Check Out this Great Video

As you may have heard, we are currently running a promotion offering rebates to customers who send us a video of themselves installing or operating their fan. You can read more about that promotion here, but you should also check out this video that was recently submitted by one of our customers—we’re really excited to share it because it was so well done.

And the video wasn’t the only thing well done. We often field questions as to how our fans’ dampers can be installed in a vertical orientation, or how to organize the installation in an attic with low clearance. This customer did a great job of both. Also, you’ll notice that this customer used many of our fans’ available accessories: the Openable, Washable Grille; an Acoustic Plenum; Wireless Remote; SafeSpeed Kit; and our Data Monitoring Package.

While we can’t identify them here, we’d like to thank our customer for sending us that great video. We’re looking forward to sharing more as the promotion continues.

AirScape App for iPhone and iPad now Available.

UPDATE: The controls referenced below are currently only available as an upgrade on Sierra units. For more information please call us at 866.448.4187.

Our app for iPhone® and iPad® is now available from the App Store. We released our app for Android devices about a year ago, and are incredibly excited to offer the same great functionality to our customers with Apple® devices.

With this FREE app, homeowners with AirScape whole house fans can:iOS_Blog_iPhone

  • Scan their network to find all AirScape whole house fans connected to it;
  • Assign custom names to each fan on the network for easy identification;
  • Control a connected fan through the app’s interface, which is identical to that on our wall switches and wireless remotes; and,
  • View a fan’s status, indoor and attic temperatures, as well as any SafeSpeed™ notifications if this accessory has been installed.

To operate a fan using this app, both your fan and iPhone or iPad need to be connected to the same local area network (“LAN”)—your fan using a CAT-5 cable between its control box and your router, and your iPhone or iPad using Wi-Fi. For safety purposes this app cannot operate fans over the internet or your cellular network. If, for example, you’ve got access to the internet using your local coffee shop’s network or your phone’s 3G/4G service, our app will not be able to connect to your home’s fan.

Fans that are not connected to a network cannot be controlled using this app. Also, this app is compatible with only AirScape whole house fans with 2nd generation controls (sold 2013 to present).

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Apps for Gen 2 Controls

UPDATE: The controls referenced below are currently only available as an upgrade on Sierra units. For more information please call us at 866.448.4187.

We can officially announce the AirScape Gen 2 Controls Android App for our whole house fans.  This will be a first in the whole house fan industry and we are very excited!

When is it coming? Soon. We are currently in beta testing and an early to mid July release date looks probable.  AVAILABLE NOW  in the Google Play store!

How much?  Free.

Is it backwards compatible?  Yes.  The app will work with all Gen 2 Controls fans from 2013 and 2014.  Some data might not be available on older 2013 version fans but the functionality will be there.

Can I still use the remote controls?  Yes.  The app is another control method.  It does not replace the wall switch, remote controls, or web interface.

What about an iOS (Apple) app?  We are still working on it –  There is currently no official release date.

With the AirScape Fan Controller app, you can:

* Conveniently SCAN your network (LAN) and find all connected AirScape whole house fans
* CONTROL any of the connected fans via the buttons on the app, just like a remote control
* VIEW status/temperatures/timer/SafeSpeed/interlock messages
* RENAME (assign custom names) to each whole house fan for easy identification

Note that the app must be installed on a device connected to your local network (wifi on phones). It does not operate over phone carrier networks (3G/4G, etc.). Only AirScape whole house fans equipped with 2nd Gen Controls and connected to your local network can be found and controlled.

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INSTEON Integration with Gen 2 Controls

UPDATE: The controls referenced below are currently only available as an upgrade on Sierra units. For more information please call us at 866.448.4187.

Below is an email from a customer who has integrated his AirScape 2.5e WHF with the INSTEON home automation system.  We love the idea so we are sharing it here with his permission.  Many thanks Jeff!

I wanted to let you know that I received my 2.5e WHF last week, installed it over the weekend , and integrated it with my home automation platform in about 30 minutes this morning. I’m really happy with the 2.5e WHF. It’s much, much quieter than my old Tamarack HV1600, and the build quality is appreciably better. But what I like the most is your IP-based control system and DMP! Which leads me to the HA integration, which I’ll try to summarize briefly:

I have an Insteon-based home automation system. If you’re not familiar with Insteon, you can read about it here. In short, it’s a dual-mesh HA network utilizing powerline and RF transmission. Most of the devices on the network are simple relays or dimmers controlling 120V loads (e.g., light switches), but I also have a number of dry contact sensor and relay controls for integrating devices which utilize contact closure, like my Velux skylights, my driveway gate operator, etc.

