I have been happily using Bond for years to automate my fans, but one piece of functionality has eluded me so far - the ability to control the lights in ways that guests (or potential buyers, in the fullness of time) find intuitive. I currently use z-wave light switches to toggle the light through Home Assistant, but this is imperfect. The remote control is too complicated for quickly entering and exiting a room.
My ideal solution would be an RF wall control unit which could do so without the need for external connectivity, hubs, or apps. In essence, putting the frequency learning functionality of the Bond Bridge into a wall-switch style unit with buttons to turn the lights/fan on and off (and, for bonus points, change fan direction).
I would gleefully buy 6 of these. My searching through Reddit and other places seem to show a keenness as well. Any chance of such a thing?
It’s confusing because it looks like a replacement for a wired fan/light kit, but the only wired function is power on/off. The other controls are RF. It says it “learns”, but I think maybe it just has a bunch of common fan remote codes preprogrammed therefore it may or may not work with yours. Take a look at the user manual.
Instead of having something in the wall control unit replicate what Bond already can do, what are your options with wall control keypads within your current ecosystem?
You mention Z-Wave already – do you have a smart home controller that can listen for Z-Wave keypad presses and then issue a Bond API command?
Using something like this: Z-Wave Scene Controller
Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately my current fans are already remote controlled with a reverse option (which I do use as part of my existing automation scheme), and replacing the receiver would remove that functionality. I haven’t found any universal remotes for DC fans which have a reverse function, alas.
I spoke to Home Decorators Collection and then their distributor King of Fans, and both said there were no compatible alternative receivers for the fans in question (Home Decorators Collection Breeezemore). This is why I think such a thing as was suggested would be so handy, as it would bypass the problem.
Thanks for the response. I am currently using a paddle switch which controls a switched outlet (per code, as there are no other lights within the rooms in question other than the fans’ and the fan light isn’t directly controlled by the switch). When pressed, a Home Assistant automation then causes one of my Bond Bridges to send the appropriate command to the corresponding light.
However, sometimes the fan light will not respond immediately, or the physical switch may become out of sync if the remote is used, leading to end-user confusion. Home Assistant itself requires some maintenance too. Separating the switched outlet and the light automation to include a product like you listed is a good interim solution which I may well pursue, and I appreciate it.
I still admittedly wonder about not having a standalone solution though. The product I suggested would remove intermediate layers and function similarly to the first reply, though without the need to replace the receiver. This is of course only wishful thinking on my part, and thank the responsers for their insights.
I wasn’t suggesting replacing the receiver in the fan, especially if they have RF signals that are currently working with Bond.
I was talking about using Home Assistant or some other controller (software and hardware) to listen for the Z-Wave keypads or remotes being pressed, and then sending the RF signals via Bond’s API (also through the Home Assistant or whatever controller works for you).
The fan light and motor would be basically hardwired so the Z-Wave keypads do nothing about power sent to it, nor would the Z-Wave keypad directly control the fan or light. Just a mechanism to trigger a “send RF signal XYZ to Fan device ABC via Bond API” any time Z-Wave button 1 is pressed and notifies Home Assistant or whatever hardware software combo controller you choose, which can itself listen to Z-Wave signals.