BOND | Add Wifi to Ceiling Fan, Fireplace or Motorized shades | Works with Alexa, Google Home | Remote Control with App | Works with iPhone or Android

UPDATE 3/14/2018: They released beta functionality for controlling fireplaces this week. And it works! Currently, though, the Amazon Alexa app is a little squirrely, in that you can turn the fireplace on with the app, but not back off again. But it's beta software, so I'm forgiving. The Bond app works perfectly to control my fireplace, as does using Alexa with my voice - it seems to be only the Alexa smartphone app that's weird. I did contact their support team, and they're aware of the problem, so I'm guessing it will be corrected soon. As promised, I'm upgrading my rating to 5 stars. This thing has turned 2 ceiling fans and my fireplace into smart appliances, and I'm thrilled. Highly recommended. Original review below: --- Great product, and very easy to get up and running. Also very easy to integrate with Alexa, although our fans have a single button that does on/off for the lights, which doesn't work well in a smart home setup. "Alexa, turn on the lights" will turn them on, and then you can say "Alexa, turn on the lights" again and they turn off. Or if they're off, and you're leaving the house, "Alexa, turn off all the lights" will end up turning the lights on, which is the opposite of what you want. This is a limitation of our ceiling fans, of course, and if your fan's remote happens to have separate "on" and "off" buttons this won't be an issue. But from experience, most fans seem to share an on/off button. I understand they're working on state tracking for the Alexa skill to help with this, but for now, I just disabled the lights in the Alexa app and only use it for fan control - and it works fantastically for that. For now, the speed of the fan needs to be controlled by using percentages like a dimmer switch ("set the fan to 50%" will put it on speed "2," for example), but I understand that's a problem with the API for Alexa, and not Bond's fault. Once Amazon implements a fan control API, it should be smoother. I'm eagerly awaiting the ability to control other devices, especially our gas fireplace. Once they implement that, I'll bump this up to a 5-star review, because that's the thing I'm most anticipating. They say garage door support is coming, too, but I can't imagine that will work well, either... it will have the same problem as the ceiling fan lights: only one button for on/off, so how does it know whether the door is open or closed? Overall, the product is great, and even with my fan lights disabled in the Alexa app, I can still use the Bond app to control the them when necessary. So we still get the benefit of using the phone as a remote. I'm happy with this purchase, and I certainly recommend it, although with the caveats mentioned above. As long as you go into it with your eyes open and you know what you're buying, it's great.

I am extremely technical and work in Information Technology, have won awards doing tech support in the distant past. I will go over my experience with Bond and why I am disappointed. First, setting it up was awesome! I had almost everything working in the phone app in about 20 minutes. I have 6 total fans and one of them, a Home Decorators, was not discovered with the remote. I found this odd since I have an identical remote for a different model of Home Decorators fan which worked perfectly. Using the manual button stuff, I could not get the fan or fan light to turn off and on. By itself, that would have been fairly OK since the Den, the Master Bedroom, and the Living Room all worked perfectly. So everyone is probably wondering why the two stars? The Alexa integration is the worst thing I have ever integrated with Alexa, and that is saying something. When I first turned it on, it brought over two of the three fans I had configured. For those doing the math and wondering why I previously said 5 fans worked and 1 didn't and now I say 3 fans, it is because two of the fans are sets of two that are configured on one remote control each. Anyway, Alexa ported over two of the three things and removing and re-adding the integration over and over did nothing to fix the problem. Finally, I disabled the integration, deleted all of the devices in the Alexa app, and then re-started the integration. BAM! Everything worked! Fast forward a couple weeks and now my Den fan isn't working in the app or from the voice control. This despite the Den being closer to the Bond device than the bedroom fans. Why would RF signal work one day and not the next? Who knows. I will reposition the Bond device and see if that does anything. So I am left with half of my room's fans working with voice. I am literally scared to add any new devices because it might break the devices I already configured, and I am going to have to troubleshoot why the device stopped working with my Den out of the blue. The Alexa integration needs a lot of work and that is the only reason I purchased this. I don't need to control fans from my smart phones. I need them to work with smart home. What if I was away and using automation to turn my fan lights on and off and relying upon the device? If the vendor reaches out to me and fixes the issues I would be inclined to raise the star level to 5, because, frankly, the concept is awesome and when it works it still makes me smile. But of course I didn't pay for half my room's fans to not work, and fear of adding new devices breaking other things in Alexa. ------------------------------ Update 10/2022 Everything is now working. However, it was not due to their support helping out in any way. Trial and error. I still think the Alexa integration is missing but since everything works I will improve my rating. I use this many times a day and have been for several months. My original review was 2 stars, but I was able to fix everything afterwards. ------------- Bought a 2nd one for a 2nd house. I have used this in three homes and it works amazing every time. The Alexa Skill is much improved since the first time. I couldn't be happier with Bond.

