I recently installed a ceiling fan in our living room. It's a Hampton Bay (68" without light kit). The fan came with a remote control. I don't like using the remote so I installed a wall dimmer switch (all other fans in home have dimmer switches and work fine). I first installed a unlimited dimmer and got excessive motor hum. I next installed a three position "fan" dimmer switch. Fan would only work with dimmer in the highest position. Replaced this dimmer switch with another brand of three position fan dimmer switch and same problem, will only work with dimmer switch in highest position. While the fan will only work with the wall dimmer switch in the highest position, the fan is still variable speed with the remote. However the goal is to eliminate the remote. Any suggestions?
Ceiling – Hampton Bay ceiling fan doesn’t work properly with wall dimmer switch
ceiling-fan
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As far as I can find, having taken the fan down, there is no way to add a pull chain to this fan. There is also no remote receiver in any user serviceable area of the fan. The light housing connects to the fan body via a six pin Molex connector and contains a wattage limiter of some kind (per the Hampton Bay specs for similar fans).
I am unable to buy a replacement remote with a reverse button, nor have I been able to get the fan to reverse or speed up. The Home Depot staff were also unsure how to fix the problem, and the service personnel at the 1-800 number included with the fan remote were also unsure how to fix the problem.
The fan appears to be worth at most $70, so I am just going to replace it in its entirety. Lesson learned: avoid Hampton Bay remote controlled fans.
Edit: A look inside showed that the light housing was fubar (partially melted, probably killed the receiver). I replaced it with an aftermarket kit and voila:
If you want to use the control with the new fixture, you'll have to only use a the single "switch" to control it. This means you'll have to replace one of the switches with a blank insert, or not use the control module.
Decora blank insert
In the switch box, wire the new switch as follows:
- Black wire #2 (the one that comes from the black group, and goes to the top of the fan switch), connects to one of the black wires of the new switch.
- Black wire #1 (the one that comes from the wall, and goes to the bottom of the fan switch), connects to the other black wire from the new switch.
- Black wire #3 is either removed, or capped off using a twist-on wire connector of appropriate size.
- Red wire #1 is capped off using a twist-on wire connector of appropriate size.
- Connect the green ground wire from the new switch in with all the other bare grounding wires.
The wiring at the new fan will be as follows:
- Connect the white wire from the ceiling, to the white wire of the fan control module.
- Connect the black wire from the ceiling, to the black wire of the fan control module.
- Connect the green/bare grounding wire from the fan, to the grounding conductor from the ceiling.
- Cap off the red wire using a twist-on wire connector of appropriate size.
- Connect the black wire from the output of the control module, to the black wire from the fan.
- Connect the blue wire from the output of the control module, to the blue wire from the fan.
- Connect the white wire from the output of the control module, to the white wire from the fan.
Related Topic
- Switch – Is the receiver for the ceiling fan defective or do I need to modify the wall switch
- Electrical – Is it safe to use a fan control with any ceiling fan as long as you wire it properly
- Electrical – use a 3 speed wall switch with a ceiling fan that comes with a remote
- Lighting – Use Hampton Bay in wall ceiling fan remote with Harbor Breeze fan
Best Answer
If you want to use a wall fan control, you'll likely have to remove the remote fan control receiver from the unit. The remote receiver in the fan housing controls the fan speed, and will not allow the wall control to override it.
In the most basic case, the remote receiver will have "input" wires connected to the standard household wiring (ungrounded, grounded, grounding). The unit will then have "output" wires that connect to the fan, and/or light kit. Because of this, controlling the "input" of the remote receiver will have no effect on the "output".
The procedure for removing the remote receiver will completely depend on the unit.