Converting RF Fan Controls to Hard Wired Wall Switch?
I just brought a Hunter Fan model 21871 at Home Depot. I'm new to ceiling fans, but I do have a moderate amount of residential electric and electronic install knowledge. I picked this fan after looking online and at Lowe's and Home Depot because it was the only one that I liked the look of for a large room and with flush mount only 11.5" from ceiling to bottom of light.
Then I find out that the fan controls are "integrated" using an RF receiver for all functions. I read about people who had problems with the RF controls with the light coming on and off by itself and the fan changing speeds by itself. And Hunter told me you can't be turning the power on and off all the time at the light switch because it can damage the RF receiver.
I ordered a switch assembly from a similar Hunter Fan with pull chains and a hard wired reversing switch. As I suspected, the wire colors are the same for both the Hunter RF receiver and the basic switch they just sent me. Red, Pink, Gray, and Yellow to the fan motor. The basic switch has two capacitor assemblies, I think one of the two black boxes is a dual cap, a reversing switch, and a speed switch. It makes some sense to me. Someone wrote that one cap is for a startup winding to start the fan turning, and the other cap that has four wires on it is something to do with speed control?
I'm concerned about a few things. One: Am I right that I can use this basic switch instead of the RF receiver to convert this fan to hardwired? Two: Is there a in-wall fan control that is basically not "solid state" but more basic capacitor control? And Three: I wish someone could tell me for sure if the caps have to do with the speed control, or if the caps are just starting the fan turning, then the resistance in the three speed pull chain switch is what actually controls the speed? Is there two windings in most fans, the startup winding and the run winding? And then the run winding has different speeds *somehow*?
Ultimately, what I think I want is to be able to use a Leviton Decora X-10 remote switch to turn the fan on and off and some kind of wall mounted control to change speeds (non-remote control) and mount the reversing switch in the fan canopy. I want to use a Leviton X-10 Decora Dimmer to control incandescent loads/lamps in the fan. Unless anyone is up on CFL lamp dimming and knows a way to dim them with a Leviton Dimmer. I was looking at dimmable GU24 CFL's, but they don't seem to be perfected and widely available yet?
Thank you for any info.. I've been reading for days and I'm still quite confused about these issues. I really like this fan, except for the integrated controls...
L.