Remote ceiling fans

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nizak

Senior Member
.Anybody else here run into the issue of having dual wall switches in place for ceiling fan / lights and then owner brings remote controlled fans for install?

Are most here just leaving the switches in place and telling owners to leave on.Or removing switches, wiring hot, and then blanking the opening.

Just curious.
 

Fitzdrew516

Senior Member
Location
Cincinnati, OH
.Anybody else here run into the issue of having dual wall switches in place for ceiling fan / lights and then owner brings remote controlled fans for install?

Are most here just leaving the switches in place and telling owners to leave on.Or removing switches, wiring hot, and then blanking the opening.

Just curious.

If there is a switch for the fan and the light then (personally) I would use the switches and forget about the remote. I only say that because I hate a master/slave set up because the remote doesn't work if the switch is off. That' super annoying to me.
From a customer's perspective, though, if they want the remote they either have to deal with the master/slave set up or they have to deal with the blank wall plate (ugly). It's all a matter of preference at that point.
 

GoldDigger

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Placerville, CA, USA
Occupation
Retired PV System Designer
If there is a switch for the fan and the light then (personally) I would use the switches and forget about the remote. I only say that because I hate a master/slave set up because the remote doesn't work if the switch is off. That' super annoying to me.
From a customer's perspective, though, if they want the remote they either have to deal with the master/slave set up or they have to deal with the blank wall plate (ugly). It's all a matter of preference at that point.

Often new fans with a built-in remote receiver do not give you access to the fan speed and reversing function manually. In that case even if you use two switches to turn the fan and light on separately you will need to use the remote occasionally.
And if the original wiring is three-way, all the more likely that it is only one switched circuit designed to be used in conjunction with pull chains on the fan/light unit.
 

Fitzdrew516

Senior Member
Location
Cincinnati, OH
Often new fans with a built-in remote receiver do not give you access to the fan speed and reversing function manually. In that case even if you use two switches to turn the fan and light on separately you will need to use the remote occasionally.
And if the original wiring is three-way, all the more likely that it is only one switched circuit designed to be used in conjunction with pull chains on the fan/light unit.

You can get different manual wall control to control fan speed if that's a concern. Every ceiling fan with a remote that I have installed has had the reversing function as a manual switch on the fan motor itself.

I ran into a struggle in my own home and had to get this product to solve it -

https://www.atgstores.com/lightswit...=2615&ef_id=Vmm4FQAAAdd5rC@5:20160217205130:s

Problem is the ceiling fan had no pull chains and I was replacing a light fixture so I didn't have separate fan/light control, but I wanted separate control of the light/fan. To top it off I live in a condo so I couldn't get access to the attic to rewire it with 2 switches. This did the trick for a single gang box. It was pricey, but it got the job done without me using the remote with a master/slave set up :)
 

James L

Senior Member
Location
Kansas Cty, Mo, USA
Occupation
Electrician
Often new fans with a built-in remote receiver do not give you access to the fan speed and reversing function manually. In that case even if you use two switches to turn the fan and light on separately you will need to use the remote occasionally.....
I had 5 fans to deal with last year on a remodel that had a 2-gang in every room for separate switching.

Fans weren't on site yet, I had priced for dimmer and speed control. So I installed all the devices, and here come the fans....out of the top of each fan were black, white and green wires only. It was designed to be fed hot and use only remote control for all functions.

So had to remove all the dimmers and speed controls to install single pole switches.

I installed switches in normal fashion and capped off the red in the fan box
 
Sure happens all the time. Plans will show a ceiling fan with the light on 3-ways and a set of 3-ways for the fan, then here comes the fan the designer picked out. Okay so just ignore the 3 way switches because the speed controller doesn't come in a 3-way set up for that fan and so on. I like to do a clean job and having switches in a brand new home that does not operate anything is frustrating, I ended up just getting over it, no one else seemed to care like I did.
 
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