Make your Ceiling Fan Smart

If you have an RF ceiling fan and you want to make it smart, then this guide is for you. 

https://youtube.com/watch?v=diOs6-5nQ-g%3Ffeature%3Doembed

Step 1 – Get your equipment

You will need a few items to make sure you can get this right and you can get all of them from our store.

1 x Milney Smart Hub

1 x Sonoff RF Bridge

If you don’t want to tasmotize your RF Bridge, buy the configured option

Step 2 – Tasmotize your Sonoff RF Bridge

We are going to use Tasmota on a Sonoff RF Bridge, cause its easier to use later and then it works very well in Home Assistant.

Pop the back open, flip the switch and connect your FT232RL to the Sonoff RF.  Make sure the LED does not touch the antenna. When starting up the RF make sure to hold down the reset button.  If you can see the port popup on Tasmotize on your machine you are good to go, if not try again.

Pro tip – If you are trying to flash and its not working, swop the TX and RX cables.

Step 3 – Configure MQTT and Home Assistant

While we technically don’t go into Home Assistant here, we will need the details to connect to the MQTT server.

Now get the device on the network by connecting the Tasmota SSID and adding your network SSID details.

Once connected change the module to RF Bridge via Configuration > Configure Module > Module Parameters > Sonff Bridge (25) and click Save

This should show once reboot has been completed.

Add the MQTT settings via Configuration > Configure MQTT > MQTT Parameters

Add Host, User and Password and click Save

Step 4 – Learn Codes

Go into the console and type the following to capture RfKey 1 for learning.  Change 1 for the one of the 16 keys to learn.

Rfkey1 2

Wait for a beep and then push the button to learn, when you hear 2 beeps it has captured the code.

Step 5 – Add the codes to Home Assistant

In Home Assistant go to Configuration > Scripts and create a script for each code.

Turn Fan Off

Name it Turn Fan Off

Add the Icon ‘mdi:fan-off’

Mode Single

Under Sequence Action type ‘Call Service’

Service ‘mqtt.publish’

Add the TOPIC for the saved from the codes earlier.

Step 6 – Lovelace

Add a new Entities Card and search for the scripts you just created.

Step 7 – Show off

Turn on and off your fan whenever you need to Top Tip, if you have a humidity/temp sensor you can setup an automation to run based on a threshold.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *