[Appletree2468]

Hello,
I have a Hampton Bay ceiling fan/ 3 light combo. It has the pull chains but it is controlled by a wallmounted switch that controls the light with an on/off /dimmer. There are also lo-med-hi buttons on this switch for the fan. There is no remote. The fan was in the house when I purchased it.

I was having a problem with the light bulbs flickering on and off. As soon as you touched the bulb or twisted it slightly the bulb would come back on. I figured that the light sockets must have a loose connection somewhere or they where going bad.

I took the light fixture assembly apart to replace the pocelain light sockets. When I took the light assembly apart I noticed that there was one white wire that had started to wear through where it had been jammed in at initial assembly. :( I am really glad I took it apart before it wore through and there was a serious problem.

I replaced all 3 porcelain light sockets with out a problem. Wire nutted all the black wires together and all the white wires togthter that I had cut to replace the sockets.

Re-installed the light fixture assembly. Turned the light on. It came on, but the dimmer would not work. The fan would turn but the speed settings did not seem to work. Then 15 seconds later something went poof and the light would not work at all. The fan would run if you used the pull chain but would not work from the wall switch.

The red light comes on at the wall switch, but nothing happens when you hit the buttons. I swapped out the battery and it made no difference. Nothing works.

I took down the light assembly again and all the connections look good and tight. There is power on the female side of the main 9 wire connector plug, but nothing works.

Any ideas as to what is wrong or how to fix it??

Thanks for your help!

[ceilingfanrepair]

Ok, when the speed settings did not seem to work on the fan, did you try pulling the pullchains? Did you in fact accidentally pull the light pullchain instead of the fan one?

I have a theory about what happened here.

[Appletree2468]

I pulled them both since I did not know which chain controlled what.

I think that I pulled the light chain first.

If I remember correctly I moved the slide switch for the fan forward/reverse and that is when it went poof.

I was just trying all the switches/chains to see if I could get it to work

What's your theory?

[mndayoh]

I don't know but did you wire the dimmer to the fan and not the lights by mistake that's what it sounds like to me

[ceilingfanrepair]

My theory is when you connected all the wires together for the light, you connected the pullchain wrong, so that when you pulled the chain it created a short and fried the receiver.

Try disconnecting the switch and the remote receiver. Hook the fan up directly (make note of how everything was hooked first). See if everything works as it should from the pullchains. If so the receiver is toast and you either have to do without it or get a new one.

[Appletree2468]

From the way it went out something definitely fried. Not sure how it happened as I was very careful in cutting the wires and wire nutting them back together. But in any case...

There are 2 pull chain switches. One has 4 wires. I assume that this one is for the fan. The other has 2 wires which should be for the light.

So you are saying that I should connect all the black wires together and all the white wires together? Then cut all the other color wires? This will isolate the black box with the blue, yellow and grey wires. There will still be a black and white wire into the forward/reverse fan selector so that should work??

What do I with the blue and yellow wires on the 4 wire fan pull chain switch?

I just want to make sure that I have it right before I start cutting wires.

Thanks

[Appletree2468]

i dont know but did you wire the dimmer to the fan and not the lights by mistake thats what it sounds like to me

I don't think so. All I did was cut and re-connect the black wires and the white wires so it should not have made any difference.

[ceilingfanrepair]

You don't need to cut any wires. The receiver I am referring to should be in the ceiling canopy, not at the bottom of the fan where the pullchains are.

[Appletree2468]

So you have to drop the whole fan to get to it?

Any way to access it with out dropping the whole fan?

[ceilingfanrepair]

You can try just dropping the canopy, but you will probably need to drop the fan.

[Appletree2468]

Update- Had to drop the whole fan. Replaced the receiver. Both fan and light work now off the remote.

ceilingfanrepair - Thanks for your help!

[ceilingfanrepair]

You're welcome.