Why my new smart fan was worth the hassle

The Hunter Aerodyne 52 inch smart fan makes adding a smart fan to your home about half the cost of other options. But is it better than alternatives like a smart fan control, and how much customization would you need to do to make it work well in your smart home?
Hunter Aerodyne on Amazon is available in
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📖 CHAPTERS:
00:00 Intro
00:37 About Hunter Simple Connect
00:57 Advantages of a smart fan
01:48 Advantages of a smart fan control
02:25 Installing the Hunter Aerodyne
03:17 Handy Features of the Hunter Aerodyne
03:51 Adding a Hunter fan to your smart home
04:53 Why I want Philips Hue bulbs
05:42 My cool HomeKit hack
09:24 Should you buy a Hunter Aerodyne fan?
🛋️ IN MY STUDIO:
- Black lamp geni.us/BIM84AO [Amazon]
- Brown leather chair geni.us/WtudM [Amazon]
- Kiwi Birds geni.us/LOfHY [Crate&Barrel]
- Faux ZZ Plant geni.us/0rmMi2 [Crate&Barrel]
- C Table from TJ Maxx
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- Some links in this description are affiliate links and might support the channel at no additional cost to you
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- This video and all of Eric Welander's channel is a production of E. Welander, LLC

[@jonathanitin9065]

Excellent video as always, Eric, and very nice to see you back creating HomeKit content. I ran into the same issues as you with my Hunter ceiling and Hue bulbs and played around a bit. The way I did it was I left the fan in the room it’s supposed to be in (Master Bedroom in my case). I created a Shortcut (within HomeKit’s Convert To Shortcut) that turns the light power on when it’s turned off much like you did. Since Hue doesn’t allow you to set a default of the bulb being off after power is cut, I made it so that the Hue bulbs in the fan turn on to 1% (so as not to get blasted in the retinas) after a power restore. To make sure the The bulbs come back on while the Shortcut is being run, I have it wait three seconds then turn the bulbs off. Works great and didn’t have to move my ceiling fan to a separate room in HomeKit. Also removed the power switch from the Home View so it’s out of sight out of mind. Wish Apple would let us exclude certain devices from Siri requests.

[@kevincheetham7952]

I just junked two Hunter simple connect fans that I installed 3 years ago. Never would work right in HomeKit. Went to dumb fans and added the Lutron Fan control and dimmer switches, works great now!

[@Polkster13]

Very cool work around for the ceiling fans. Genius! Love your cat.

[@FernandezGrill]

Thank you for making this video so I never have to go down that rabbit hole 😂 Cheers 🍻

[@m.j.r.technologyreveiws1075]

Through software update, Hunter needs to update the Fan’s light accessory to be recognized as a switch or make it App selectable. The HomeBridge Tuya plugin developer did this to my Fan + Light switch just last night and I have no more problem with Siri cutting power to the bulb! 👍 Good job Tuya plugin developer.

[@debbiebridygham9230]

Unfortunately my ceilings aren’t high enough to have a bladed ceiling fan, I’m keeping my eyes open for a bladeless ceiling fan that incorporates led lighting. Thanks for the video, it shows what options can automate your home

[@EricWelander]

Thanks for tuning in Debbie! I'm sorry this kind of fan won't work for you.

[@maeu59]

How low are they ? most are 8’…. Not enough?

[@Dr_Cole]

I went for the Hunter Romulus fan and I absolutely love it. You touched on one of the most impressive features: the rock steady fan performance. My wife likes a strong fan in the summer and could not believe how strong the top speed was nor how quiet and steady it was at the top speed. Ot does seem to me that you went way overkill on the light controls compared to how I ended up. For the wall switch, I just put a blank plate there. No reaching inside or any other way to force a change without a screwdriver. I also mounted the remote holder immediately next to the wall switch so anyone will see it there (it’s also in my master bedroom so there’s no unexpected foot traffic). Finally, I replaced the bulbs with those that are more friendly to dimming. Anything that controls the lights does so smoothly without causing unexpected power disruptions. We also use a simple automation to turn the fan on at a certain temperature and off again when it drops low enough, usually over night when the outside temps drop sufficient to cool our room.

