I have a Hampton Bay ceiling fan with remote. Periodically the light will turn on and off on it's own, usually at inconvenient times, why does it do this and how can I fix it?
Also, is there a way to turn the light on and off without using the remote? I would like to use the light switch for this but it will only turn it off not on.

You unwanted ON?OFF is most likely caused by someone else's RF remote sending out on your same frequency. This can be changed by changing the arrangement of the little dip switches in the hand held unti and the receiver in the canopy. You can only use the wall switch if your fan was already turned on by the remote and left on, then the wall switch can/should be able to turn it on or off. If it can not do both you have other issues like a faulty receiver. Here is how this all works, think of your fan as like a garden hose connected to your garden sipgot and a sprayer attached to the end. You want to water your garden with either the spigot or the sprayer, well that just can't work unless the spigot was already turned on. Then you can open the sprayer. The switch does not send power to the fan but to the receiver only. If the switch is not sending power the receiver can't do a thing.