The features of this hub are very good for controlling smart devices such as window coverings. The ability to pair remotes for devices like ceiling fans that would not ordinarily be supported by other hubs such as SmartThings is a real perk. And the automation contains some surprising features like being able to control devices based on dusk at your location. One downside for me is that even though my home is within the specifications for range, I had some reliability issues. After consulting with support, the only option open to me was to purchase a second hub. I purchased the non-pro version for the second hub in order to reach all my devices. The software incorporates multiple hubs very well and it's easy to assign specific devices to specific hubs. Once assigned, the automation (schedules, scenes, groups) is very easy to use as if only one hub were in play. This is a nice feature.

I just received my BOND, and got it set up. It took two tries to get it connected to my wifi, and whatever update was available, immediately downloaded on the app. Set up only took 10 minutes. So far, what I have noticed is that compared to the other two I have, this one is sturdier and definitely heavier. I have a MoesGo and Bidook that I previously bought for my ceiling fans. I found out that yes, they are IR remote control hub/copiers, but my ceiling fans are RF (on a side note, although I wasn’t able to copy my ceiling fans remote signals with the other two remotes signal copiers, I was able to copy my televisions and my Directv remotes....lol!). They were a lot cheaper than the BOND, but I seriously should have just spent the money and bought the BOND first. The BOND also has a blue light. It is bright. But, in the app settings, you can dim it, or just turn it off. I have my BOND setup to recognize that if the light or fan is already on it won’t turn them off if I push the button (at first, if the light was already on, and I pushed on, it would turn it off. Then to turn it off, I pushed the button on and it would turn it off Lol! If that happens, just get your original remote, and hit the on/off button to put it back on track). Also, I like that you can see on the app if you have the fan or light on or off, and it also shows which speed you have the fan set. If you have a fan or light that you only turn off and on with the same button, copy that signal to toggle. My other IR copiers, don’t show if something is on or off. The buttons do not light up on the apps, but on the BOND, the function that you choose is green. The unchosen functions stay gray. I don’t know how the BOND does with IR remotes. It seems like an IR would need direct line of sight for the signal, and I have my BOND in the middle of my house between my living room and master bedroom. I can control ceiling fans in both of those rooms. RF signals don’t need direct line of sight ( I learn something new everyday...lol! ). So, I’m just using my cheaper remote copiers for my older TV’s and Directv boxes. Also, the BOND app is easy to use. The app even notified me that it already had a set up for one of my remotes. I just accepted it, and it worked. My other remote, I had to copy each button.....but, that only took five minutes. I was also able to integrate it to my google home assistant with my other smart lights and outlets. But, as far as ceiling fan speed, google assistant does not give options for fan speed. It will only turn the fan on to the middle or medium speed. So far it’s working great. Check the BOND website to ensure your ceiling fan or remote’s compatibility. I now have two remotes for each fan. So, my wife has the remote, and I have my phone. That means, I don’t have to wake her up in the middle of the night to turn the fan up or down. (Yes....she is the keeper of the remote). Now if she turns it up, I just wake up, and turn it down. Oh, BTW, eventually, let your spouse know you also now have the power of ceiling fan control speed too. At first, my wife thought it was time for a new ceiling fan, or she was going crazy, when she would wake up and find the fan off or down after she turned it up. I didn’t tell my spouse at first. After she started pushing for a new fan, I had to come clean. That didn’t go over to good. LOL!!!!

Just wanted to update this review now that it's been a year. I bought a pair of Bond controllers last year - one for upstairs and one for downstairs - but I didn't realize the signal goes right through walls. You only need one for a whole house. I returned the extra one with zero hassle. Next, my initial review said setup was a pain and one of my fans wouldn't program. No longer true. The whole process has been streamlined. 2nd fan found instantly. Everything works just as you would hope. The database has been expanded and now covers virtually every type of remote for fans. And best of all, Bond now controls fireplaces! I was a bit reluctant to let Alexa play with fire. What would the insurance company say if Alexa decided to burn down the house when I was down south for the winter? I mean on one hand I'd have the perfect alibi being out of country but on the other hand... wouldn't they laugh at me for being an idiot? Putting aside whether it's a wise decision or not the Bond and Alexa work perfectly with my fireplace. Bond technical support was fantastic - almost to the point of annoying. I called in for help on day 1 and got a live tech right away. He really knew his stuff. Almost like I was talking to Tier 2 tech support (or maybe the guy who screws these things together?) but my phone died during the call and I had to head south for the winter the next morning. Bond continued to follow up with email and phone calls for weeks. I've never had... well... aggressive tech support so insistent on solving my problem. So props for that guys! One issue that didn't work initially was Alexa support for device groups. I have two fans in my media room and I've put them in an Alexa group called FANS. Bond through Alexa didn't work properly. Only the first fan in the group would turn on. Tech support said they were working on that issue and I haven't tested it again. I'll give it a shot in December and follow up with an update. Possibly best feature of the Bond? It's got what sort of looks like a blue pyramid inside a glass display if you look down on the top of it. The pyramid looks like it's about 4 or 5" tall. But if you look at the bond from the side it's only about 2" tall. How cool is that? Just better and better with Bond. Love it. 5 stars now.

