In 2013, shortly after moving to South Florida, we decided to equip our living room with an outstanding ceiling fan, the first generation Big Ass Fans Haiku H series with SenseMe, a WiFi controlled device. integrates with smart thermostats like Nest and has built-in motion sensors and smart scheduling.
It served us well for about ten years, and we liked it so much we installed a Haiku L series in our bedroom.
We had a technical issue with our original Haiku H a few months ago (probably related to a lightning storm, we’re not sure why it failed) and contacted support . The solution is that Big Ass Fans will replace it (for free) with a new 4th generation Haiku device, a testament to the company’s outstanding support and warranty service; if you’re wondering why you should spend up to $1600 on one of these devices.
But since I had to have an electrician come in to reinstall, I also took this opportunity to replace the old (dumb) Hunter fan in my kitchen/bar area with a Generation 4 and replace the wall. Older (and fussy) WiFi. control switch with the newer Bluetooth Low Energy based switch. In addition to the original fan dome lighting, we also purchased a new set of colored uplights for both new fans to provide mood lighting.
New technology, new application
4th Generation technology is now deployed across Big Ass Fan’s entire residential and consumer product line, including i6 and ES6 (six blades) and their entry level Haiku L device. This allows everything to be controlled by the company’s latest smartphone app, including their commercial/industrial devices.
This new app for iOS and Android introduced with Generation 3 replacing the previous “Haiku Fan” app, but if you have Generation 1 and Generation 2 devices on your network, they will stuck on that older app. Certain Gen 1 and Gen 2 fans may get a new main logic board to move them around (a procedure I tried on our first 10 year old fan to try to fix when it no reply). However, this is not an easy process as the entire case of the device has to be disassembled to fit it in. Unless you are extremely adept at disassembling electronics, I would recommend having an electrician replace those.
Once you have the fans installed, connecting them to the app is easy. Each fan broadcasts a WiFi signal, so you can simply connect that network to your mobile device and add it to the app using a simple wizard. New Gen4 technology fully supports modern 2.4Ghz 802.11n WiFi networks. It’s much more reliable than the older Generation 1/Gen 2 technology, which uses a less powerful 2.4 GHz 802.11g transceiver and often disconnects unless you isolate it from the old WiFi network. We feel this problem is the Achilles heel in another excellent product.
The new wall-mounted controller, installed in a standard flush-mounted light switch socket, is also modernized using touch controls for fan speed and light dimming, and automatically pairing with the fan using Bluetooth Low Energy, a significant improvement over the 2.4 GHz WiFi wall controller, also has recurring connection issues with modern access points.
In addition to scheduling apps and motion sensors to trigger fan and lighting operation, the fan can be integrated with Alexa and Google Assistant, allowing voice control to be used to set speed. fan speed and also dome light brightness (but not warmth/color, which is manually switched 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 also once integrated with Nest, but unfortunately Google discontinued the Works with Nest program in 2019.
If you have multiple Big Ass Fan products installed in your home, you can also combine them into control groups – this is useful if they are located close together and you want to synchronize fan speed and projection level. shining. It also simplifies wall control setup by having more than one fan and light operated by one wall control.
Color lighting could be better
The color lighting upgrade ($400), also available for the ES6, is an optional accessory that would, in theory, be a great addition to the product if it were more software configurable. In addition to the bright white uplight for ceiling lighting, it also implements a multi-color mood night light with seven different color combinations: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and bright purple. On the ES6, color lights can also integrate UV-C to disinfect the room.
However, all of these nightlight colors have to be manually selected in the app – you can’t control them with Alexa or Google like you can control the dome lights; they only activate when the main dome light is off and set to one of seven colors, with no “party mode” or slow color transitions available. The setting to change colors is also buried three levels in the app’s UX, which is inconvenient.
Since they’re hard-coded, pairing them with Hue and other manufacturers’ lights following Alexa’s process isn’t possible if you want to color-match them. Hopefully some of these issues can be resolved in a future software update.
Haiku fans, finally finished?
I’ve been using these fans for ten years and while they’re great atmosphere fans and look great, the reliability of the WiFi connection on the 1st generation Haiku with SenseMe is still a lot to behold. expectation. The connection now works perfectly with the updated communication stack and Bluetooth wall controller.
But is it worth it? This is truly a beauty in the eyes of the beholder. If you want basic IoT ceiling fan integration, you can do this for less money by using Lutron Wireless Caseta Fan Controllerand a Lutron Caseta starter kit combined with any 3-speed or 4-speed “dumb” ceiling fan like the Hunter I installed before.
That said, the fan intelligence with built-in sensors distinguishes the Haiku and ES6 from other products on the market, especially in scheduling, motion sensing, room temperature optimization and “sweating” mode simulates a natural breeze. And the company’s willingness to stand behind its products, even replacing them after ten years of service, means that the investment is justified.
