Ceiling fan question

[leapinlew]

I don't know much about electricity, so be gentle.

My ceiling fan in my office "blew" when I turned on the light switch. It looked like the bulbs blew out, but after taking it apart, some circuit board in the light fixture burned out. I have attached some pics of the circuit board. I'm totally surprised to see a circuit board and have no idea what it's doing in there. My questions are, can I bypass it and if not does anyone know where I can purchase this part?

I was expecting to see black and white wires. It's an Emerson fan that doesn't do anything special (no remotes or dimmer switches).

[kahlid74]

My guess would be that controls the different levels as to how fast the fan goes?  Does the fan have a low/medium/fast setting?  I see resistors so I would think if you removed it the fan would go as fast as the motor allowed since UN-resisted max electricity was flowing to it.

I'm no expert, but I would think you need that board to control just how much electricity is going to the fan.

[leapinlew]

Thanks Kahlid -

This is just inside the light housing. The fan housing has its own board.

[HaRuMaN]

That's a listening device, powered by your own electricity!   

[drventure]

The fan isn't one of those with a wireless remote is it?

That does seem odd to have that kind of circuit board in there. I'd expect a current control board to have much bigger heat sinks.

[Vigo]

It is probably a board used to adjust the light intensity (High/Low), but that feature was never wired into the outlet or you you never got the remote. I'm pretty sure you can bypass this. I would. If there is nothing else funky leading to the light socket, you should be in the clear.

[danny_galaga]

Ceiling fans are cheap. Don't ---fudgesicle--- around with it, buy a new one...

[Dawgz Rule]

Ditto.  You can also purchase a replacement light fixture.

[saint]

Don't die Lew!

[leapinlew]

I tried bypassing the circuit board and it burned out the pull chain switch. Smoke and everything! The smoke and spark came from the pull chain assembly, but the light did work (but it couldn't be turned off). I don't see the big deal here, why would it smoke like that?

[Howard_Casto]

Buy a new fan.  We've had ceiling fans since the early 80's and I can tell you, at this point most of the parts in a fan (speed controller, ect) are costly enough to where it just makes sense to buy a new one and start over.  Older fans just use a very basic speed controller.  You can get one at lowes for anywhere between 8 and 20 bucks, but the replacments are crap, so expect to be putting a new one in every few years.  Thus why it's just easier to buy a new fan. 

Of course it depends upon the fan I suppose.  We usually get fans that cost less than 100 bucks (usually in the 60 to 70 dollar range unless it's a small room, in which case the 29.99 specials do just fine.)  If you've got some crazy high-end one, you might want to try to repair it, but honestly a fan with a solid state pcb is probably unrepairable. 

[leapinlew]

Found my issue and the fan is working great (I had to replace the pull chain for $3.50). I don't think it's a super high end fan, but it costs around $150. I can't understand what the point of the PCB was. The fan is only 3 years old.

Thanks for everyones help.

[SavannahLion]

I tried bypassing the circuit board and it burned out the pull chain switch. Smoke and everything! The smoke and spark came from the pull chain assembly, but the light did work (but it couldn't be turned off). I don't see the big deal here, why would it smoke like that?

Let me guess.... The switch was wired into this board? I'd bet that the board is just a relay board for the high voltage and the switch was low voltage deal hence the burn out. No one noticed the 3A relay? It might've been a wireless board as well, but I don't see many components one sees with RF. But I'm not an expert in that field.

When you connected the low voltage switch into mains, it burned out. When you replaced it, was it with a high voltage switch?

[Howard_Casto]

What SL said... probably a relay of some sort.  I honestly have NEVER seen a low voltage switch on a fan before unless it has a remote control, so that is what your pcb was for.... a remote control setup. 

[danny_galaga]

We're all just glad you didn't die (",)

[Gray_Area]

Don't die Lew!

This rates with sayings like, "Di plane, di plane!"

[crashwg]

Is it a necessity to have a pull switch on this light?  If not and you've got it hooked up to a wall switch, remove all the wire nuts along with the PCB and any wires that aren't black, white or bare.  Connect all the black wires with a wire nut.  Connect all the white wires with another wire nut.  Connect any bare wires to a grounding screw that is most likely in the fixture somewhere.

If you do need the pull switch, they cost <$5 at Home Depot or Lowes.  Do as above but wire the switch between the black wire coming into the fixture and the black wires that go to the sockets.

Electricity need not be feared, just respected.

[Nephasth]

Electricity need not be feared, just respected.

+1.

[SavannahLion]

Is it a necessity to have a pull switch on this light?

You did notice this is part of a fan? I hate them myself, but we have these types of fan/light combos and they're usually installed in a ceiling box that is only wired to one switch circuit. You can install them in boxes wired for dual control circuits, most homes usually aren't wired this way. You need to have some way of independently controlling the lights from the fan. On a single circuit, you have no other choice, you need the pull chains.

Yeah, you could opt for the myriad of control choices that simulates a dual circuit. RF switch boxes. A simple remote. Even an X10 style module transmitting directly on the wire. Or you could shell out the money and/or time to have a dual circuit installed. They're all there. But none of them cost $3.50 to implement.

[Vigo]

I have pull chains on all mine. I like to have the light off and fan on. Good for watching movies on hot days. Otherwise, the one I have without a light pull chain works fine, but I can't run the fan unless the light is on

[crashwg]

Is it a necessity to have a pull switch on this light?

You did notice this is part of a fan?

I've never had a fancy shmancy ceiling fan with electronics inside them but the fans I have installed have separate switches for lights and fan.  The circuit board appears to only have one output which leads me to believe it only controls the lights and perhaps the fan is controlled with some other circuit. 

[crashwg]

Not sure how I missed this but it looks like Lew figured it out...

Found my issue and the fan is working great (I had to replace the pull chain for $3.50). I don't think it's a super high end fan, but it costs around $150. I can't understand what the point of the PCB was. The fan is only 3 years old.

Thanks for everyones help.

[SavannahLion]

Is it a necessity to have a pull switch on this light?

You did notice this is part of a fan?

I've never had a fancy shmancy ceiling fan with electronics inside them but the fans I have installed have separate switches for lights and fan.  The circuit board appears to only have one output which leads me to believe it only controls the lights and perhaps the fan is controlled with some other circuit.

No, i was reading your post to mean you were telling him to wire the lights directly into mains, by passing the pull chain switch entirely.