Lutron may not have as big a presence this year at CES as they usually do, but that hasn’t kept them from announcing some new product at the start of the news cycle. At CES Unveiled—the official press preview event preceding the official show opening—Lutron is announcing a new Fan Speed Control as part of its popular Caséta line. The control design will be recognizable to customers familiar with Lutron’s in-wall dimmers. It offers discrete on, off, and up/down buttons, sporting a fan logo instead of the familiar light bulb. It also includes a Preset button, similar to the standard 5-button Pico remote. It’s an odd design choice. The device actually has more buttons on it than speeds (High, Medium, Low, and Off) it can control.
Unlike most remote fan controllers, this new product doesn’t require you to install a module in the fan canopy. Instead, it will control your 1.5A (maximum) fan motor directly over the power line. Installation is as simple as replacing your wall switch for the fan, but you will need a neutral wire in the switch box for this to work. Paired with your Caséta smart bridge, you can include your scene in schedules and scenes and use voice control with Google Assistant or Alexa. But not Siri. Unlike all of Lutron’s other wired and plug-in controls in the Caséta line this control is not HomeKit compatible.
Pico Control
In addition to the fan control, Lutron is also announcing a new Pico remote you can pair with the fan control for added flexibility. Like its shade and audio remotes, this will be positioned as a premium product, even though the only likely difference between it and a garden variety $17 Pico is the fan icon.
Unlike earlier fan controls from Lutron, these new products only control fan speed and not the light on your fan. If you also want to control the light on your fan, you’ll need to install a separate switch or dimmer for that. This assumes you have a separate circuit for the light in your wall and available space in your switch box. And…is that likely, really?
Lutron plans to release the new fan speed control and associated Pico remote in March of this year (2019). Lutron is historically good about hitting its announced milestone dates, so we’d expect this one before the end of the quarter. The suggested retail prices will be $80 for the control and $42 for the Pico. Both will be available in the usual Lutron white, black, light almond, and ivory.
Our Take
It’s certainly nice to see Lutron expanding its Caséta line, and fan control is one of the missing pieces in many smart home solutions. But this offering seems like a compromise to us. Sure, it’s fine for people who don’t have light fixtures on their ceiling fans, but how common is that? We were hoping for something more like Lutron’s Maestro Fan Control and Light Dimmer that controls both. The price also seems high if you compare with Lutron’s other consumer-grade smart and non-smart controls on the market today. And the lack of HomeKit support is more than a little concerning from a company that introduced one of the first available HomeKit solutions. We’ll be looking forward to talking with Lutron this week about the new products.
Update (Mar 4, 2019): Lutron has announced that this new Fan Control and associated Pico remote are now available. You can purchase it now at homedepot.com; the Amazon listing shows the product as available for pre-order. We’re glad to see that the fan control does work with HomeKit despite some late news that this would come after the launch.