[@EricWelander]

Thanks for sharing Dr. Cole! I'm glad the Hunter Romulus is working well for you. Yeah I wonder if I would have gone through all this if I hadn't already had Philips Hue all setup in our living room. I agree temperature automations are a great feature of smart fans. I haven't been entirely happy with how my HomePods are doing in this regard but that's a topic for another video.

[@Dr_Cole]

@@EricWelander I agree with your appraisal of the HomePod Mini temp and humidity sensors. For a while, I had an Eve Home and an EcoBee room sensor in my master bedroom and they rarely differed by more than 1 degree (if ever). The HomePods differ from by quite a bit.

[@morells09]

So that’s a pretty cool hack and all with the lights in a different room, but did you consider maybe that Hunter included cheap bulbs in the box to keep costs down and maybe just try picking up some higher quality dumb bulbs from Philips for example?

[@ashuggtube]

Loved the kiwis on the shelf behind you!

[@EricWelander]

Thank you!

[@mossimac]

I wired a Shelly behind mine so I could run constant power to the fan but use the switch to trigger an automation to turn the fan on.

[@Viggen61]

Thanks for the review, Eric! I know you and your family prefer the Philips Hue bulbs (as do I), but was there anything about the bulbs that come with the Hunter fan that didn’t work well, or was difficult? I’m thinking I would not be putting Hue bulbs in the fan, just dimmable LEDs, which would be fine for my use.

[@anthonywall1228]

I use Lutron fan control switch with Homekit.

[@midgeman0901]

Does this work with lutron caseta smart light and fan switches?

[@islandsnow]

Where do you set PMF off. I have a unifi system. I had big time issues when the fan became unresponsive with HomeKit and I could never add it back. Luckily hunter sent me another one

[@alexwaynemiller]

Question, what model hue bulbs did you go with? I have a similar setup and my ONLY complaint is I wish the hue bulbs I used aren’t the brightest hue has to offer. But the brighter ones (100w I think?) wouldn’t fit. First world problem. Just curious if you went with the same ones I did.

[@ThomDeCarlo]

I think I will be replacing the single switch ceiling fans that I have throughout my house with these smart fans. It’s much easier than trying to run a second wire through the wall and ceiling! I don’t use any Phillips Hue lights in my house yet, so a dumb, but dimmable, LED will work fine and make the setup easier. I would also think about removing the wall switch and capping the wires. Then I’d mount one or two Pico remotes or Eve Buttons to provide physical control of the fan and lights.

[@EricWelander]

That sounds like a great plan overall. My one comment is a non-smart switch on the wall is a nice option to force the fan to restart if it drops from your Wi-Fi. It's often easier than going down to the circuit breaker.

[@DLamano80]

I’ve had the Hunter Advocate for about 6 months, and on a daily basis it has WiFi issues even with a static IP. Most of the time it will reconnect on its own, but from time to time I have to tap the wall switch off-on.

[@EricWelander]

Bummer. That is a handy reason to keep a switch on the wall though. Thanks for sharing

[@jsac3939]

So if one doesn’t use Hue bulbs, does the fan respond well to to command through Siri?

[@dankelley9361]

Sounds to me to be crazy convoluted to work with Apple. I have 2 very nice remote control fans that work with a Bond controller that works perfectly!

[@EricWelander]

Oh cool! I'll have to check out a Bond controller some day. They look like a nice device

[@rangerrecon]

$200 is definitely betted than the $600 I paid for my "Modern Forms" fan. The Modern Forms fan has an app and is controllable via Alexa w/ a skill, but doesn't integrate with HomeKit and I've never gotten any of their wall switches to pair with the fan (I tried three of them). Additionally, their cloud service seems to struggle with reliability and that service is necessary for control via Alexa or the app. I've started to question just how "smart" the fan really is, but when it works, it is nice.

[@FabianoChagas]

Awesome review as always. But … I think that this setup will require me to work as a DevOps-ish dude😅 Cheers Eric

[@EricWelander]

Haha yeah if only my fan could trigger a Jenkins job. I agree this is a convoluted solution for me. Thanks I'm glad you liked the video.

[@jasonreisinger4959]

Hello Eric. Love your channel and find you provide a lot of useful info -thanks! One question: are you aware of any available or coming soon options to enable fan and light control that is HomeKit compatible and only wired to one switch? I have several legacy fans that have the remote functionality for fan and light control separately though only wired to one light switch.