EDIT: after having it for a little while now, I've begun to really dislike it. It is CONSTANTLY disconnected and red/orange ringed. It is in the center of two overlapping zones of our WiFi mesh, it has more signal than it knows what to do with, and the entire network is optimized for smart devices, as I have more than I could count. This device has given me nothing but trouble, and I'm all likelihood, it's getting returned. I'm getting fed up. They mislead you about its capabilities, and it's unreliable to boot. Ok, so, I have a lot on my mind about this device so far. It was delivered 3 hours ago, and I only just recently got the thing setup. Although, I will use the term "setup" loosely. There were speed bumps to this at every single step. Initial setup. The USB connection to the unit is extremely stiff, with no indication to which way the cable goes in. The sleeve (that we usually can see the shape of and know) was rounded like a USB-C cable, yet, obviously this is a MicroUSB connection. So, it's a risk in breaking the port completely just by plugging it in. App setup, everything went normally during the first few steps of the unit connecting to the wifi and it updating its firmware to the latest version. Then came time to add my device. A ceiling fan, in this case. Specifically, a 1 year old Hunter Contempo II 54" Model #59476. This fan has no embedded controls, but remains to have the manual switch to change the direction of the blade rotation. The remote has four large (in comparison to the body of the remote) buttons. A light toggle, a fan toggle, a fan speed up button, and a fan speed down button. Now, anyone who's gone through the setup as painfully as I have, and likely, countless people who own fans with the same or similar remotes, knows that this BOND device is just not setup to have any idea what to do with toggles. At least not natively or properly. And, this lack of functionality impacts the cross platform controls for voice controls provided by Amazon's Alexa and Google's Home devices. Because of this lack of functionality, I can tell my Google Home to turn the ceiling fan off, and it will turn it off, and I will tell it to turn it off a second time, and it will turn it on. No memory that the device's last command to the fan was a power command, nope, just an indiscriminate toggle no matter the fan's current state. Thankfully, the workaround I have for this now is Google Routines and the fact that if you turn the fan speed down after reaching the lowest speed, it just turns the fan off. So "turn the ceiling fan off" triggers a routine that sends three commands of "set the fan to light breeze" (the wording here is a gripe later on), which sends the speed decrease command enough times to turn the fan off. So, lacking basic functionality #1, but workaround I found myself. As stated in the description of my fan, in which are very mainstream and popular fans, the remote does not have the ability to "set" a speed. Its an arrow up and it's an arrow down. The arrows will either take you higher in speeds when pressed up, or lower in speeds when pressed down (and as we covered earlier, will turn it entirely off if enough decrease speed commands get sent). The app we are made to setup and use the BOND through does not support any sort of speed controls that aren't set in stone. The app makes the assumption that every fan has a button for a specific speed (which I, again, wager is a minority compared to fans with simpler controls like mine), and it leaves anyone with a differing setup setting one speed as the decrease speed and another to increase, and sending repeat commands until you get to the higher/lower speed you are after. Now, I don't expect BOND to magically invent the ability to set individual speeds of the low-medium-high variety most fans have, I get that it's a technical limitation of the fan itself, however, BOND's inability to support the more popular format of speed control preys havoc, once again, on people whom are using this device through Amazon Alexa or Google Home. Referring again to sending multiple of the same command "speed 1" or "speed 2", and that is...more of an annoyance than anything else, I guess. But, the biggest annoyance with this is the command I have to use. I should be able to say "set ceiling fan to speed 1"---which is what I set as the decrease speed command from the remote---and it act upon said command, as is stated in the BOND support for commands. However, I wouldn't mention this if it actually worked. Unfortunately, the command given on their own website isn't a command that works with it's device via Google Home. They have ignored the simple phrase in favor of goofy, wordy phrases like "set ceiling fan to light breeze" or "hurricane" or any of that tripe. No, I want speed 1, and I shouldn't have to say "set ceiling fan to a Duck's soft fart" to get it. Just let me say speed 1, especially since I am required to use Google's Routines to make your system work the way it should. And lastly, it just plain does not work at all with the built in light. Despite being a simple toggle on the remote---obviously falling into the BOND device has no idea what state the light's in, because it's only a toggle and the BOND doesn't attempt to remember the last command of power it was sent, but I can't actually verify that because---it just doesn't work, no matter what one, of the many, options they added for lights---which kind of baffles me, why so many options for lights, but only one single option type for fan speeds? My workaround for that is just that I am lucky that I vehemently demand that those sockets never stop delivering power. The bulbs housed inside the dome are TP-Link Kasa smart bulbs, so their power functionality is done in the bulb itself, by the app control and voice control, and