Fan Control via X10

[James Sentman]

Ah, interesting! I will experiment with the resistor. I have the exact same thing in my office here, the fan motor is on an X10 clunk/clunk switch but does not control reliably, especially off’s. I thought I had screwed it in so tight that the vibration from the solenoid in there was actually causing the switch to activate again ;) But then I noticed that it behaves differently at different speeds. I wonder if it just needs a snubber circuit as if I was controlling a relay or something. Thats an interesting thought. I will experiment!

If you open up one of those 3 or 4 speed fan controllers you’ll see that they are nothing but 2 or 3 capacitors that are switched in or out of being in series with the load. At 60hz the caps function as really big resistors but without generating much heat. (this is actually how the power supply works in all the X10 switches and such too, basically just a big resistor to 120v and then some diodes! I have built some LED nightlights that used this same method but have never tackled it for anything that needed reliable power, I should learn more about that too) 

I wrote before about how I’ve done it for my main downstairs ceiling fan using a 2 channel ZWave switch. I put one of the capacitors on one switch to the fan and the other capacitor on the other switch. So I can do low with the big one, medium with the smaller one and high by turning both on. Which is not quite all the way on but I’d need a third channel for that and it’s fast enough. 

But you could so the same thing with 2 X10 or other relay switches in the wall too if you have room in the box for another switch or aren’t afraid of cutting a hole for another box next to the other one. 

You’re already not afraid of having some other componants hanging back there in the box if you’re experimenting with the resistor :) So you’d just put in 2 X10 switches and put the 2 different capacitor values on the output of each one and then to the line to the fan. XTension should have no trouble translating to off/low/med/high by turning them on and off in a binary progression.

And it will be totally buzz free unlike any more fancy fan controller that had infinite speed control.


> On Jun 24, 2015, at 9:34 AM, Thomas Arman <tarman at me.com> wrote:
> 
> I have a bedroom fan on a standard X10 relay style wall switch. 
> (For those who have tried this and found that you can turn the fan on remotely but are not able to turn it OFF remotely, here is a solution that works for me.  
> I put a 33K Ohm 5 Watt resistor across the fan hot-neutral.  Power dissipated is very small and my resistor does not get very warm to touch.  
> Do this on your own risk… It works for me, but I accept no responsibility for your installation.)
> 
> Since this fan is low enough, I use the [extended] “pull chain” to control the fan speed.
> 
> I also have a fan in my Great Room hanging 6 feet from a 20 foot ceiling.  Chain control of this fan’s speed is not practical. 
> I currently have it on a 4-position manual rotary fan switch [off-low-med-high].
> 
> I have been unsuccessful in finding an X10 multi-speed fan controller. 
> 
> —— Anyone know of one? —— 
> 
> Any thoughts of using a relay wall switch like above to power the manual fan switch which would then feed the fan?
> I can’t think of a reason not to try it.
> 
> Can anyone suggest ideas?
> 

Thanks,
 	James


James Sentman                       http://sentman.com		http://MacHomeAutomation.com