I was going to buy a new one, but decided to try and fix it. I just had to replace a $7 capacitor, and it worked! I might still replace it anyway (maybe next year), since I hate the hum of AC fans.
Got 2 very nice, and by dumb luck, identical fans off the side of the road. Turns out the US created a provision that ceiling fans have to have a voltage limiter, though I thought that was only for the lights.
In any case, I cut the defective boards out, both with blown caps (one literally exploded off the board!) and now they have a hyperdrive mode. Same deal?
Are you Bill Nye the science guy?!
Search for “ceiling fan lights no work” or similar. :)
I would assume there’s some limiter because pumping line voltage through the motor would result in a hyperdrive.
Good job!
DC ceiling fans are a thing?
Indeed they are! Obviously they have their own power supply to convert to DC, so they connect in a similar manner as a standard AC fan. They are a lot quieter, and usually let you have more speed settings.
Thanks! It’s actually difficult to find AC fans nowadays. Most are DC. It annoys me because I have separate light and fan switches on my walls, and that doesn’t work with DC fans.
I’ve learned that if it is just the top speed that is slow, it’s a replacement capacitor behind the light switch.
If all speeds are slow, it’s the whole fan to be replaced.
(We live in a warm place, and fans run 24/7 in some of our rooms, so we go through this process at least yearly for at least one of our fans)
