Celing fan / light combo wireless remotes

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TOOL_5150

TOOL_5150

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bay area, ca
Hey guys. I have a hunter fan that I installed about 2 years ago and I put in the in-wall remote with the reciever in the canopy, I also purchased a hand held remote kit as well, so you could turn on/ off the fan from the wallswitch OR the remote. They are all using the same code and work fine. The problem is that the light will come on randomly, as well as the fan. There are no other fans using the particular code. The fan is located in the family room in the center of the room that has the entertainment center. I thought possibly some of the electronics could mess with the RF but the fan will come on at say, 3AM when no electronics are on. I have changed receivers with no luck. I am using the hunter brand remotes. Any thoughts???


~Matt
 
Matt:.,,

I am not sure but let me try this i wondering what if you have both remotes sych'ed with both dip switch line up right and did you try to change the dip switch setting ??

i know sometime you may have to change it to advoid interferiance.

Sometime but it do happend with power surge or dip it will affect the unit as well [ it did happend to me few time {beep} ]

but i am not sure it may show up here did you any chance you have the X10 devices ?? if so it may interferice it as well.

but you mention light do come on radomally so i am more likely thinking a dip or surge will do this. [ i know some POCO do have power factor correcting device sometime can be switched on or off on their system ]

Merci, Marc
 
Try this,first eliminate the hand held remote by removing battery.If that changes nothing then remove the wall transmiter.If promlem still there change brands as something is in its range.
 
We had a customer "Older couple" who had the same thing happen right at the same time 3am. We figured it was a neighbors remote so we changed the dip..... same problem at the same time, so we changed the unit.....same problem.... We tried to explain to them that it was not us mis-wiring it but instead it was the product. The were sick of dealing with it so we added a regular switch. I have installed them and never had an issues, and other times this 3am madness happens. I don't have a solution but know its happened to others.
 
mikeames said:
... time 3am. ..... same problem at the same time ... 3am madness happens.
Click to expand...

Are you suggesting that the device has a clock (or insomnia?) or that there is some sort of paranormal possession of some sort going on? ;)

When I had trouble with my (x10) lights going on and off, I traced the problem to my neighbor using the same house code. ("J" -- go figure.) I know you've already established that it isn't a neighborly problem in this case, just sharing my experience.
 
Na I don't think it has a mind of its own but it is clear that is may be overly sensitive or poorly tuned so it trips on background noise/ signals. The fact that it happened at roughly 3 am was a fluke. "not the meter"
 
Thanks for the replies, however, this isnt x10. I am talking about the hunter fan remotes you can buy for fans at the orange or blue box stores.

I have tried to switch the dip switches many times [on the 2 remotes and the receiver] I head that hunter states the more dip switches that are ON, the more complex the code is. I have another hunter fan that only has a remote in a diff room and does not have this problem.


Jim - I will try that tonight, thanks for a start on narrowing it down. Sometimes the simplest thing is the last thing you try.

Keep the ideas coming!

~Matt
 
TOOL_5150 said:
this isnt x10

~Matt
Click to expand...

I realize that, but just thinking that maybe the remote actually talks to the wall unit, and the wall unit uses some sort of powerline protocol to talk to the fan?

If more switches on = more complex code, why not turn them all on?
 
jerm said:
I realize that, but just thinking that maybe the remote actually talks to the wall unit, and the wall unit uses some sort of powerline protocol to talk to the fan?

If more switches on = more complex code, why not turn them all on?
Click to expand...
No, the wall mounted variety is still RF, just like the handheld remote. They're the identical control, just packaged for device mounting. Almost all these ceiling fan remotes are made by the same OEM. I have the manufacturer's name at the shop, so it eludes me at the moment. Almost any ceiling fan remote and/or receiver will work with each other, as long as the DIP switch code is set the same.

FWIW, these receivers seem to fail with certain regularity. It pays for a service guy to have a spare receiver on his truck. An easy 100 bucks, if you're already at the house for something else anyhow. Particularly since many of these fans now are "remote only", and don't even have pull-chains.
 
jerm said:
If more switches on = more complex code, why not turn them all on?
Click to expand...

He probably means that the more DIP switches you turn on, the further you get from the factory settings.

If there's 4 DIPs, and the factory has them all set to zero (0000), then 1000 is just a 'more complex' (meaning only one digit has changed) as 0100 or 0010 or 0001. 1100 or 1010 or 0011 is two digits changed. 1110, 1011, 1101 or 1110 is 3 digits changed.....
 
Exactly what 480 said. I have the first 3 on for the front room fan/light and I have the last 3 on for the bedroom fan/light.

I took the battery out of the handheld, and the light has allready come on.
Now the battery is out of the wall switch too.

We will see what happens next...

~Matt
 
Just a guess, but I'd bet those four switches are nothing more than address selection in binary. 4 of them give you 0-15 in decimal.

"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't."

edit: if there's a battery in the wall unit then I retract my previous theory about powerline conversion from wall to device.
 
jerm said:
"There are 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't."
Click to expand...

Not THAT'S funny!
ATT66-1.gif
 
WEll the battery was removed from the handheld and the wall remote.. and the light came on.

I hate stuff that is supposed to work, but doesnt.

Anyone have any other brands of remotes that they have had work for them in the past? I have allready replaced the receiver once... if I have to replace it too many more times.. im going to hook the fan to my truck and remove it from the house.... Which doesnt sound all that bad :grin:

~Matt
 
Can you cover the IR receiver at the fixture to pin down if its getting an IR signal from anything or is just a problem with the 'brain' inside the fixture?

If it happens with the IR receiver covered I would think it is time for a new controller inside the fan.
 
Bob, The remotes and receiver are all RF. So I came to the conclusion that the receiver is getting some RF interference close to the 'turn the light on' command, and then doing so. I may go with a hardwired fan speed control @ the box and use a Maestro IR dimmer for the light circuit. The only thing there is I will have to pull some 3 wire to the fan box. While that isnt that a big deal in the long run since it looks as I have to take the fan down no matter what.

~Matt
 
Any planes flying directly over your house ?Solution is timer to turn power off between 2 and 4 am LOL.Change the unit with one from differant run number.They cant all be doing this or they go broke with refunds.Keep us updated i was thinking of buying some but holding off now.
 
frenchelectrican: Yes, as a matter of fact there are 2 CFL's that may or may not have been turned on, or off - Will have to ask.

Jim W in Tampa: I will see what the answer was to the usage of the CFL's and if they were off when the 'lights came on' Ill grab a new remote module and see if that fixes the issue.

Thanks guys!

~Matt
 
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