Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] Controlling a fan with X10 Dan Carrington Wed, 29 Nov 2000 07:21:20 -0800

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There are a few ways to do this.  

There are inductive dimmer x-10 boxes and they will control a fan at many
speeds.  The fan is left at fastest speed.  The dimmer controls the power to the
fan and thus the speed.  This all seems like the perfect solution, but these
inductive dimmers will probably cause the fan to hum at anything but full speed.

You can use a standard x-10 switch and just adjust speeds if you need to.  I do
this method as I tried the inductive dimmers with my hunter fans and they hummed
significantly.  I leave the fans in medium speed and rarely change them.  In
fact, I don't remember ever changing the speed since I setup the x-10 to them. 
I just switch the direction twice a year.

The third option is more cumbersome but will not cause any extra hum.  You can
pop open the fan, and break out feeds for each switched speed to extra wires and
then use standard x-10 boxes and do the stock 3 speeds without induced hum.

any help?
Dan Carrington


Carl Swanson wrote:
> 
> I thought someone here might have an answer for this:
> 
> I want to control my fairly normal ceil fan
> with an X10 remote control, like a remote with dimmer
> controls. My fan currently has 3 positions, using a pull chain,
> and reversing.
> 
> What are my options for controlling this with X10?
> Can I only control it with 3 positions, or with
> variable dimmer settings? What kind of X10 module do I need
> for this? Any reference material somewhere?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> Carl
> cswanson@io.com

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