Ceiling Fan Troubles

[Rick_B]

Back story - hampton bay ceiling fan - 3 speed with light kit.  Light and fan operated by separate wall switches.  Fan stopped working but light was working OK.  I noticed the fan pull chain switch was loose so I tightened it up and then fan worked.  As part of a remodel I replaced the toggle wall switch with a 3 speed switch.  Fan not working now but lights are OK.

There is power to the switch box.  Wall switch shows continuity through switch.  There is power at the ceiling when the fan wall switch is on the high stting.  I think that narrows it down to the fan pull chain switch or the fan motor.  I pulled the light kit off  and have access to the fan switch wiring.

Where do I go from here  - I'd like to verify that the 3 speed pull chain switch is OK but not sure how.  If that is OK then I need to check the fan motor.

I would appreciate any thoughts or suggestions you may have.

[barryvabeach]

Rick,  do you have a volt meter?  If not, you can rig up a continuity tester with a battery, some wire and a small bulb.  This is one is with a buzzer,  but you can substitute a flashlight bulb and an appropriate sized battery.  That should let you test the 3 way switch to confirm that it is working correctly.  Since it won't turn at all, it is possible the motor is dead, or that power is not getting into the switch  ( meaning a wire is loose inside the fan assembly).

[Willyou]

I'm guessing. You said you replaced the wall switch (simple two position on/off power switch, I assume) with a three position switch. I'm guessing that you only have two wires, black and white, going from the wall switch box to the fan. In order for that switch to work the way you want it to, you would have to have two more wires ( for med and low speeds) and those would have to bypass the 3 position pull chain switch on the fan.

[Rick_B]

Just to clarify - the original set up was two standard on/off toggle switches (one for fan and one for light) with a three wire cable going to ceiling - red to lights and black to fan) and a white neutral and green ground.  This is a 3 speed wall control switch - it is not necessary to bypass the pull chain switch. 

My understanding is that these 3 speed wall switches are compatible with any mechanically switch (pull chain) fan. The pull chain switch sends a signal through a capacitor which adjust the resistance (I think) to the motor which, in turn, adjusts the speed. When you install a wall switch, the pull chain switch is left on high. The wall switch does the resistance adjustment. So I don't think there is a question of will it work.
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The fan stopped working prior to the installation of the new wall switch. Then it started working again. After installing the wall switch it did not work.

I did some trouble shooting today. I took the pull chain switch out and hard wired the fan and wall switch. The fan worked on medium and low speeds when I wired to the high speed pull chain wire wire but high speed dod not work. I also checked the voltage the wall switch was putting out - 121 on medium and low speeds. the high speed setting showed a very uncontrolled voltage - 160 to 85. Finally I hard wired the fan to a standard toggle switch without the pull chain switch. I used each of the three pull chain wires and all speeds operated normally.

This verified that the motor and capacitor were functioning correctly. I think there are two problems - the wall switch is defective and the pull chain switch may also be defective. I returned the wall switch for a replacement and ordered a new chain pull switch. More to come.[/font]
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[Rick_B]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]The replacement 3speed wall switch arrived from Amazon today.I immediately noticed that it was not as sticky/difficult to move through the speed settings.  I wired it up and checked voltage through each speed setting - they were all consistent at 122 to 123 volts.  The old switch had a very erratic voltage at the high speed setting.  Then I hot wired the fan to the high speed wire/capacitor - all speeds worked as expected.  I ordered a new pull chain switch because I wsn't sure i had reassembled the old one correctly.  I know I could just bypass that switch but would like to have it for completeness.  More to come.[/font]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]Rick[/font]

[Rick_B]

[font="Segoe UI", "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, "Fira Sans", "Droid Sans", sans-serif]To bring this full circle - the new pull chain switch arrived and I got it installed. All worked as expected so I think that I did originally have a bad pull chain switch and, coincidentally, a bad 3 speed wall switch. The fan is working fine - at least for now.[/font]