Picked up a Carro ceiling fan, completely unaware at the time it had WiFi and its own app + support for Google Assistant integration. I was originally going to go the route of using a Bond Controller (which I didn’t like) or an RM4 Mini (doesn’t seem to pick up the RF commands). Has anyone that is a lot smarter than me looked at an integration for their app via their API?
Certainly not smarter than you but did the same thing as you a couple months ago. Would love to see a solution and certainly willing to help if possible!
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I was looking at their fans myself and wondering if they could be made to work… My uneducated guess is these are Tuya devices but don’t know anything about them. Scratch that, according to their kickstarter they were Tuya so maybe still are: Carro Smart Ceiling Fan by Carro Smart Fan — Kickstarter
Ordered one to play with, will post back in a few days or so once i get it torn down.
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Godspeed sir! Let us know how you make out!!
As an update, I finally got around to messing with my Carro fan. Mine, at least, is a very straightforward Tuya device which (after some tinkering) paired with the SmartLife app without issue. Carro appears to just be some sort of rebranding.
My fan would not immediately pair. In order to get it to work, I had to cycle power a few times, then press “Pair” for 5 seconds. It never “beeped” as it is supposed to when entering pairing mode but the SmartLife app found it without issue.
Hope this helps!
Hi!
Mine hasn’t beeped. Unable to connect my fan to wifi. Went through a few power cycles, had short lived success, twice… After 5 minutes it device would show offline.
I was using the Carro Home app… but I also tried on the SmartLife app…
I chatted with Amazon for a bit for help, but there was nothing they could do except get me in touch with the seller for assistance. I sent a message, but haven’t heard back.
Do you have any suggestions?
i ended up replacing the Tuya chip with an ESP-12 and using ESPHome. Not exactly easy but in the end exactly what i wanted.
ESPHome config: penfan.yaml · GitHub
I. also wrote up a quick blog on the process: Converting a Carro Home DC Fan to ESP Home — 1 Project A Week
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Thanks for writing up a blog on the process to convert your Carro fan!! Maybe one of these days I’ll get around to doing it also. This particular fan is in an area I don’t care so much about…yet! Much appreciated!!
In case it’s helpful, I was able to connect my Carro fans to the Smart Life app and then control them from the tuya integration. The only odd thing is the fan has 2 lights but the integration only sees one. This is my first day using HA so it could be me.
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how did you get the devices to show up in the tuya integration? I couldnt get mine to show up following the integration notes.
Hello, did you ever figure out how to add the ‘white light’ through the Tuya integration?
I have been attempting just to add the white light through Local Tuya to HA, ti not avail.
Hi Bill,
I’m late to the party here. I have a Carro fan/light as well. I integrated with Tuya, but I don’t like depending on the cloud. My question to you: can I replace the 1-gang combo switch with a fan and light switch of my choice (z-wave/zigbee), or is the controller you attached ESP12F to dependent upon the original switch sending a signal to the fan module?
Thanks!
The ESP12F just acts as a serial bridge to the secondary MCU. You would need to pass the TUYA MCU commands to the tuya MCU somehow.
I don’t have any control switches for my fan except for the wireless 433mhz remote that came with it. For what it’s worth, that remote talks to the secondary CPU and not the ESP12F, so no chance in changing that without some headache.
Not sure how you would implement zigbee or zwave direct to this fan, that unit would need to still talk the Tuya serial protocol to that secondary MCU which controls the brushless motor and light controls.
Will someone look for the FCC ID on the back of the remote and let me know what it is? I already have two fans that I control with the Bond Bridge and want to see if I can control Carro ceiling fans with the same Bond Bridge.
Or even better. Is there someone here that can verify that they got their Carro fan to work with Bond Bridge?
@realmckoy - did you ever figure out how to add the white light to HA? I’m in the same predicament where HA only sees the fan and the yellow light on my dual light fan.
The lights are bright_value and bright_value_1. Just map the 2 values that default to 500, and you should be able to control both the warm and cool lights.
I do have a problem with the lights reseting and turning on at random times. I thought it was because of disconnecting from WiFI, but I don’t see them disconnecting on my Router’s log.
Any ideas?
Sorry to necro this post but wanted to add my solution. I found that Google Assistant could see both lights but the HA integration could only see yellow. So I set up an automation in Google Assistant to turn off white when yellow was turned off. HA entity–>yellow off–>GA automation–> white off. It works most of the time.