[@EricWelander]

The closest option is a dual paddle switch like Aqara makes but that is only two switches not a fan control and dimmer.

[@camron1053]

I just got the Bond and added my remote ceiling fan to it. But at the time smart fans were pricey

[@EricWelander]

You are the second person I've heard from today that uses the Bond control. I will have to check it out some time.

[@luisarsuaga7637]

Does it hum? Many people complains that this fan is more noisier than others. What's your experience?

[@venom5809]

I would but this to remove my great room fan, unfortunately the ceilings in that room are 17 feet tall.

[@EricWelander]

Hunter does sell a 72" downrod that is rated to drop the fan from 16' ceilings.

[@suhashv6]

I bought Hunter aerodyne .. Was able to connect to simple connect and also works either Apple home kit.. after this am not able to opearate using provide remote. Is this normal ?

[@brianstrohman79]

I have seen reviews on Amazon that the Aerodyne has a loud humming noise. Do you notice any humming?

[@suhashv6]

@@brianstrohman79 No its dam quiet and you don't hear anything.I would recommend buying.

[@jagslion3]

we just purchased a new hunter fan with it`s own control, my plan was to throw the switch out and use a lutron smart switch, when we turn the light off the fan would go off, I called Lutron and they said the switch would not work with a fan\LED light combo with a separate fan and light switch, so for now I have an ugly hunter switch mixed in.

[@NB-Philly]

I have the same exact Hunter Fans, four of them installed, but I have not been able to get two of them to connect at all. I have contacted Hunter many times to get this resolved, but no luck. Two of the fans I was able to connect and then randomly one of them stopped connecting, so the fan is always on, and I have to screw and unscrew the bulbs. In the other rooms, I switched out the lightbulbs and put in, my old Sylvania, smart bulbs and control of them just the way you are with your hue bulbs. It’s been very frustrating. Only one of the fans now is working as expected. I’m not sure why am having all these issues, I have a great Wi-Fi in my house. I have a eero system and it has caused any problems, but these fans have been such a headache.

[@luisarsuaga7637]

Have you been able to solve these issues? Also...many complains that these fans have an audible hum. Do your fans make humming sounds?

[@NB-Philly]

@@luisarsuaga7637 no fix at all, and they absolutely hum. Wish I never bought them.

[@JBaby_9783]

@@luisarsuaga7637I don’t have this model, but I do have the Symphony and Neuron. They don’t hum.

[@luisarsuaga7637]

@@JBaby_9783 I bought one from Costco and they do hum, but it's bearly noticeable.

[@fredbureau-russell7718]

None of the ceilings in my house even have wiring for a ceiling fan. I don’t know how anyone lived in this house before me.

[@EricWelander]

Yeah that's rough!

[@beninnederland4904]

Still not available in EUROPE 😢

[@Lauryncorr]

We need something that makes our ceiling fans smart and HomeKit compatible. I have only shortcuts to them and I refuse to use homebridge

[@EricWelander]

Yeah I know it's hard for companies to make things globally but I'm sorry for you guys not having more options for ceiling fans. The Bond Bridge Pro makes a variety of ceiling fans smart but I think the bridge itself is US only as well 😕

[@georgehardisty8948]

I think I will stay with dumb fans. Already have smart switches to turn them on and off. Can’t control the lights and fans separately, but they have pull string switches.

[@alexandrossalonica]

Not for Europe i'm afraid.

[@morells09]

This seems like far too much of a work around for someone that presumably has separate wiring for the fan and light going by the 2-gang box that you have the switch covers on... I would much rather have a dumb fan with a Lutron Caseta controller and then put that Aurora dimmer over top of the other switch for the Hue bulbs.

[@shanelsmith34]

My Hunter fan is absolute trash. It has a bunch of problems, including outdated firmware that Hunter knows is crap but never fixed.

[@richardgarno6591]

I don’t think I would buy it. What you described seems like too much effort for me to want to buy this fan. And some of what you did might require assistance from someone else. Smart home items should be plug and play. One wonders if manufacturers are failing to hire smart people to insure this.

[@EricWelander]

Fair enough! Smart homes should be plug and play most of the time

[@rhomboidman]

Eric, can you review Aqara ceiling light?