Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kenadale

The fan I have is about 20 years old. The neck of the switch broke, but the switch still worked. I did what most everyone else did, went to HD and Lowes for a 4 wire, 3 speed switch and installed it. The fan would not work! I uesed my OHM meter to check and compare the switch configuration of the old switch with the new switch. The were very different. The original switch was a KTE 308-A. Using my meter I measured between L and each of the other three connections( 1,2,3) for each position of the chain pull. The following are the results of the test.

Position L / 1 L / 2 L / 3
1 ON ON OFF
2 ON ON ON
3 OFF ON ON
4 ON OFF ON

This is the switch configuration that I need. It may be time to replace the fan.

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CeilingFanParts.com Home should have that switch for you.

Ceiling fan pullchain replacement and repair - Ceiling Fans N More

Contact SWITCHCO. Only correct answer! After searching these forums and many others, I finally broke down and called the Texas based company and a few days later and simple a description of and previous wiring layout for my fan, and POOF my fan once again works beautifully.

Thanks so much Switchco.

The ONLY correct answer is to call, email, fax SWITCHCO.

After searching this and many other forums, I decided to call switchco and after a brief description of my fan and its previous wiring scheme, a few days later and POOF my fan works beautifully once again.

Thanks so much Switchco

If the manufacturer of the fan is still in business, I recommend calling them first. If not, I recommend calling CeilingFanParts.com Home

Both are the same site.

I know.

Here is what the problem is boys when you replace your original 4wire/3 speed switch with a Home Depot 4 wire/3 speed switch... I'm an electronics engineer and fell into the same trap you guys did. I figured it out though after burning 3 hours of time. The damn 4wire/3speed switch Home Dopot sales (and I may add the only one they sell) has a different internal switching logic than the original! Inside the switch is a electrical commutator that has the fan speed wiring logic on it for your particular fan. The switch HD sales even though it has the Same numbers on it has different switch logic! So what I did was remove the top half of my old switch by releasing the clips on the side and installed it on the new bottom half of the HD switch. Since the pull chain part was bad on mine that fixed it. That was a stumper for a while though!

Was the trick preloading the spring a little more?

No. I just swapped the top half of my bad switch and installed it on the bottom half of the new one. In other words, I used the mechanical (pull chain) part of the new switch and installed my electrical part (top half of switch) on that to make one whole switch again. And it worked just fine. Spring tension was OK on my electrical part of the switch.

I've repaired many switches, easier than finding a replacement, actually in most cases, it was just a broken chain, found lack of preloading spring enough is learned quickly.
Here is the Logic for many fan switches:

CeilingFanParts.com - Switchco Products - Pull Chain Switches

Here is a possible solution.
I have a Regency, Professional Series Fan
The wiring on the switch is 3=Purple, L = Black, 2 = Brown and 1 = Gray, with 5 wires coming out of the capacitor.
If you have this wiring sequence, call SWITHCO at 800-365-4548 and order Part No: A09. It worked for me. If the wiring is different, call anyway with the wiring sequence and they may be alble to help you out. Good Luck.

They did a wonderful job for me, I called them, gave a description of my fan make and model unknown, anyway, told them how it was wired originally and they didn't even have to look it up, the nice lady knew her stuff and a few days later, my fan worked perfectly.

I replaced a 4 wire Unit (3-Speed Fan Switch) on 4/22/2010 Earth Day because the old one that it was on my ceiling fan started to sparked fire. So what I did, I went to Lowe's and bought a new 4 wire Unit (3-Speed Fan Switch) so I replaced it and it didn't work when I installed the new 4 wire Unit (3-Speed Fan Switch). So what I did, I used a # 18 solid wire and hooked them on the 4 wire Unit (3-Speed Fan Switch) and it started working again. (:

You got to watch out on what replacement switch you are buying. What I noticed is there are at least two different types of 4 wire switches at Home Depot. They look the same from the outside except for the color of the plastic, but what the different is the pattern they electrically switch the four wires which is not the same. There is a logic tumbler inside the switch and that is what is different between the two types. If you install the wrong switch, the fan will not work or just hum in one of the speeds. So if this happens buy the other switch.

↑1= Yellow
←2= Purple
↓3= Black
→L= Orange

This is from Ceiling Fans Earlier post:

L - Black, 1 - Grey, 2 - Brown, 3 - Purple
L - Orange, 1 - Black, 2 - Yellow, 3 - Purple
L - Black, 1 - Grey, 2 - Brown, 3 - Green
L - Grey, 1 - Yellow, 2 - Purple, 3 - Black
L - White, 1- Black, 2 - Blue, 3 - Yellow

I know this is an old post but maybe I can help someone who has the same question. 3 speed pull chain switches are not universal. Fans have different wiring, different color codes and most importantly different "cams" inside the switch. Just because a switch looks similar, It is probably different inside. Here is a company I found that you can send your switch to. http://www.fanmanlighting.com/shop/pc/viewCategories.asp?idCategory=69 You will have to send the switch to them and they will have to break the switch open to identify it and will hopefully have a replacement.

If you look up into the fan housing and see a rectangular black device with three wires coming out of it, you must get a 'Dual Capacitor' switch. The power wire (black)goes on #3; the wire from the fan direction switch (purple) goes on the 'L' terminal; the two wires from the rectangular device go onto (yellow)#1 and (Blue)#2.

This has been going on so long, and don't know I I posted the solution for this or not, but Home Depot carries two switches; one works and the other one doesn't. I at one time had written down the number of which one works. Try one, if it works great, if it doesn't, take it back and get the other one.

The best way to figure out switch compatibility is using a continuity meter and paper clips:
http://www.dansfancity.com/techhelp/parts/testswitch.htm

Test the old switch and then compare to the operation of the replacements. Make a grid on Excel to keep track:

Defond E72989
L+1 L+2 L+3 1+2 1+3 2+3
Pos1 y n y n y n
Pos2 y y n y n n
Pos3 y y y y y y
Pos4 n y y n n y
Pos1 y n y n y n

Westinghouse 77020
L+1 L+2 L+3 1+2 1+3 2+3
Pos1 y n y n y n
Pos2 y y n y n n
Pos3 y y y y y y
Pos4 n y y n n y
Pos1 y n y n y n


Westinghouse 77021
L+1 L+2 L+3 1+2 1+3 2+3
Pos1 n n y n n n
Pos2 n n n n n n
Pos3 y n n n n n
Pos4 n y n n n n
Pos1 n n y n n n