therefore would not function properly if the BOND forgot which is which and turned the lights off itself, and killed the power to the smart bulbs. Now, you're probably wondering why I am even bothering to write this all out in painful detail. It's because I spent $100 on a device with less than half the functionality of the device I spend $50 on for other uses, and I have had to create workarounds for every single step of the device's duties, not a single thing operates itself the way that the device claims it should. The Logitech Harmony Hub, which I purchased for $50, is a universal remote for essentially everything with an IR remote. It controls every kind of home entertainment device, a wealth of smart home products (not nearly all of them, but a grand assortment of the most popular kinds like Philips Hue and the like), and has the ability to manually add IR remotes to devices it doesn't have in its database. I have used the functionality of the latter to tie in a RGB LED light strip with a basic silly remote from a no name chinese company, so it turns them on and off and changes their colors, and I have also added an HDMI switch box that it also doesn't natively have. The only reason I didn't just manually add the ceiling fan to the Harmony, and skipped this whole mess, is because the remote is RF, and not Bluetooth RF, so it was incompatible. Now, let me iterate now. This BOND device is a wonderful breath of fresh air for folks who want to bring their IR/RF controlled ceiling fans into the 21st century, and add app/voice control. The fact that, after the painful setup process and the concessions made with functionality, I can tell my Google Home to turn on/off the fan and it does, is spectacular. Especially with how tiny the fans physical remote is. I am physically disabled, which has be sitting for extended periods of time, standing up is painful. So the fan's remote is on the end table next to me...until it's not, which happens A LOT. Kids are wonderful idiots. So, this device, with all its quirks, is still amazing. However, I believe if they addressed and implied solutions towards the issues it has now, which is all software based issues, they would have far far less returns than they have. Even just coming out and addressing the lack of functionality when it comes to speed controls, power toggles rather than switches, etc. So, I hope that my ramblings potentially helped someone having the same or similar issues as I had, and depending on where you are reading this from, and it allows comments, I will try to keep my eyes on notifications and answer any questions I may have. If you are reading this because it's a product review on a shopping site, like Amazon, don't let the issues completely dissuade you, find out more about how your fan works, and how you need it to work, and if you can use a workaround, I think it's still a worthwhile device. But it's definitely a bit over priced, if you compare it to similar products of similar quality.

In our house, we have many home-automation things going on: several what I like to call "shout computers" in a couple brands (Amazon, Google, and Apple) smart locks, smart light bulbs, smart switches, etc. Prior to adding all of that, I had also added and/or retrofitted several RF-remote controlled ceiling fans in a few rooms. I had been missing the ability to automate or even control the fans with the shout computers. I looked into what the fan manufacturers offered, and the choices they offered were quite expensive (i.e. replace the whole fan with an expensive fan), or a semi-functional retrofit (i.e. they replace the controller/receiver with a receiver that only offers direct control from a phone/tablet via Bluetooth.) I saw the Bond and it looked like exactly what I wanted: control from a smartphone, integration with Alexa and Google Home, and control of multiple fans around the house. Installation was easy: plug the puck in, create a Bond account, connect the puck it to WiFi, and add the fans individually by having it detect the remote signal. At this point, the fans can be controlled by the phone app, and adding the Alexa Skill and Google Home support required logging into Bone in their respective phone apps. Replacing all of the fans in our house with smart fans would have been more than a thousand dollars, but with existing remotes already set up, the Bond was less than a tenth that price. I'm considering adding RF remotes to a couple more fans in our house to allow them to be controlled too. Note, it appears that a major fan manufacturer has finally released a retrofit kit that would replace the existing in-canopy receivers with smart receivers, but if you already have remotes, the Bond is much easier to set up, and cheaper if you have more than one fan you want to use. I haven't tried it with any IR fans, as I don't own any, and it works through walls in our house. There are a few small drawbacks that I see: First, it doesn't support HomeKit/Siri, but since so many of my smart devices don't support that either, I am not in the habit of using it. Secondly, it's yet another puck/device that is spraying out blue light all the time. Fortunately for us, all of the fans use RF signals, so I can hide the puck away in a cabinet. Thirdly, there's a 16 character limit as to how long the name of your devices can be, so you can't name your fan "master bedroom fan" because that's 18 characters long. I've put in a support ticket/feature request on that and I hope that changes in a future release. They claim that they are working on adding support for other remote-devices including fireplaces, AC units, shades, etc. And while I don't have any of those, that seems promising. (The 16 char limit will be worse since you can't name something "basement dehumidifier" as that's 21 characters long.)