The Insteon system allows for simple grouping of devices into “scenes,” but to implement more sophisticated automation, you need a programmable controller. There are several products on the market, but I use an ISY-994i which allows me to write simple event-driven programs to control devices on the Insteon network. The ISY also allows me to define network resources (defined as HTTP requests or simple TCP socket protocols) as devices. So for the fan integration, I defined two network resources:

“WHF speed up”  =  http://whf/fanspd.cgi?dir=1
“WHF off”  =  http://whf/fanspd.cgi?dir=4

In my house I have several Insteon keypads, each of which has multiple buttons linked to various Insteon scenes. Here’s what a typical keypad looks like:

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The buttons labeled “House fan” and “Fan speed” are associated with two scenes, which not only link all of the other keypads with the same buttons (e.g., entry hallway and master bedroom have equivalent controls), but changing the state of these buttons cause events to “fire” which in turn causes programs to execute.

The “House fan” button toggles between ON and OFF states. When it goes on, a program runs and calls the WHF speed up network resource, which turns the fan on.

When “House fan” button toggles to off, the WHF off network resource is called.

The “Fan speed” button is configured in non-toggle mode, which makes it like a momentary switch. Each press of the button sends an ON command to the group, and causes execution of a program that calls the WHF speed up network resource.

I have a third program which I call “WHF protect” which basically locks out the house fan in the case of air conditioning or heating running, and a few other conditions.

So for a simple control mechanism, that’s all that’s necessary. In the future I may use the temperature data from the WHF controller as input to control logic (e.g., IF outside temp < inside temp AND windows/skylights open, THEN turn on fan), but for now the system is functional using my existing keypads. In fact I didn’t install your wired control in my wall, but I did remove the PCB and temperature sensor and installed it in a return air vent for the purposes of measuring inside air temperature.

Let me know if you have any questions, and thanks for a great product!

-Jeff Mayzurk

Gen 2 Controls API

UPDATE: The controls referenced below are currently only available as an upgrade on Sierra units. For more information please call us at 866.448.4187.

We have recently seen some very cool and imaginative integrations of the AirScape 2nd Gen Controls into home and building automation systems.  Frankly, we could not be happier as this was the intent of introducing network enabled fans like ours.  To help with future integration ideas, here is more info on how our controls communicate.

The API (application programming interface) for our whole house fan web server is very simple.  Its essentially an HTTP command sent to the controller.

http://controllerURL/fanspd.cgi?dir=|1|2|3|4|
where 1=fan speed up, 2=timer hour add, 3=fan speed down, 4=fan off

For example, if you want to turn OFF a fan at IP 192.168.0.20 the command would be:

http://192.168.0.20/fanspd.cgi?dir=4

When you send an API command, you also get an xml data stream back from the controller.

————–Example of xml data ——————

fanspd<fanspd>0</fanspd>
doorinprocess<doorinprocess>0</doorinprocess>
timeremaining<timeremaining>0</timeremaining>
macaddr<macaddr>60:CB:FB:99:99:0A</macaddr>
ipaddr<ipaddr>192.168.0.20</ipaddr>
model<model>2.5eWHF</model>
softver: <softver>2.14.1</softver>
interlock1:<interlock1>0</interlock1>
interlock2: <interlock2>0</interlock2>
cfm: <cfm>0</cfm>
power: <power>0</power>
inside:<house_temp>72</house_temp>
<DNS1>192.168.0.1</DNS1>
attic: <attic_temp>92</attic_temp>
OA: <oa_temp>81</oa_temp>
server response: <server_response>Posted
OK<br/></server_response>
DIP Switches: <DIPS>00000</DIPS>
Remote Switch:<switch2>1111</switch2>
Setpoint:<Setpoint>0</Setpoint>

——————————————————–

If you want to get data from the controller without any control actions, you can send the same HTTP command string without the “?dir=|1|2|3|4|” suffix.

For example, if your fan is at IP 192.168.0.20 the command would be:

http://192.168.0.20/fanspd.cgi

For XML and JSON formatted responses use the following commands with your fan IP inserted:

http://192.168.0.20/status.xml.cgi  gives data in xml format
http://192.168.0.20/status.json.cgi  gives data in json format

As always, if you have any questions on the API or want to brainstorm about your integration call us at 866.448.4187 or email experts@airscapefans.com

IP address reservation on XFINITY / Comcast Routers

Why reserve an IP address?

The AirScape control board gets its IP address from your router through a process called DHCP.  When your router senses that a new device is connected, it assigns an IP address to that device.

A DHCP assigned IP address can and will change over time, but we want a fixed address for our AirScape whole house fan.  With an IP reservation, the router will recognize the fan by its MAC address and then assign it the same IP address each time.  This way, when you use the web browser interface to control your whole house fan you type in the same IP address each time.

Previous blog entry on Dlink router IP reservations.

The video below gives you a brief overview on reserving an IP address on the current (2014) line of XFINITY and Comcast routers: