Hello and thanks for your time in any insight you can provide.

I installed a new ceiling fan into my ceiling recently and when I hooked up the wall controller it blows/shorts and no longer functions.

The fan is a Hampton Bay 54” sidewinder with a wall control. I ran 14/2 line from my wall box to the ceiling fan location. I correctly connected the receiver to the fan wires and black/white. I correctly connected the new ceiling fan electrical wire to the wall control and white cluster. I took power from a black cluster that powers a single pole switch that controls the top recepticles on the outlets of the room and hooked that into the power in of the wall control switch.

When I turned the breaker back on and slid the manual power switch on the fan wall control to “on” the power light lights up on the wall control for about a second and fades off. After this I tested the wall control power side of the switch that runs from the wall control switch to the fan and it never is hot. I assume I shorted/blew a circuit board in the fan control switch.

I then took another control from a different fan and redid all connections. The same thing occurred on the switch where the power light for the wall control came on briefly and then faded off and there was no power passing out of the wall control.

I got a 3rd wall control (different model but provided by Home Depot warrenty service to specifically work with the fan) and a new receiver. This time when I turned on the wall control I heard a click at the fan in the ceiling and the wall control “died” as the last 2.

I hired an electrician to come out to help and he looked at the fan and the fan wires and confirmed it was hooked up correctly and could not explain why it was occurring. He did not have fan controls/receivers and did not troubleshoot further.

next time I will be hiring a different electrician that may actually troubleshoot better, but I figured I’d take a shot in the dark here first.

I thought maybe the electrial line I ran from the wall to the fan may have had the protective casing scraped off while fishing it. The electrician said it would be tripping the breaker. The breaker never trips in my situation.

Any my thoughts are appreciated. I can provide pictures if someone has any ideas.

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome to the forums.

That sounds like a short going up to the fan.

Do you have a meter..... a multimeter with ohms ?
You need to check for a short going up to the fan.
Check from white to black and from black to ground.

If you connected white to white and black to black at the box without using the switch....
the breaker would probably trip.

 

HI. Thanks for replying! Very much appreciated.

Yes I do. However, I am inexperienced in using one. It came with the pen tester . If you will, what readings am I looking for?

 

Hi, what model fan do you have and what control are you using? To check for a short in your wiring remove all connectors from your wiring and with an Ohm meter check between Blk,white and ground for continuity between each one.
Are you tripping any circuit breaker?
Geo

 

If you can post a make and model of the meter or post a picture... we can help with it.
How-to-insert-pictures

 

Here is my multimeter.

 

I set up my multimeter for continuity w/ sound as shown in the picture.



I tested black to white - No reading or sound.
I tested black to ground - No reading or sound.

I tested black of ceiling fan side to black of wall switch side - Registered and beeped.
I tested white to white - Registered and beeped.
I tested ground to ground - Registered and beeped.

Fan info - Hampton Bay 54" Sidewinder
Wall Control - 2 came with it that I have since trashed. Pic:


New wall control and reciever sent as a warranty replacement that most recently isn't functioning:





Pics of fan info:



Please let me know if you have any further ideas for testing.

Much appreciated.

 

With the fan side remote connected to the new cable at the ceiling..... check at the switch box from white to black and black to ground. There should be no continuity.

 

Hi, post a pic of how you have the wall controller wired, how many wires are in the ceiling fan box?
You should have the white from your new 14/2 connected to the neutrals in wall box, the other end connected to the white at the ceiling controller, black in the new 14/2 to one side of the wall controller and a black feed to the other side of the wall controller.
Are you tripping any circuit breaker?
Geo

 

@PJmax
With the fan side controller connected, there is no continuity between black/white or black/ground.

 

@Geochurchi

The wall control:

Top Left Black (red nut): This is from the fan wall control black labeled "to ceiling fan" connected to the ceiling fan line black. This is the line I fished and ran through my attic.
Bottom Left White (red nut): This is the white cluster that connects all neutrals in the wall box. (5) This is the where the white from my line for the fan is connected.
Middle left (red & yellow nut): Ground from the fan control and ground from the new line tied to the rest of the ground wires in the box.
Right (red nut): This is the black cluster for all the hots in the box. I added the "to power" labeled black out of the wall control.


This is at the fan box. I made the fan box so there is only 1 line into the box and it is the one I fished from the wall box into the attic.


I never trip the breaker. The wall control unit "faults" or dies once power is restored when I turn the breaker on and manually move the wall control unit power switch to the "on" position. Ive killed 3 wall controls and a 4th is in the mail.

Thanks!

 

So your wiring looks correct, have you tried another ceiling module, also what happens if you disconnect the fan side of the ceiling module?
One other thought, that fan should have a hand held remote , Remove the wall control connect the 2 black wires together with a wire nut and see if the fan will operate with the hand held remote.
Geo

 

 

Wow! looks like you covered all the bases, I don’t know what else to say, it is hard to believe you could be getting that many defective parts, keep us posted when the issue gets resolved.
Geo

 

FYI and for any future searches. There was a short inside the fan that I assume was a manufacturing defect. So much for QC. I needed to get a new fan and wall controls and everything is working as expected.

 

Hi, thanks for letting us know the out come, I assume that was covered under warranty.
Geo