So I bought one of these to operate four ceiling fan-lights via Alexa at home. Out of the box, it's easy to set-up. No network wires (so I could place it where I wanted) and an easy and flawless connection to wifi. So far, so good. But then the fun begins. Setting up each fan was in theory easy: point the fan remote at the BOND Hub, press a few buttons on the app and pow, it presents you with it's version of an app/Hub fan control which can be found by Alexa. That part worked, but sometimes the initial fan it selected was not ideal. There's a bit of groping to try to get a "better" remote. What I mean by that is sometimes the BOND would select what it thinks is the right remote for your fan, but it's only ALMOST the right remote settings - even from the BOND app, the fan/light remote options sometimes work, and sometimes they don't. So you have to re-learn it and get a bit picky to test out more and more options. Don't assume that if your first selection correctly works the lights that the fan will work - or the dimmers. I learned that the hard way. In Operation with Alexa, there's a new set of problems. Sometimes it just couldn't get the device to work but it thought it did. So Alexa would report "OK" but nothing would happen (or sometimes, the wrong thing happened). I had to get the HUB to "re-learn" two of my fans several times in just three weeks, so I am hardly confident this will not be repeated. Hopefully it's just a buggy HUB that may get fixed with an update and/or "operator error" in terms of perhaps Alexa not correctly understanding me, thus passing on the wrong instructions to the HUB. Whatever: it doesn't always work as it should, and that's why I give just three stars. One issue BOND don't advertise, which is not their fault, is that often times, the remote controlled fans only speak one-way to the device. So when you press a factory-supplied remote to, say, turn the fan light ON. It actually doesn't know if it's ON already. It just flicks the switch. This is not unreasonable: a person knows if the light is on or off, so they only press the remote when they want the alternate state. Alexa however doesn't know if a fan or light is ON. So when you create a routine to, say, turn off the lights and fans at bed time - it may well turn them ON. BOND have a software option to help keep track of that, but it cannot cope with a mixture of human and Alexa controlled devices: so you almost have to hide the remote to prevent people from trying to use the device without Alexa. That would be fine IF the HUB/Alexa combo worked reliably, which it doesn't. Errors include Alexa reporting the HUB is not working (and then seconds later that error goes away, but you have had to ask twice...); or worse still, none of the fan commands work at all. It's like it gets completely confused and no command works so you have to delete the device from the BOND app and re-learn it. My one Hunter fan is controlled pretty well via the HUB - it doesn't get confused often and the BOND software seems to track the on/off states pretty well (if I use the remote, I keep track of what I have done and leave it in a state that Alexa can work with - my fiancee however is not so good at that, and nor should she have to be!). My two Harbor Breeze fans do not work anywhere near as reliably via the HUB - very hit and miss performance. When I ask Alexa to 'turn office light on', it often turns the fan on as well. I can tell Alexa to turn it off (and that works), but it really shouldn't turn it on in the first place unless I ask for it. And my one Zolman-Pike fan works pretty well - and it has quite a few fancy fan options (random variable speed at three levels) - the BOND seems to cope pretty well with that, but it too has had to be "re-learned" once in three weeks, so it too is not perfect. Do I like it? YES. I still find it convenient to ask Alexa to control fans and lights, and it works a lot of the time. Would I rely on this in an Alexa routine that has no oversight? No way. So I can't schedule my lights to be turned off at night, for example. I am keeping my HUB and I am hoping it will be improved over time to be more reliable. This is still a reasonable buy, as it's a lot cheaper than buying wifi designed fan lights - and it allows you to have the (remote controlled) fan YOU want: there are many more such remote controlled fans for you to choose from. Note I have not bothered to contact Tech Support over my issues, as I feel confident I am setting it up correctly and that the issues are more software related (given that it works sometimes, then other times it doesn't). Notwithstanding that, I am giving this three stars as it's reliability for use with Amazon echo services is IMHO spotty. Acceptable product. Hopefully will improve with a few software updates.