I guess I need to reboot my ceiling fan. Help?

[CraigT]

I've got a Hampton Bay ceiling fan that spontaneously started running in the wrong (winter) direction when I turned it on the other day to dry some carpeting I had cleaned. From what I understand after talking with the supplier (through Home Depot) is that it originally came with a wired remote that had a button that reversed the motor, for summer/winter setting. I guess the previous owner of the house installed it with a Hampton Bay wireless remote rather than running a wire to a wall switch. I also assume that some sort of voltage spike/gremlin caused the internal brain of the fan to go into winter setting. The tech guy said to try to force the blades to go in the right direction and turn it on. This failed repeatedly. He also said to switch the fan off and on quickly, but there is no direct connection between the switch and fan, so I did try to disconnecting the power to fan a couple of times. This failed too. The only thing I can think of to do now is to try this with the hot wire going down the down rod, but I'll probably want to take off the blades seeing that I'll be doing this up by a 13' ceiling. Or, I guess I could purchase a replacement wired transmitter and receiver and hook it up for just a minute so as to allow me to reset the motor direction.

Any other suggestions?

[stan]

Have you taken the battery out of or de-powered the remote????? Maybe do that and let is rest for a few minutes! Also de-power the fan unit at same time? Surely something to reset it to zero; e.g. any holes in the case into which to insert a straight pin or paper clip to reset the unit? This sounds, to my mind, like one of those "Too bl**dy clever by half" gadgets!

[ransley]

A tech said try to force it to go in the other direction! There should be a switch on the fan to reverse it. Why not buy the wireless transmitter.

[CraigT]

Have you taken the battery out of or de-powered the remote????? Maybe do that and let is rest for a few minutes! Also de-power the fan unit at same time? Surely something to reset it to zero; e.g. any holes in the case into which to insert a straight pin or paper clip to reset the unit? This sounds, to my mind, like one of those "Too bl**dy clever by half" gadgets!

----------------------- Yes I have. Taken the battery out. Tried flipping it in backwards (9V). Disconnected the receiver.

I see multiple holes than might do the trick, but nothing that stands out or is asymmetrical. They all look like something left over from manufacturing.

[CraigT]

A tech said try to force it to go in the other direction! There should be a switch on the fan to reverse it. Why not buy the wireless transmitter.

---------------

That is what he said.

Yeah, every other fan I've ever seen had a switch and I thought I had maybe bumped it when I was dusting, but I couldn't find one and the tech said it is on the wired transmitter.

I have another wireless transmitter sitting around the house from another fan intall, but I don't know if swapping it out would do the trick. You really only have two wires coming out of a transmitter going to the fan motor. Somehow, according to the tech, the orginal wired receiver had the ability to signal or pass along the signal from the transmitter to an electronic relay in the fan so as to change direction.

I imagine I could reverse the wires, but I'm not too keen on energizing the outside of the appliance.

The repair, according to the tech, would require me to purchase a wired transmitter (that has a reversing button) and wired receiver from Hampton Bay. Then wiring them inline to the fan.

If I were to do this I'd probably do thuis using an extesion cord just to reset the fan. Then rewire everything like it is now with wireless devices.

[CraigT]

A tech said try to force it to go in the other direction! There should be a switch on the fan to reverse it. Why not buy the wireless transmitter.

---------------

That is what he said.

Yeah, every other fan I've ever seen had a switch and I thought I had maybe bumped it when I was dusting, but I couldn't find one and the tech said it is on the wired transmitter.

I have another wireless transmitter sitting around the house from another fan intall, but I don't know if swapping it out would do the trick. You really only have two wires coming out of a transmitter going to the fan motor. Somehow, according to the tech, the orginal wired receiver had the ability to signal or pass along the signal from the transmitter to an electronic relay in the fan so as to change direction.

I imagine I could reverse the wires, but I'm not too keen on energizing the outside of the appliance.

The repair, according to the tech, would require me to purchase a wired transmitter (that has a reversing button) and wired receiver from Hampton Bay. Then wiring them inline to the fan.

If I were to do this I'd probably do thuis using an extesion cord just to reset the fan. Then rewire everything like it is now with wireless devices.

[benick]

A tech said try to force it to go in the other direction! There should be a switch on the fan to reverse it. Why not buy the wireless transmitter.

The wireless transmitters at the HD website do not appear to have a reverse button....Are you SURE there isn't a little slide switch on the side of the fan somewhere???

[G. Morgan]

If you don't get the answer here I found a whole forum about fans here:

[CraigT]

I feel your amazement. As I stood at the top of the ladder I felt the same way. When the tech told me it was on the wired transmitter, doubly so.

I've probably installed 5 or 6 Hampton Bays and probably the same number of Hunters and this is the first one I've seen like it.

[RBM]

I had this happen with a HB fan once. Most fans of this type have a small directional switch mounted on the fan body, but this one didn't. Sometimes you can press two buttons on the remote simultaneously, which causes it to reverse, but in my situation, that didn't work either. I think what I did was drop the fan canopy, exposing the receiver and just reverse the hot and neutral feeds, hit the remote, which turned it on in the opposite direction, then put the wires back the right way and the fan continued to go in the correct direction.

>

[sym]

yeah ..dont ask home depot for advice.laughs.i think ethier your transmitter or reciever is toast and needs replacing, although ive seen a couple fans that had low profile switch bigger than normal switch but painted to match fan. see if any info on remote and do a search look for tech support.

[CraigT]

Well, I tried everything including putting on a new wireless receiver I had laying around. Nothing worked.

I am now on hold to find out the price of a wired remote and a wired receiver so I can make a decision on whether to buy them or just buy a new fan.

[CraigT]

SUCCESS!!

I had to spin the fan in the right direction, then turn the fan on, then have someone cycle the breaker twice.

I think I need to write this down.

[Jim Elbrecht]

You just did. for posterity. Any time you need to refresh your memory, go to googlegroups search for fan success site:alt.home.repair author:craigtoth

Unless you told them not to archive your posts-- then you're on your own.

Jim