Most Zooz light switches are not rated for use with fans, home appliances, and motor loads in general - but there are a few exceptions.

To have on/off control of your fan, you could use the ZEN71 Switch or the ZEN32 Scene Controller as long as the fan is rated under 3A or installed in the last 5 years. If you currently have a remote control receiver controlling the fan, you'll need to remove it. The reason for this is that the ZEN71/ZEN32 are just basic switches instead of an isolated relay, which means it is passing 120V from the power supply to the output and the specific load; anything on the load side (spikes, inrush current, etc) will directly affect the ZEN71/ZEN32.

• For smart fans, if you want to keep the current remotes and receivers, you would need to add a smart element to them, something like the Bond fan controller. Once you're able to control the fans from your hub using Bond, you can install any of our switches, like the ZEN32 with multiple buttons for example to control the fans remotely vs cutting power to them. The advantage to this kind of installation is that you will be able to dim the light (if you currently can) and maintain speed control of the fan. For this kind of installation, you need to make sure that your local regulations will not require that you have an emergency cut-off switch on the wall.

If your fan is rated over 3A or is an older installation which typically draws more than it's rated for, we recommend using the relay part of the ZEN30 Double Switch. While the ZEN30 dimmer and relay parts cannot control the speed of your fan (if it has that feature), you'll still be able to control the speed from the pull chain or existing remote control. You can learn more about the types of installations the ZEN30 switch can be used in from this guide.

The relay on the ZEN30 is a dry contact, which means the input is separate from the output, so it is not affected by the load in the way a standard switch is. However, when using the ZEN30 with a fan that contains an existing remote, please note that the behavior may not be as expected. The relay on the ZEN30 will turn on and off the 120V going to the fan; however, if there is something in between the relay and the load (ex. remote control receiver installed in the canopy) that means BOTH the ZEN30 relay and the remote receiver must be in the ON position in order to turn the fan into a working position. If either one of those is turned off (ZEN30 or the remote receiver), this means the power is off to the fan. The remote receiver can be used in conjunction with ZEN30, with the above limitations.

Another method is rewiring the circuit in parallel mode.  In parallel, we have the opposite situation: both ZEN30 and receiver must be OFF to turn the fan off, while either one of those may activate the fan.

If you're looking to keep a toggle-style switch for your fan, then you could install either the ZEN51 Dry Contact Relay for your fan motor, or the ZEN52 Double Relay for your light and fan motor. These devices can be installed behind the switch, or at the light fixture.

The ZEN71/ZEN32 and ZEN30 switches are the only ones rated to handle the specified fan loads. Our other Zooz switches, especially our dimmers, cannot be used with any type of fan. The high inrush current, or amount of power a motor draws at start-up, will damage the switches immediately or over time. Aside from the 2 models rated for use with fans, Zooz switches should really only be used with lighting within the recommended loads.

 If you have a switch that controls both the motor and the light parts of your fan  (power is cut to the whole fan and you control the motor and light with pull chains), then your only option is to use the relay part of the ZEN30 Double Switch. Please note that the relay on your ZEN30 Double Switch will still control the motor and light at the same time. You will not be able to separate control of your light and motor in the fan if you currently have a single wire coming from the fan canopy to the switch box. The Zooz Double Switch is a replacement for an existing double switch and it won't be able to turn a single switch control into a double switch control unless you have separate connections for the light and fan available in the switch box. To separate control of the fan motor and light, you could install the ZEN52 Double Relay at the fan canopy and then use any Zooz switch or remote control installed in the switch box to control the ZEN52 relay remotely (using the scene control multi-tap functionality of Zooz switches). If you're not sure how to wire this type of set-up, please get in touch with our team for detailed instructions.

If you have the older ZEN21 and ZEN23 switch models (which have been discontinued in favor of the 700 series switches), then you could also use these models as long as the fan is rated under 3A or installed in the last 5 years. 

To learn more about the required load minimums for Zooz switches, please check out this helpful article. The maximum loads for each individual Zooz switch can be found under Specifications on their product pages. You can also check which LED bulbs work best with Zooz switches on this compatibility guide.

Have more questions about fans and motor loads? Let us know! Our team will be happy to help.