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    myboyzr2's Avatar
    myboyzr2 Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #1

    Sep 25, 2007, 12:23 PM
    Harbor Breeze Ceiling fan w/remote light issue
    Thank you for this wonderful forum!

    I have a newly installed Harbor Breeze ceiling fan w/remote and no pull chain. Wishing now I got the one with the chain..

    There was a dimmer in the wall switch where the fan operates from so we swapped it for a normal one. The fan works fine with the remote, low, med, high. The issue is that the light also follows the low, med, etc. I was told removing the dimmer switch in the wall should take care of the problem... not.

    As far as I know the wiring was done correctly. My neighbor installed it and has done several fans and is sure he's done it right... hmm...

    Any help would be greatly appreciated! Right now the bulb is unscrewed so we can use the fan.
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #2

    Sep 25, 2007, 01:30 PM
    You should have turned the two year olds on to the lamp problem. They would have destroyed it and the house in seconds.

    Most of us need to see what your friend saw when he installed the fan. I suspect that what he found was a power drop to the ceiling, a switch loop, a fan connection, light connection or a receiver.

    First, if the fan is truly a remote fan, you do not need the switch loop. All that is doing is routing power for the fan and light down to the switch and back up. So you might just consider removing the switch loop.

    Also, if you do that, you will be carrying the load on the wires in the ceiling. Both the fan and the light package will be on at the same time controlled by the remote. Is this the design that you want?

    Also, never just remove a wire. Take the wire out of the circuit, cap it off with a wire nut. Do the same for the wire at the switch. Take the switch off the circuit cap off the wires. Place a blank cover over where the switch used to be and write a little note to yourself as to why you did this.
    myboyzr2's Avatar
    myboyzr2 Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #3

    Sep 25, 2007, 01:44 PM
    Thank you donf for your quick response... yep, I should have let the boyz at it.. lol

    I will show my neighbor your response with hopes he can undo what he did. As far as the switch I spoke of.. I meant the wall plate switch. There was a dimmer originally there and it was replaced with a regular outlet hoping that would fix the issue.

    Having the light and the fan on the remote is what I want. Also be able to have the light on without the fan, and vise versa. Is this possible?

    Thanks again!
    ceilingfanrepair's Avatar
    ceilingfanrepair Posts: 5,733, Reputation: 109
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    #4

    Sep 25, 2007, 08:59 PM
    Ok, let me be sure I am clear. There is a normall on/off wall switch where the dimmer switch once was, correct?

    Leave that switch ON. Does the fan operate from the remote control, at all? Does the light?
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #5

    Sep 26, 2007, 09:21 AM
    OK, it's time for us to stop, take a deep breath and start over again, before we trip over ourselves. Both CFR and I are trying to understand what is working and what is not. So if the questions are repetitive, forgive us.

    Personally, I need to understand exactly what was originally installed and what is installed now.

    It is my understanding that your Original Equipment was:
    (Black/White) “Line IN” power cable from Breaker panel box to the overhead outlet.
    (Black/Black) from “LINE IN” (Black) to wall switch |dimmer switch?
    (White/black tape) switch to Fan (Black) (Blue) this puts power from switch to both fan and light.
    Fan White to “Line IN” White.

    At this point, as CFR said, you should have power to both the light package and fan, with the wall switch “ON”. Get a small circuit tester light. See if you have power on both the Black/Blue wires when tested against Neutral/Return (Fan White).

    Did you keep the switch in the circuit when the new fan was installed?
    myboyzr2's Avatar
    myboyzr2 Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #6

    Sep 26, 2007, 01:36 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair
    Ok, let me be sure I am clear. There is a normall on/off wall switch where the dimmer switch once was, correct?

    Leave that switch ON. Does the fan operate from the remote control, at all? Does the light?
    Thank you for your response and help!

    The light switch is in the on position... the fan does operate with the remote as does the light. The problem is as we use the remote to change the fan speed, the light dims right along with it. High speed fan, bright light, med. Fan, light gets a bit dimmer and so on.

