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View Full Version : Ceiling Fan Light Kit Pull Chain


carpe01
May 30, 2014, 12:33 PM
I have a Hunter fan with a light kit. It appears the "wattage limiter" has gone bad and I don't want to spend the money to have them send me a replacement. I use CFL bulbs so there's no worry about overloading the light kit, it came with 4 40 watt bulbs. 4 CFL bulbs are like 13w a piece.Anyways, there's a (black) hot, (white) neutral, and (blue) labeled pull chain, that all go into the limiter. From the limiter, they go to a bundle of black, white, and the pullchain switch. They're all connected with male & female plugs.When taking the limiter out I'm able to plug the black to black, white to white. By doing this, the light kit is directly connected to the light switch and turns on. I want to add the pull chain back into the mix.If I put the pull switch between the ceiling hot and light hot, it sort of works. When I pull down on the pull chain, the lights turn on, but the second I let go of the chain, the lights turn back off. I'm not sure if:A - The switch is badB - I wired the pull chain backwards, do I need to switch the 2 black wires of the pull chain switch? Does it matter which wire is connected to ceiling hot?C - Hunter has some sort of lame kill-switch for people not using the wattage limiter?Any help would be appreciated.Thanks!

donf
May 30, 2014, 12:52 PM
Okay, there is no such thing as a wattage limiter on a fan light pack. Wattage is a statement of heat loss.

There is a capacitor that effects the speed of the fan, based on the position of the switch.

In most fans, the "Black" wire is the feed to the fan and the Blue wire is the feed to the light.

So if you are coming off of a wall switch, for the light only, the White (to the switch) will connect to the black supply line and it will feed to the wall switch. This wire should be marked with either black tape or black paint or marker.

The black from the wall switch (return) will connect to the blue wire for the light unit. At this point, the light will be operated by the switch.

carpe01
May 30, 2014, 01:10 PM
Okay, there is no such thing as a wattage limiter on a fan light pack. Wattage is a statement of heat loss.

There is a capacitor that effects the speed of the fan, based on the position of the switch.

In most fans, the "Black" wire is the feed to the fan and the Blue wire is the feed to the light.

So if you are coming off of a wall switch, for the light only, the White (to the switch) will connect to the black supply line and it will feed to the wall switch. This wire should be marked with either black tape or black paint or marker.

The black from the wall switch (return) will connect to the blue wire for the light unit. At this point, the light will be operated by the switch.


Sounds like you didn't even read my post. First off, this is for a light switch, it has nothing to do with the fan pull chain switch. The light switch is a different unit with a different pull chain.

I don't want the wall switch to do anything other than power the fan/light unit. I'm asking specifically about the LIGHT pull chain switch only.

Second, wattage limiter/automatic dimmer, it's the same to me.

Appliances and Commercial Equipment Standards (http://www1.eere.energy.gov/buildings/appliance_standards/product.aspx/productid/76)

It's based on this, the government has some new standards.

donf
May 30, 2014, 01:27 PM
Sounds like you did not understand my answer! And I am not going to get into a rock fight with you over semantics!

Regardless of "standards", the blue wire on a fan/light combo unit is for the light package. Black is for the fan.

If both the black wire from the fan and the blue wire from the light are connected to the supply wire, then both the fan switch and the light switch will be hot all the time.

The wattage of the bulbs is fixed. If the fan unit says not to use bulbs larger than 40 watts it is because the heat released by a larger wattage bulb will cause damage to the insulation of the wires feeding the bulbs and surrounding insulation.

A dimmer ( for lights only) works by varying the applied voltage to the bulb thereby increasing the current to the filament of the bulb which generates more heat. In an incandescent bulb this increased heat effected the brightness of the bulb.

The actual brightness of a bulb is measured in "Lumens", not wattage.

ballengerb1
May 30, 2014, 03:48 PM
Sounds like a bad pull switch to me. When you pull the chain and the light goes on do you hear a click?