I have an Airscape Whole House Fan and wonder if anyone else has tried to get Bond to control one. Bond will pick up the frequency, but can’t control anything. The remote that came with the fan had to be paired to the fan, so I suspect it might be similar to the tech in a Somfy shade. Or maybe it’s similar to the Quiet Cool. There isn’t an app for Airscape Fans though.
I’ve thought about trying to pair the Bond to the fan, but I have to go into my attic to do so, and it’s not an easy process. So before I try anything, does anyone have any experience with these fans? Is it possible?
Reading up on the Airscape whole house fan on their website I assume you did too, so I just wanted to summarize my impression how the thing is supposed to work with the optional remote feature.
they say you have to pair the remote with the remote receiver which connects to the fan base electric box. In case that this has been lost you will have to go to the attic and do the dance with the receiver box to reconnect with the fan. Provided that you already tested the remote and find it operational that step will not be needed. 2. Now your task is to teach bond the code that operates the fan which is as usual done with the remote and your bond device. So on that end I am not sure which state of affairs you are at to make any meaningful suggestions. Let me just mention my quiet cool attic fan runs with a web app which is nice but has only a Bluetooth communication which makes it a little iffi to control. The only benefit of my system is it has internal temperature and humidity control which makes it autonomous hence I don’t bother trying to integrate it into my overall Bond/Alexa system.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, I looked it all up and have the remote working. I tried teaching Bond the remote frequency, which it seemed to identify, but then it wouldn’t operate the fan. I suspect it operates similar to a garage door opener, where the motor has to pair with the remote. Or like my Somfy blinds, which also have to pair. I just don’t know if it’s even possible with the Airscape, and since the pairing button is in the unfinished attic, far from the Bond unit, I’m hoping to not have to futz around up there unless I know it’s possible.
I wish it was. They used to sell a WiFi bridge, but I didn’t buy it at the time because it was expensive and the functionality was limited to the same functions as the physical remote. They stopped selling it for “safety reasons.” Makes some sense since you don’t want it running with all the windows and doors closed while you’re away, but a simple geofence could solve that problem.
The premise of such system is only a semi-automatic operation since the airflow intake is not part of the control function. So what you would need is extra fresh air registers that open based on pressure differential or electric control and then you need to deal with door configurations to direct the air exchange or have louver doors to have that constrain removed. Based on house orientation you want the intake flow not from the sun exposed side. All in all a more complex task to really get the full possible benefit of such system, My home got a air exchange system installed with extra registers for fresh air in and out. It has a filtration system included with humidity control. I rarely used this after installing a multizone AC and heating system which solved my main problem of local temperature variance and made the house comfortable all year around.
Yeah, I’m not looking to fully automate my windows at this point. I just need Bond to be able to turn the fan on and off, and adjust the speed. Seems like it should be simple enough given that it can work with Somfy blinds that need to be paired. Does anyone have any experience with this? Anyone have an idea if Bond is technically capable of pairing with the fan?
As a side, I love my Airscape fan. It keeps the house cool at night in the summer without having to use AC. Rarely do we have to run the AC after dark with the Airscape. I highly recommend it. You just have to do a little work getting the windows open when you turn it on.
I have not yet found the FCC ID of the remote transmitter / receiver – but that would help the Bond staff, and/or us in the community, dig into the details a bit more.
Since you mentioned pairing, I suspect there may be a rolling code or similar, and might not be something a Bond Bridge can currently support.
Does your remote show an FCC ID anywhere on it, or within a battery compartment or similar?
It’s been a while, so I thought I’d rekindle this thread. It does appear the remote is a rolling code remote. Is this something on the horizon for Bond? Thanks for your help!
The hand remote is exactly what I have. And the guts (picture in previous post) of the remote wall control are the same as the guts of the hand remote.
Thanks, @bvila – Bond staff, if you drop by and are able to chime in with which Bridges, if any, are likely capable at the hardware level of rolling code pairing for something like this (is it only the Pro?), that’d be neat. I know the software level is another effort beyond just hardware capability, but just curious what is technically possible for maybe an enhancement in the future, vs not possible at all.
If it is helpful, maybe Bond could try to speak with experts@airscapefans.com about their RF protocols, since the company seems to have a customer-centric background (I submit https://blog.airscapefans.com as support for that statement) and they seem, based on bvila’s picture above, to have partnered with Solidremote for an OEM solution?
