Big Ass Fans Haiku Generation 4: IoT’s a Breeze

In 2013, shortly after moving to South Florida, I decided to install a stunning ceiling fan in my living room. This is the first generation Big Ass Fans Haiku H series with SenseMe, a Wi-Fi control device integrated with smart his thermostats such as Nest. It had an onboard motion sensor and intelligent scheduling.

It has served us well for about 10 years. I installed the Haiku L series in my bedroom.

I had a technical problem with my original Haiku H a few months ago (maybe it was thunderstorm related, I don’t know why it failed) and contacted support.The resolution was for Big Ass Fun to replace it (for free) New 4th generation Haiku devices, is a testament to the company’s excellent warranty and support services. If you’re wondering why he has to spend over $1600 on one of these units.

But I had to get an electrician to reinstall it, so I took this opportunity to replace the old (silly) Hunter fan in the kitchen/bar area with a 4th generation and replace the old (and finicky) WiFi wall. did. Control the switch with a new Bluetooth Low Energy based one. I also purchased a new colored uplight kit for both new fans to provide mood lighting in addition to the original fan dome lighting.

New technology, new apps

Generation 4 technology is now being deployed across Big Ass Fan’s home and consumer product lines. i6 When ES6 (6 blades) and its entry level Haiku L device. This allows everything, including commercial/industrial devices, to be controlled by the company’s latest smartphone app.

This new app for iOS and Android, introduced in the 3rd generation, replaces the previous “Haiku Fans” app, but if you have 1st and 2nd generation devices on your network, they will use the old app. , it will stop working. Certain 1st and 2nd gen fans can get a new main logic board and move it (a step I tried to fix when the first her 10 year old fan became unresponsive) ). Still, it’s not a trivial procedure, as the entire housing of the unit needs to be disassembled and installed. Unless you’re very familiar with disassembling electronics, we recommend having an electrician replace it.

After installing the fan, connecting it to the app is easy. Each fan will broadcast her WiFi signal, so all you have to do is connect her mobile device to that network and add it to the app with a simple wizard. The new Gen4 technology fully supports the latest his WiFi 2.4Ghz 802.11n network. It uses a less powerful 2.4ghz 802.11g transceiver and is much more reliable than the older 1st/2nd generation technology, which often disconnected unless isolated to traditional WiFi networks. I felt this issue was the Achilles heel of an otherwise excellent product.

Attaches to a standard light switch receptacle flush mount, the new wall controller is modernized with touch controls for fan speed and light dimming, and automatically pairs with fans using Bluetooth Low Energy . There have also been regular connectivity issues with modern access points.

In addition to scheduling to trigger fan movement and lighting using apps and motion sensing, fans can integrate with Alexa and Google Assistant and use voice control to set fan speed and dome light brightness. (except warmth/color). Manually switch between soft white and bright white).

If you have an Ecobee thermostat, you can also integrate with it to optimize HVAC and fan efficiency. The platform was once integrated with Nest, but unfortunately Google discontinued his Works with Nest program in 2019.

If you have multiple Big Ass Fan products installed in your home, you can also organize them into control groups. This is useful if they are close to each other and you want to synchronize fan speeds and lighting levels. It also simplifies wall control setup by allowing multiple fans and lights to be operated by her one wall control.

Colored lighting could be better

of Chromatic upright upgrade ($400) is also available for ES6, but this is an accessory option and in theory would be a great addition to the product if it were more configurable in software. In addition to bright white uplights for ceiling lighting, he also implements multicolor mood night lights with his seven different color combinations: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and bright purple. The ES6 can also integrate UV-C with colored light for room sterilization.

However, all of these nightlight colors must be manually selected in the app. It cannot be controlled by Alexa or Google like the dome light. It only activates when the main dome light is turned off and set to one of the 7 colors, no “party mode” or slow color transition flow available. The setting to change the color is also inconveniently buried three layers below his UX in the app.

These are hard-coded, so you can’t pair them with Hue or any other manufacturer’s lights in your Alexa routines if you want to adjust the color. Hopefully some of these issues will be resolved in future software updates.

Haiku fans, finally finished?

I have been using these fans for 10 years and they are great blowers and look great, but the WiFi connection reliability of my Generation 1 Haiku with SenseMe left a lot to be desired. , now works fine with updated communication stack and Bluetooth wall controller.

But is it worth it? This is really beautiful for the viewer. If you want basic her IoT ceiling fan integration, you can do this for much less with: Lutron’s Wireless Caseta Fan Controller,and Lutron Caseta Starter Kit Used in conjunction with a previously installed 3 or 4 speed “dumb” ceiling fan like the Hunter.

That said, fan intelligence with onboard sensors distinguishes Haiku and ES6 from others on the market. And the fact that the company stands by its product and is even willing to replace it after 10 years of service means it’s a sound investment.