    And there is no way to just have the fan on without the light being on. When you hit the button on the remote to turn off the light only, the fan goes off too.

    There was a dimmer switch in the wall plate that was changed to a regular switch.

    Thanks again!
    myboyzr2's Avatar
    myboyzr2 Posts: 4, Reputation: 1
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    #7

    Sep 26, 2007, 01:40 PM
    Quote Originally Posted by donf
    OK, it's time for us to stop, take a deep breath and start over again, before we trip over ourselves. Both CFR and I are trying to understand what is working and what is not. So if the questions are repetitive, forgive us.

    Personally, I need to understand exactly what was originally installed and what is installed now.

    It is my understanding that your Original Equipment was:
    (Black/White) “Line IN” power cable from Breaker panel box to the overhead outlet.
    (Black/Black) from “LINE IN” (Black) to wall switch |dimmer switch?
    (White/black tape) switch to Fan (Black) (Blue) this puts power from switch to both fan and light.
    Fan White to “Line IN” White.

    At this point, as CFR said, you should have power to both the light package and fan, with the wall switch “ON”. Get a small circuit tester light. See if you have power on both the Black/Blue wires when tested against Neutral/Return (Fan White).

    Did you keep the switch in the circuit when the new fan was installed?

    Thanks again don for your help...

    I can't answer any of your questions as I wasn't the one who installed it. I will ask my neighbor and respond asap. Thanks again to you both!
    ceilingfanrepair's Avatar
    ceilingfanrepair Posts: 5,733, Reputation: 109
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    #8

    Sep 28, 2007, 11:47 AM
    When the fan was installed, did the receiver have to be wired in, or were there only two wires to connect?
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #9

    Sep 30, 2007, 07:36 AM
    Myboyz:

    One other thing to consider is that the light package is on the same circuit as the fan. So if you decrease power to the fan, you also decrease power to the lights therefore, they dim.

    A fairly quick test is to run a 2 wire source or feed to the light package. White to Neutral / Black to Blue. Or if you can get a long extension with plug at one end and two wires at the other end, then it would be White, to the Longer Plug post and Blue to the Shorter Post.

    This a Gypsy rig to just test independent power sources. With the Fan attached to the ceiling power source and the light attached to the power jumper, do both light and fan function properly? If the answer is yes, then you need to add a separate line to the Blue line.
    ceilingfanrepair's Avatar
    ceilingfanrepair Posts: 5,733, Reputation: 109
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    #10

    Oct 1, 2007, 05:23 PM
    The last answer doesn't make sense to me. It's a remote controlled fan therefore it should only have two wires.
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #11

    Oct 2, 2007, 09:19 AM
    Quote Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair
    The last answer doesn't make sense to me. It's a remote controlled fan therefore it should only have two wires.

    OK, what doesn't make sense to you? When you tie Black and Blue together on the same feed, it appears , to me any way, to be the same as attaching the wires to the same dimmer switch. As the switch is operated, the voltage and amperage is reduced to both the fan and the lights, correct.

    So I'm speculating the same thin with the remote control, you only have one source of power into the remote, if the remote varies the I or E of the circuit, then both the fan and light see that change and react accordingly.

    I've seen another anomaly in the house we have. If the dimmer is operated, the light package goes down, the fan slows and starts to make a great deal of noise.
    ceilingfanrepair's Avatar
    ceilingfanrepair Posts: 5,733, Reputation: 109
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    #12

    Oct 2, 2007, 12:18 PM
    A remote fan will not have a blue supply wire, it will only have black and white.

    If the receiver was not permanently installed, it could be wired incorrectly, and may have a blue wire.
    donf's Avatar
    donf Posts: 5,679, Reputation: 582
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    #13

    Oct 3, 2007, 12:47 PM
    CFR - I went out a got a ceiling fan with remote to use as a reference fan.

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