I am planning a bunch of renovations anyway -- is that the sort of thing that could be added or would be worth adding? Some of the other threads were recommending adding conduit as a first move.

HamburgerTownUSA
Aug 7, 2022

Hieronymous Alloy posted:

Good to know, thanks. It'll probably be a bit before I'm back in thebplace with contractors tho. I am planning a bunch of renovations anyway -- is that the sort of thing that could be added or would be worth adding? Some of the other threads were recommending adding conduit as a first move.

For an electrician, adding a neutral wire is easy, with the only caveat being that they have to get in your walls to do it.

So if they're already got your walls open to do electrical stuff, then there you go.

Shifty Pony
Dec 28, 2004

Up ta somethin'


You don't need a contractor to check and see if there's a neutral. Just pop open the covers of a couple single light switches (with only one switch controlling the lights) and peer inside.

If you only see one set of wires (one white, one black, and one bare) with the white wire running to one screw of the switch and the black wire running to the other screw the switch, you have what's called a switch loop where there is no neutral run to the actual box on the wall.

If you see two or more sets of black, white, bare wires with the switch only being connected to black wires and the white wires being connected together with a wire nut, you have a neutral in the box.

You said in the home buying thread that it was built in 1972 which means it is very very likely to have switch loops because copper was stupid expensive then and they were trying to use his little of it as possible. Unfortunately that also means that the house is rather likely to have aluminum wiring, so be sure to check on that.

Henrik Zetterberg
Dec 7, 2007

Amazon has 20% off Hue products if you buy 2+.

https://slickdeals.net/share/iphone_app/t/17375187

I bought a like new Signe Floor Lamp this week and it’s actually pretty awesome, despite being shipped in a box with no packing and ending up slightly bent. Thinking of getting another and maybe a Signe table lamp with this deal….

Henrik Zetterberg fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Mar 28, 2024

Hughlander
May 11, 2005

Anyone have any recommendations for a Zigbee color changing BR30 bulb?

I started with the crappy GE bulbs over a decade ago that would just constantly drop off the network. Almost all now have been replaced by SYLVANIA SMART+ ZigBee Full Color bulbs, but their price went from $20 a bulb in 2020 to $32 a bulb today. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196M5YAS/ is the one I mean.

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That Works
Jul 22, 2006

Every revolution evaporates and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy


Hughlander posted:

Anyone have any recommendations for a Zigbee color changing BR30 bulb?

I started with the crappy GE bulbs over a decade ago that would just constantly drop off the network. Almost all now have been replaced by SYLVANIA SMART+ ZigBee Full Color bulbs, but their price went from $20 a bulb in 2020 to $32 a bulb today. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0196M5YAS/ is the one I mean.

I have some of the Sengeled A12 versions. I think they make br30 also. Happy with them so far.

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