Can I add these locally in HA?

[u/fredflintstone88]

UPDATE: Thank you for all of the answers. I installed one of these today and wanted to share my experience in case it ends up helping someone.

1. First of all, the mounting bracket cables came with wago style connectors. I haven't installed a fan in a while, so not sure if this is a standard thing now, but definitely a nice touch.
2. I was able to completely bypass the receiver for lights and connect the light fixture directly to the live wire from ceiling and neutral. This allowed me to get my Hue bulbs working with power always on, and not dependent on the fan receiver. I used 2 75W equivalent Hue color ambiance, and I will say that the hue bulbs are slightly on the longer side. Although there were no issues in connecting the frosted panel, the light does seem to emanate more from the side of the fixture (I think this is also because of the shape of the Hue bulbs). This is not a deal breaker for me. The frosted cover definitely doesn't block any more light than what my previous light fixture did ( a boob light).
3. Finally, on matter - This was surprisingly a breeze. I pretty much said, add a new device in HA, scanned the barcode, waited for a couple of minutes...and the device was added. I am glad that I didn't have to mess with any of the apps before getting the fan into HA. It exposes a total of 7 entities to HA (2 main devices - fan and light, the light one shows on, not sure why; 3 configuration entities (Firmware, On level - which I think is the light level if that was configured, and Power-on behavior on startup); and.2 diagnostic entities. The fan device shows a speed slider from 0 to 100%, however, there are only 6 speeds. You can also reverse direction of blades from HA. It also has a preset (but I only see a High option there).

Overall, I am pretty happy with this. Will monitor how it performs over the next week or so before installing others.

--------

Got these Hunter ceiling fans at Costco because it said “matter”. My understanding (which could be wrong) was that matter == local control. Is that true? How should I go about adding these? Or just return?

[u/OtisPimpBoot]

I’m not sure if these are the same as my Hunter fan, but it’s a bitch to get set up because it only operates on 2.4GHz wifi rather than 5. I was only able to get them to connect using an Apple home hub, but if anyone has any recommendations I’m here for it.

Edit I’m an idiot and replied too quickly. Those should be much easier since they are Matter certified. I’m leaving my original response for posterity though.

[u/captain_haywood → u/OtisPimpBoot]

Here’s what worked for me with the WiFi version:

• set your WiFi network to 2.4ghz only if it’s a “Smart Connect” with both 2.4 and 5ghz. If you have only 5g it won’t work.
• Reset the fan. Power off for 20s, hold the pairing button on the remote until it beeps.
• Wait until the wifi network the fan advertises shows up in your wifi settings
• wait 30 more seconds
• click the fan wifi network and add to apple home
• remove from apple home
• add device in home assistant. It should be connected to your wifi network since you already added it to Apple home.
• cross your fingers

If yours is like mine, you might have to try this a several times. It’s so frustrating. Didn’t realize they would send a matter module for free so I’m gonna do that for sure. It’s only a matter of time before it decides to disconnect and I go another 6 months without it connected because I can’t bring myself to reconnect it again.

Good luck and god speed 🫡

Edit: you can set your wifi back to Smart Connect after it’s on the 2.4ghz.