TREATLIFE Smart Ceiling Fan Control and Dimmer Light Switch, 2.4GHz WiFi Only, Neutral Wire Required, Single Pole Fan & Light Switch Combo, Works with Alexa, Google Home & SmartThings, Remote Control

I have a number of Hunter fan/light wall controls in our home, which have generally worked well--so when it came time to add another fan as we finished our basement, I tried to get another. Unfortunately for them, they're out of them during COVID--and after waiting months for them to get new stock, I finally gave up and tried this model instead. And I'm very glad I did! My family loves being able to control the fan and light via our Alexa.However, all that praise comes AFTER I got past installation...When I was first ordering this control, I noticed that its Amazon page mentions multiple times (including directly in the item title!) "neutral wire required". Again, on the carton, boldly highlighted in yellow, "Neutral wire required....confirm whether there is a neutral wire inside the switchbox before opening the package." Again multiple times in the instruction manual--"neutral wire required". Am I misunderstanding something, or don't ALL fans and lights--and for that matter, ALL household circuits--use a neutral wire? That's an awful lot of emphasis for something that is standard.What ISN'T mentioned nearly as prominently is the fact that this control requires a SECOND LOAD wire between the control and the fan. MANY fans are wired with only one load wire--typically 14-2 wiring. (That is, one load wire-black, one neutral wire-white, and one ground wire-bare copper.) The light and fan are then controlled by pull chains at the fan. 14-2 wiring won't work with this control--you need 14-3 wiring, which has an additional load wire (typically red). THIS IS THE WARNING WHICH SHOULD BE EMPHASIZED FOR CUSTOMERS, NOT THE NEUTRAL WIRE.The next step is figuring out which wires are which--at both the switch, and at the fan. At the switch, the manual schematic shows that the yellow wire from the switch should be connected to a yellow wire from the wall, the red wire from the control should be connected to the red wire from the wall, and black to black, white to white, and green to green. It further states that "The wire colors indicated in this manual are the usual colors..." NOT TRUE! Most 14-3 wiring has a black wire, a red wire, a white wire, and a bare copper wire leading to the fan. (They don't use yellow because in certain fluorescent lighting, white and yellow can be hard to differentiate.) The power supply wire is typically 14-2--consisting of black, white, and bare. So the correct wiring is:--Black wire on control to the black wire in the 14-2 bundle in the wall--White wire on control to both white wires in the wall--Green wire on control to both bare copper wires in the wall--Red wire on control to the red wire* in the wall--Yellow wire on control to the black wire* in the 14-3 bundle in the wall* These two may need to be switched--it depends on how the wires are connected in your fanTreatLife really should update their wiring schematic to more clearly explain this wiring. Having done a number of fan and control installations, I can say that most other manufacturers explain this much better. Someone with electrical experience will have no problems--but without clearer instructions, many lay people will struggle.Once you get this done, the next fun step was getting the app installed and running. The controller only supports 2.4Ghz networks. My router is dual band--5Ghz/2.4Ghz, so it would seem there would be no problem there. However, my phone automatically chooses which one to be on--there's no way to force it to the other--and it was choosing to be 5Ghz. So I couldn't talk to the controller. Both the manual and the app provide instructions on how to get your router to be only 2.4Ghz, but my router couldn't use those instructions. After some internet research, I ended up walking down the street for about a block until I was far enough away that my phone lost the 5Ghz signal, and thus connected to 2.4Ghz. A hassle--but, hopefully, only a one-time hassle.Once you connect, and then go through the process to connect the controller to your Alexa, the Alexa actually finds TWO devices--one of which is named something like "DS03 Ceiling Fan Controller", and the other whose name is a series of Oriental characters. (I'm not familiar enough with languages of that part of the world to know if they're Mandarin, Japanese, or something else.) The controller actually treats the fan and the light as two separate devices--the device with the non-alpha name is the light. Once you realize that and rename it to what you want, the rest was quite easy. Although I will mention that if you look for assistance on either their website or their app, you do get to some pages which are a little hard to understand, as they were written by someone who clearly isn't a native English speaker. They made a valiant effort--but TechLife may want to invest in better translators and/or tech writers.So, with installation complete--both I and my family love this controller. The manual controls are easy, clear, and logical, and the Alexa controls work consistently well. A couple of the small chiclet buttons on the control feel like they may be a bit flimsy, so it'll be interesting to see how they hold up--but that may just be me adjusting to the latest in modern technology. :) I know I've probably dwelt a bit too much on the negatives in this review, so let me end by saying that it really is an impressive controller. I look forward to installing more of TechLife's products in my home--perhaps even replacing some of my beloved Hunter fan controls!

The concept and functionality as a switch is excellent and build quality seems quite solid so far. A nice looking wall-mountable remote controller was included with our new ceiling fan, but we opted to have a handyman add a neutral wire to our electrical set-up, and use this smart switch instead. We have an old house with small electrical boxes; some other LED dimmer switches we have tried are simply too deep to fit in the wall. We end up having to return them. This unit is only very slightly deeper--maybe 1-2 millimeters deeper, than our old rocker switch, and pairing it with the included screwless cover plate, with a wider side profile, turned out to be perfect for our situation. Our old switch cover was not quite fitting with this new switch.Now, on to setting up the switch with the TreatLife app: This was a bit of a problem. My handyman and I both spent considerable time trying to get this device to show up on the 2.4G network. With no way to contact the company for support through the app until their product is fully paired and set up (which defeats the purpose of offering customer support through the app in the first place)...I was left to my own devices, frustrated but determined. The included instructions are fairly detailed and they mentioned trying to use an "AP" mode for set-up, rather than the "manual" or "auto" set-ups, if those pairing modes fail. It was not easy to find this AP mode (make sure your Bluetooth functionality on your phone is activated), but eventually, after numerous restarts, resets and failures, I found AP mode on the tail end of yet another failed device pairing. Our wifi network is absolutely fine in this room (verified with multiple devices during installation), so there is something amiss with the device pairing procedure over wifi, and getting the switch recognized over the network by the app. HOWEVER, once I got into the elusive AP pairing mode: PRESTO! Device paired and the rest is history. I can control the fan and light from my phone very easily. I don't use Alexa or Google Home really, so cannot comment on their implementation, but so far this app does what it is expected to do, and will be very useful. UPDATE after a few days: the scheduling feature in the app is a bit buggy (sometimes changes do not save---but eventually after a few tries they do). Still, overall it is working out well. I will report the bugs to the company, and hopefully they will be fixed in a future app update.I highly recommend this fan and light wall switch. I also recommend to the manufacturer to make it more clear how to QUICKLY get to AP mode when configuring. It easily would have saved me an hour or more during setup. And being able to send a support request through the app prior to completing the pairing would also be very helpful.Notwithstanding the above, I would absolutely purchase this combo switch again! For our needs, even had it not had a functioning app at all, this switch, given its smaller footprint, would still have been the best solution. But the app, so far, now that it is up and running...is a HUGE advantage. Overall: thumbs up!