Ceiling Fan Switch

I have now burned up my second ceiling fan switch. The trailer is in Texas with the wife so I am not able to go out and look at the wiring, but I do recall when I installed the new switch there were 2 pos, and 2 neg wires going to the switch and then the wires going from the switch to the fan. The switch the dealer provided as a replacement says it is 12V. I know the fan can be wired for 12 or 24 volt, and I am wondering if they wired the fan for 24V but used a 12V switch and this is why they keep burning out. Any ideas?

Rick,

If the fan can be wired either way and it is wired for 24VDC, powered at 12VDC it would run at half speed on all settings. But, I'm not sure that the fan is incorrectly wired. It may be that the motor is rated for 24VDC and can be wired to a 24VDC circuit, just as it can be wired to a 12VDC circuit. However, when 24VDC is applied to a motor that is only rated for 12VDC, it will overheat and ultimately burn out. Same/same for the switch. 12VDC through a 24VDC rated switch will be OK while 24VDC through a 12VDC switch will burn it out.

Since our Cats all operate on 12VDC from the factory, I think that if they put 24VDC components in the fan system it would operate cooler, due to less resistance.

I'm wondering if you have a dead short in the line someplace. Heat in a circuit is caused by resistance, i.e., too small a gauge wire for the amperage used; a dead short across the wires; a loose ground wire; loose connections.

I'd run an amperage check across the circuit to see what it is drawing. Have you ever blown a fuse on that circuit?

Hope this helps some.

I have gone through 3 switches. I finally pulled the fan down and found 3 bare spots on the wires. I taped them up and tried a new switch. This one still gets hot like the others and I assume that there are some more bare spots that I can't get to. I just don't use the fan anymore. We really liked having it, but I don't want the risk of a fire, that switch sure does get hot, it melts the case.

It would indicate to me that the motor or motor bearings are bad. The motor is drawing more amps than than the switch is designed to carry, yet not enough to blow the fuse. Long distance diagnosis is almost impossible, but I'll give it a shot.

AVid

Thanks for the input. The fan has never blown the fuse. The switch just burns out. It gets hot enough that the back of the switch melts the case. I guess the next step is the next time I am down in Texas where the trailer is, I will have to pull the fan off the ceiling and check everything and check the amps on that circuit. My initial guess is it is just a cheap fan. So far eveything else seems to be holding well with the wife and 3 kids living fulltime in the trailer for 6 months.

If you figure it out, let us know. I would like to fix mine also.

Rick,

My rig was 2 years old this month. I've run the fan since the day that I got it, mostly on low speed. I've used it mostly in the winter to circulate the warm air that stacks up at the ceiling. The switch has never gotten even warm during all that time.

One thing that I've noticed with mine is that when it runs in the original "forward" setting it is pulling air up to the ceiling. In reverse it pushes air down. I don't know what difference it would make, but I thought that ceiling fans were supposed to push air down, not up when going forward. Being that its a DC circuit, I could reverse the polarity to the motor and it would push the air in forward.

Hope you figure it out.

Rick,

I did a little experiment with the fan switch in my 29RLBS. It was a little warm today, so I ran the fan at high speed for almost two hours. As I indicated in a previous post on this stream, I mostly run it on the lowest speed. I found the switch to be very hot to the touch. I then reset it to the lowest speed setting and it had cooled off within 30 minutes.

Tomorrow, I'm going to put my multimeter on the thing and find out what amperage its drawing on each of the speed settings. I'll let you know how I make out.

Come to think of it, I have always used the high setting on ours.

Sounds like the switch is under-rated, just like the slide breakers.

Scott,

You could be right.

When I was messing around with the switch, I blew the 15A fuse for the circuit. I found that the whole bathroom complex (ceiling fan, WC light, light bar above sink and the double light fixture between the sink and the WD) is on the same circuit.

I still haven't put the multimeter on the circuit. I plan to do that this week.

I also have this iuuse with my cat i put a call into f/r waiting for a responce will let you know whae I get one

rdranger68 wrote:I also have this iuuse with my cat i put a call into f/r waiting for a responce will let you know whae I get one

Thank you and please let us know. It seems to work ok if you use it on low.

Well this weekend our fan was left on high for about three hours . came back and switch was very hot and fan was barely turning.turned it off and let it cool ,but now it won`t work at all .Looks like we need a new fan switch (hope that is all) . Is there a site Ya`ll buy these on ,or do I have to go to the dealer and pay the price.... Thanks in advance

We haven't noticed our switch getting hot, but we usually use the fan on low. We might put it on high for awhile and then put it on low. Scruffy says the switch might get a little warm, but definitely not hot.

This might be an issue that needs to be handled by a recall, since it is probably a fire hazard. I wonder if there have been any fires because of defective fans or switches.

Tater

I would not change it. It will just burn up again, and I do believe it is a fire hazard like Tater was saying. I would remove it and unhook the wires asap! I always had to go to the dealer to buy one.

Long ago in a place far away, possibly here, someone left a message that I saved part of. Here it is:

Lasalle Bristol.

http://www.lasallebristol.com/includes/LaSalleLightingBrochure.pdf

Go to page 16.

I'm sure it's going to be fun to contact them because of the economy in the
Elkhart area.

LaSalle Lighting
1203 State Road 15 South
P.O. Box 1309
Bristol, IN 46507-1309
Phone: 574-848-1700
Fax: 574-848-0322

If all else is OK then the switch is likely under rated, especially for an induction type load like a fan. You could install a 30-40 amp relay (like they use for fog lights) to solve the problem.

The trick must be to run it on low ONLY. We've used our fan quite a bit and hours on end at that, but only on low to stir some air, and have never had a problem yet.

I might as well make a sign to post under the switch warning NOT to run on high.

TC

Cardinal_Bill wrote:Long ago in a place far away, possibly here, someone left a message that I saved part of. Here it is:
Lasalle Bristol.
http://www.lasallebristol.com/includes/LaSalleLightingBrochure.pdf
Go to page 16.
I'm sure it's going to be fun to contact them because of the economy in the
Elkhart area.

I don't have to use mine it's never been hot enough.
Are you sure that a Wild cat will last as long as the Fan. 25 year warranty does this include the switch

My cat is less than a year old and fan has quit working also. I get no response from the switch. Is there an off the shelf switch I can buy for this thing or do I have to go back to the manufacturer? I really don't feel like making the 1-1/2 hour drive out to my dealer for a simple switch.

TC,
I agree with you. We used to run ours on low for months at a time. Park it somewhere warm in early fall, fly home, and later in January, return turn on fan set to low. Turn off fan in early April and drag it home, about the only difference was to change the direction of the spin depending on heating/cooling. We have a slight squeek from the bearings now, I can't hear it but my wife (and the cat) can.

Here's a link to my post on what I found in my ceiling fan when it failed.

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/maintenance-repairs-trouble-shooting-service-warranty-f12/ceiling-fan-failure-t1539.htm?highlight=ceiling+fan

And here's a link to how I solved the angle that the fan was hung on.

http://www.wildcatcamperforum.com/diy-improvements-f3/fan-leveler-t2752.htm



BTW, we used our fan extensively this past very hot and muggy summer and not a peep out of it

I have replaced the switch twice and have talked to a tech at the factory and he said that they are still using the same switch, he recommened finding a dc 3 speed one way switch or a dc 1 speed switch. go figure they know there bad but keep putting them in

I have not had the switch to go bad. But if I run it on high the switch will get hot. I always run it on low