I am installing an older Hampton Bay ceiling fan. I found the fan switch had been removed. A new switch has been bought, but I do not know which color wires go into L, 1, 2, 3. The wires in the housing are black, orange, yellow and purple. What is the correct order?

In visiting with my mom this week while she was ill, I found the fan speed pull chain on the Hampton Bay ceiling fan in her bedroom had accidentally been pulled out by one of her grandkids. The wiring was BLACK (B), PURPLE (P), ORANGE (O), YELLOW (Y).

Like others, I went to Home Depot in search of a replacement. I suppose if I had been industrious enough I could have dismantled the fan from the ceiling to find the model number so I could call Hampton Bay, but I had limited tools, and just really wasn't feeling it, and I didn't have time to wait for a switch ordered online (my mom lives some 800 miles away from me). Anyway, I found, as other have, that although Home Depot is the only purveyor of the Hampton Bay fans, they don't stock the exact replacement switches, or have any reference on the wiring. I got the 3 speed Westinghouse 77021 single layer 4 wire fan switch and here's how I got it to work.
I'll spare you the details, but it appears the fan wires on this fan are:
B = Pwr
P = Low
Y = Med
O = Hi Speed

Connections on the switch are labeled 1,2,3,L. I got it to work with the fan as follows:
L = B
1 = O
2 = Y
3 = P

My mother thinks the medium speed is slightly lower than the original but not enough that it bothers her. I suspect the original fan switch connected two voltage levels at medium, but hey the fan works with the new switch!

YMMV, but hope this helps someone else.

Hampton Bay fans aren't worth fixing ( or buying ).