Bathroom Extractor Fan / Smart Lighting Problem

[simps100]

Hi all..

Looking for some creative ideas here!

So at the moment we have one of these in our bathroom - it has a Light and Humidity sensor so comes on / off when it needs to and works fully independent - https://www.screwfix.com/p/vent-axi...extractor-fan-app-controlled-white-240v/8827p


The issue is it struggles to clear the bathroom - so ive been looking at replacing it with a much more powerful inline solution such as: https://www.screwfix.com/p/manrose-mf100-25w-100mm-mixed-flow-fan/26867

But this is where things get complicated - so in our entire flat we have Philips Hue - these lights run of both Hue Motion Sensors and Hue Taps - so the light switches are effectively always switched on - but from my research if i wanted a inline extractor fan these are traditionally powered / controlled by the lights being switched on / off which wouldn't work in our situation.

Does anyone have any suggestions on a workable solution to this - ideally would like the in-line extractor fan to turn on when its needed - but be fully independent from the lights which from a switch point are always switched on.

Thanks

Marc

 

[JohnD]

... comes on / off when it needs to ... it struggles to clear the bathroom

so it obviously doesn't come on/off when it needs to. You need to run it longer.

Presumably you have already set the speed and the overrun timer to max.

It's very quiet, so why not set it to run continuously?

the lights which from a switch point are always switched on.

But the lights aren't actually switched on all the time. You have a magic switch that turns them on when it considers it necessary.

In that case, you would take the feed from the ceiling rose of the lighting, and use the "lights on" wire as your switched live.

This is quite normal.

It would be useful to know how long the ventilation duct is.

 

[simps100]

so it obviously doesn't come on/off when it needs to. You need to run it longer.

Presumably you have already set the speed and the overrun timer to max.

It's very quiet, so why not set it to run continuously?



But the lights aren't actually switched on all the time. You have a magic switch that turns them on when it considers it necessary.

In that case, you would take the feed from the ceiling rose of the lighting, and use the "lights on" wire as your switched live.

This is quite normal.

It continuously runs in a low speed mode - it’s set to speed up when it detects humidity.

As for the lights - the pull cord is always on and is never switched off - the bulbs always have power going to them even when off.

Thanks !

 

[JohnD]

the bulbs always have power going to them even when off.

You mean there is a magic switch inside every bulb? And each bulb turns on and off independently as and when it thinks it appropriate? With no input from an external sensor telling it what to do?

that's interesting.

Not very economical, though.

It continuously runs in a low speed mode

So turn the speed up; the humidity sensor and the overrun timer to max.

High-tech is your enemy.

 

[^woody^]

Have a look at one of the Tradfri driver units from Ikea. Works with Hue, and although designed for light strips, it will apparently switch 30w, and your fan is 25w. So adding one of these to the bathroom group should mean it is activated by the sensor.

Or there are several switched relays similar to the Tradfri, that work with the Zigabee protocol (as does Hue) so these may be an option if they work with the Hue Zigabee standard.

Finally, in principle you need a photosensor to switch on the fan at a certain light level (ie when the Hue bulb lights up), so that should be relatively simple with an adjustable 240v sensor added to the fan circuit.

 

[^woody^]

Just checked, Ikea do a Tradfri plug socket adapter that works with Hue, so you could provide a mains socket somewhere suitable and plug the fan in to it, and add the adapter to the bathroom group.