Hunter Fan Company has introduced a new Wi-Fi-connected and HomeKit-enabled ceiling fan called Apache, available now for $429 on its website. The 54-inch ceiling fan features curved propeller-like plastic blades with a bronze and oak finish.
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The fan has what Hunter Fan calls a WhisperWind motor, which it says provides powerful air movement with whisper-quiet performance. The motor is reversible, allowing homeowners to change the direction of the fan from downdraft mode during the summer to updraft mode during the winter.
Apache has an integrated LED light, covered with Clear Holophane glass, eliminating the need for bulb replacement. A remote control is included for controlling the fan and light, including dimming the bulbs.
Like its two other HomeKit-enabled fans, the Signal and Symphony, iPhone users can control Apache with voice commands or the Home app on iOS 10.
A three-position mounting system allows for standard, angled, or low ceiling mounting, and a 5-inch downrod is included to ensure proper distance from the ceiling and optimized air movement.
Hunter Fan said the Symphony, a cheaper version of its Signal with white blades, will launch in late November for $329. Signal is available now for $379.
Top Rated Comments
(View all)I dont understand why we need Siri controlled fan when you can have Siri control switch to turn fan on and off. Right now I have lutron switch which turn fan on and off via homkit.
HomeKit won't let you have two devices with the same name for this exact reason.Basically Now i say Hey Siri Turn on the Bedroom Fan and it turn on the Fan.
But If I install this fan then its gonna be a problem if i say Hey Siri Turn on the Bedroom Fan, It will get confuse should it turn on the bedroom fan switch or the fan ?
Only Solution I see is that you have dummy switch or hardwired the fan directly.
I wish someone would bring a quality fan controller to market that can be used to control any fan. Insteon has one, and on paper it's perfect. But I bought five of them and they didn't work out so well! When they connected to the insteon pro hub they worked great. But they kept losing connection to the hub, and the only way to re-connect was to factory reset the controllers, which are of course mounted inside the fans. I spent hours on the phone with Insteon technical support, but they couldn't find a resolution other than to keep factory resetting the controllers, obviously a complete showstopper. I ended up having to return them.
Too bad, because they were perfect when they actually worked.
If you are good with a soldering iron, computers and want a challenge, you can get ceiling fans with those RF remotes at Home Depot for like $80.
From there, you grab a Raspberry Pi Zero ($5), a USB RJ45 / Ethernet adapter ($1.25), a 433Mhz RF Transmitter / Receiver Module ($4).
The idea is to sniff out the RF codes (numbers) sent from the remote itself on key-press, once you have the codes you can transmit them from the Raspberry Pi using the RF Transmitter Module. From that point, you simply install Homebridge on the Raspberry Pi, install one of the many free fan plugins and configure it to send the RF codes.
Once that is done, the Home App will see your Raspberry Pi as a Homekit Bridge and will see the fan.
If you are already that far in, grab a 5 pack of Etekcity RF Wireless Power Outlets ($20), sniff out the RF codes and install another plugin. Now you have a homekit fan and 5 outlets.
But why not take it a step farther, buy a 5v relay module ($5) and connect to to your Raspberry Pi and your garage opener. Grab another plugin from Homebridge and your done.
So thats:
Fan - $80
Raspberry Pi - $5
USB RJ45 / Ethernet adapter - $1.25
433Mhz RF R/T Module - $4
Etekcity RF Wireless Power Outlets - $20
5v relay module - $5
------------------
Total $115
For that price (plus time and some other misc stuff) you get a fan, 5 outlets and a connected garage all in your Homekit app.
Here is some information for the adventurous:
https://github.com/nfarina/homebridge
https://timleland.com/wireless-power-outlets/
https://medium.com/arvin-singla/apple-homekit-hacking-3d2902e7a1df#.i5wcgetda
Basically Now i say Hey Siri Turn on the Bedroom Fan and it turn on the Fan.
But If I install this fan then its gonna be a problem if i say Hey Siri Turn on the Bedroom Fan, It will get confuse should it turn on the bedroom fan switch or the fan ?
Only Solution I see is that you have dummy switch or hardwired the fan directly.