I have a few of these Home Depot Hampton Bay fans with the simple remotes. They are the ones where you press once for the light, press again to turn it off and hold to dim. Problem is I can’t accurately dim to the level I want. For example I want to command them to 100% for reading, 50% for watching TV and like 10% for going to bed. With the hold-and-dim it doesn’t work that way. And then of course the google home / alexa integration doesn’t do that at all.
I have been experimenting with the API and can issue commands to the lights ok. I can issue:
curl -X PUT -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘{“light”:1}’ -H “BOND-Token: bbbbbbbbbbbb” -i http://192.168.87.79/v2/devices/436b3d7b/actions/StartDimmer
then wait 6 seconds and issue a:
curl -X PUT -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘{“light”:1}’ -H “BOND-Token: bbbbbbbbbbbb” -i http://192.168.87.79/v2/devices/436b3d7b/actions/Stop
that’ll basically go from full bright to full dim to full bright again, somewhat reliably.
I guess my questions are:
Is there a way to get the effect I want using Bond and my existing fan’s controller?
Is there a replacement for the fan’s light and speed control module to make it more flexible?
Can I do this “command A, wait 6 seconds, command B” kind of thing with a the smarthome / google / alexa integration?
Thanks in advance!
So I’ve got a question that could turn into some other advice depending on the answer.
Do you have any smart home controller / hub (other than an Alexa or Google Assistant device), such as SmartThings, Home Assistant, ISY, etc?
Those could be used to programmatically keep track of the brightness internally, and with a couple strategies, could potentially get you closer to your end goal.
(I once did some similar “timed dimming” or “dim cycling until a stop command was sent” via an ISY-integrated Insteon remote)
The path of least resistance may instead be to swap out the original remote and receiver in the ceiling fans’ shrouds/cowls, if they are AC motor fans (as many of the Hampton Bay ones are).
Home Depot sells a “Smart by Bond” retrofit kit which would enable discrete brightness controls (sliders are present in the Bond app, and programmatic and voice assistant integrations should be capable of setting percentage on the lights). Downsides are: a little more involved setup process since it would involve wiring hardware in your home, and the cost of one kit per fan you want to control this way. Might also no longer need the Bond Bridge you currently have if the only RF (and IR) devices you want to control get these retrofit kits installed…
Upside is definitely more discrete control over the fan and light, plus a remote that (mostly) stays in sync with the fans’ states. (Technically it is possible for the physical remote it comes with to get out of sync with which fan speed is active if you use a mix of remote + voice assistants / programmed integrations)
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I do have SmartThings. It seems like that might get me part of the way there but still I think the “hold to dim” is just really never going to work right.
That retrofit kit from Home Depot, the “Smart by Bond” seems to be exactly what I am looking for! I’m not too worried about the electrical changes to the fan, except in the fan that is around 30 feet up.
The hold to dim has its challenges, for sure.
Theoretically, could you set something up in SmartThings to track brightness / mode of the light, virtual switches that you call “Reading” / “TV” / “Bedtime”, which programmatically start dimming for a calculated (on SmartThings somehow) n number of seconds based on last known brightness / mode of the light and target new mode?
Maybe.
I’m just not as aware of capabilities in SmartThings since I don’t use it.
The ‘fan is 30 ft in the air’ challenge is at least a different kind of challenge! 