Haiku Home Ceiling Fans Make Your Home Smarter
The smart home products market has firmly moved beyond smart light bulbs and automated thermostats. In 2016, everything from kitchen appliances to window blinds are getting the smart home treatment to varying degrees of success.
Lexington, Kentucky-based Big Ass Solutions are one of the many companies embracing the smart home concept. Through its new residential division, Haiku Home, the company offers automated ceiling fans, lights, and wall controls that react to changes in the environment and your personal preferences.
Two months ago, I received a ceiling fan from the Haiku Home I Series. The experience largely reinforced my thoughts on the smart home industry as a whole, as the following review shows.
- Factory-balanced and sound tested to ensure each L Series Ceiling Fan will never wobble, rattle or click
- Integrated LED featuring 16 Distinct brightness settings
- Works with Alexa for voice control or Haiku App
Design, Hardware & Installation
Haiku Home offers three series of smart home ceiling fans, the Luxe, H, and I Series. Prices start at between $895 and $1,595, depending on the style. Size availability, materials, and colors are the main differences between each series. All are made in the United States.
My sloped black fan includes a $95 LED kit, bringing its price to $990 before taxes.
One of the best parts of the Haiku Home experience is the ability to customize and build your ceiling fan online. You can select the fan’s paddle design (flat or sloped), diameter, and finish, and whether you want a wall unit or LED kit.
Haiku Home provides a detailed product cut sheet as soon as you customize your fan. A nice touch.
Take your time with the fan creation tool and find the one that suits your needs
Installation
The fan I received
I consider myself tech savvy. However, I’m not very good with hand tools. Therefore, I entrusted my father to installing the fan.
Calling the fan directions “detailed and accurate,” my father completed the installation in about two hours. The installation didn’t require new wiring as it replaced an existing fan. Your installation time could vary.
The Look
I fell in love with my Haiku Home fan immediately. It’s beautiful and well made. Better still, it’s very quiet when operating even on the highest settings. The LED is also nice and comes highly recommended.
Software
Haiku Home Ceiling Fan App
Credit: CNETThough styles have changed, ceiling fans as a concept have remained largely the same over the years. Fans are usually powered by electricity and feature rotating paddles that circulate air. Behind the scenes, ceiling fan technology is going through many changes.
Haiku Home fans use patent-pending SenseME Technology, which promises “a more comfortable, convenient and efficient home.”
This technology takes advantage of the fan’s onboard sensors and microprocessors to monitor and adjust room conditions such as temperature, humidity, and occupancy. In doing so, you can have a more comfortable experience while also better utilizing your energy usage.
You can control most of these settings using a physical device such as the included remote or wall unit add-on. Better still, use the official Haiku Home app.
Control Your Home
Smart Mode
With Smart Mode enabled, the fan’s sensors will automatically adjust speed based on temperature, humidity, and occupancy. Create schedules for speed and light settings. During Sleep Mode, the fan monitors temperature and automatically adjusts fan speed to keep you comfortable all night.
Schedule
Create schedules for speed and light settings to suit your mood or the time of day.
Lots of Settings
Connect and control multiple Haiku fans, adjust motion sensor settings, see the current speed and light status for each Haiku, enable sleep mode, and much more.
Not HomeKit Compatible
Though most smart devices on the market are compatible with iOS and Apple products in general, few actually work with Apple HomeKit, at least for now. Because of this, most products also don’t work with Apple’s Home app for iOS. This omission isn’t a deal breaker. However, it’s something to keep in mind, especially if you’re looking to control all of your smart devices with one app.
As an Apple user, I was pretty disappointed that Haiku Home fans aren’t yet compatible with HomeKit. However, they do work with other smart home products including Amazon Alexa, Ecobee, and the Nest Learning Thermostat. Hopefully, future Haiku Home products will receive HomeKit compatibility.
The Bottom Line
If you’re looking to purchase a ceiling fan, you can’t go wrong with a Haiku Home fan with SenseMe technology. These are top-of-line products ideally suited for smart home environments.
Only want to use a HomeKit-compatible fan? You’ll need to wait for Haiku Home to get on board or check out Hunter’s upcoming lineup of HomeKit-compatible fans.
You can take a look at Haiku Home’s entire lineup of products at the company’s website.
Note: Haiku Home also offers less expensive L Series fans, which don’t include Integrated SenseME Technology. These fans are also not made in the United States.
