MinkaAire Ceiling Fan - bypassing the remote receiver for just the light


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Old 03-29-17, 06:22 AM
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MinkaAire Ceiling Fan - bypassing the remote receiver for just the light

I recently replaced some ceiling fans in our house with the Minka Aire F737. This fan uses a remote control for all fan functions: speed, on/off, reverse, lights.

The original setup in our house was a ceiling fan with two wall switches - one switch controlled the fan light, the other turned the fan on/off. The fans had a pull chain to change fan speed and a switch to reverse direction.

Since installing the new ceiling fans, I find that I miss walking into the room and just flipping a switch to turn on the light.

The wiring coming out from the ceiling at the fan is black, white, red, ground. I know that the red is what is used for the old fan light. Currently with the new Minka fans that red wire is capped.

The new minka fans have five wires coming out of the fan that run to the remove receiver located in the canopy at the ceiling. The wires are labeled as follows:

Red, purple and grey - labeled motor 1, motor 2, motor 3
Blue, white - labeled light 1 and light 2

My question.....can i disconnect the blue wire running from the fan to the remove receiver? I would cap the blue wire coming off the remote receiver, and then the blue wire from the fan would go to the red wire coming from the ceiling. The white wire - can i leave that hooked to the remote receiver or should I disconnect that and hook it to the white wire coming from the ceiling?

My thinking is that this setup would allow me to use my wall switch to turn the fan light on/off. The other wall switch (that controls power to the fan) would be left on, and I would use the remote to just control the fan functions - but the remote would not longer control the light.

Is this possible?

Here is the link to my fan and manual: http://www.minkagroup.net/sites/defa...1474311604.pdf

Thanks in advance!
 
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Old 03-29-17, 06:45 AM
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As a quick follow up - I just got off the phone with Minka and asked about bypassing the remote receiver - his answer was that its possible, but not as simple as just hooking wires up different. He said he heard of another customer that did it, but some master electrician had to do some work to make it happen. I am not sure if that's true or a round about way to say "you can do it, but i can't tell you how." I did find out that the remote receiver does not do any kind of voltage stepdown - it simply translates RF signals from the remote to the fan.

So unless there is more stuff that the wiring is doing, I still think hooking the blue wire from the fan to the red wire from the ceiling should work. Thoughts?
 
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Old 03-29-17, 08:11 AM
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Yes as long as the receiver isn't stepping down the voltage for LED lights, then it is as simple as cutting the two light wires and reattaching them to the house wiring. More than likely the white coming from the receiver is simply bridged with the fan neutral and the neutral input, but it's best to assume it's not and connect it directly.
 
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Old 03-29-17, 08:28 AM
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That's awesome news taz420. The light came with 10 super tiny standard halogen bulbs, so that confirm the step down thing even more.

I might try to do this tonight and will report back as soon as i know. If I can't get to it tonight I will report back when i have it done - I know i've searched for a while and have found some info, but nothing that 100% matched what i needed. So hopefully it will help others.
 
 

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