Hi all. I have tried long enough, and now am reaching out to the experts.
I have a Hunter Ceiling Fan with a remote control that controls the fan speeds (3) and the lights. The lights are incandescent and dimmable, 60 watt candelabra style bulbs. There are two of them in the fixture. Recently, when turning on the lights, one of the bulbs blew. This isn't the first time this has happened, since I have three of this same model fan, and have had to replace an occasional bulb in each one of them every so often. In this case, however, the bulb seemed to blow in an abnormal way, seeming to "buzz" a bit longer than the usual fraction of a second it usually takes one to blow and then go out.
Anyway, after replacing the bulb, the fan still worked properly, however, the light would not dim all the way down to off. It would dim down by holding the light button down as it dims, but would reach about halfway down, and then go back to full brightness. Additionally, the usual button (same one used to dim) used on the remote to turn the light off no longer turns the light off. It just dims it about halfway from full brightness, if that makes sense.
I have taken the same remote control and used it on another fan, and it works perfectly. I have also taken one of the other remote controls and used it on the problem fan and am getting the same result as the original remote. It is not the remote.
So I took the receiver apart and started doing some visual troubleshooting. Nothing was visually abnormal. I then started looking at the components closest to the light output wires. Those wires are the wht/blk and wht. The wht wire is connected on the PCB to the AC Neutral from the mains. The blk/wht wire circuit goes through several components before exiting the PCB along with the wht to the two wire light connection. These are the wires for the light.
I started testing the usual suspect components (caps) first with an ESR Meter. A 100uf 16V showed an out of range ESR, so I replaced it. It is now green in the pics. No luck. Th rest of the e-caps tested fine with the ESR Meter.
At that point, I decided to work backward from the blk/wht wire light output and check the components from there. There is a triac (BTA08-600C) on a heatsink that I removed and tested. It is near the large coil on what would be the left corner of the PCB in the pics. It tested bad, as I was getting a reading from MT2 and the gate in both directions with a multimeter. I thought I had my problem found, so I sourced and replaced that triac. Upon powering back up, the lamp came on, quickly flashed back to not quite off a couple of times, and then stayed on full brightness. At this point, I could no longer get the light to dim at all, and it still wouldn't turn off. If I hit the light button, I would get a very, almost indiscernible faint "flicker" from the light, but nothing else. I removed that triac and tested it. It still tested OK with a multimeter as far as readings go. I reinstalled it. Note that I am limited to testing components with a multimeter and and ESR Meter.
I then tested the two diodes on the top portion of the board. There is one that leads to the triac, and there is another one that is between the three yellow large plastic wrapped caps to the right of the triac. The diodes checked ok. I then found another transistor in between the same large yellow caps. It is a D882 NPN. I pulled it and tested it. It tested bad, but I don't remember why now, but it did, so I sourced and replaced it. Note, however, when I received my new ones, the old one, that tested bad before was testing fine this time. That was very weird and odd to me. I replaced it with a new one anyway.
Upon powering back up, the light comes on, but does not change with the light button. It remains at full brightness. Just for the fun of it, even though it checked ok, I decided to replace the other e-cap on the top of the board right in the center where the board 90 degrees. It was a 220uF 35V. I didn't have a 35, so I used a 50V. It fit. There are other e-caps on the antenna section, but I did not replace them. I haven't tested them either, as it would require removing the antenna PCB from the board. I can, but I haven't yet. Should I?
Note that the diode to the right of the D882, says "D2," but the other one that looks just like it (in size, color, and shape), next to the triac says "Z1." Are "Z" designated diodes zener diodes? When I tested them, I did remove one leg, but is there a difference in the test procedure for a zener as opposed to a regular one? Like I said, they both tested ok.
Here is another question. Because I had removed and replaced the triac so many times, I damaged the PCB pads and the traces slightly where MT1 is on the triac. With a continuity check, MT1 was connected to the anode of the Z1 diode, one end of the blue varistor near it, and also over to a point on the very corner of the left side of the board, where it goes through to the other side and is connected to an smd capacitor on the soldered side of the PCB. Am I wrong in thinking that as long as I connect each one of those points with a hard wire, then that should satisfy the circuit requirements? If you look closely, that is what I did.
Here are some other observations. On each leg of the triac, when ac power is supplied to the receiver, I am getting 120 volts ac (approximately close to the test transformer ac input I am using) and back to the neutral wire. Is that normal?
So at this point, I am stuck and need to know what I should check next. Should I pull that closest varistor and check it? It doesn't have any visible signs of damage, but I know that may not mean anything. Would I have the means to test it with just a multimeter?
Sorry for such a long post, but I figured I would get most of the questions answered early. And there are lots of pics. If anything else is needed, let me know.
Thanks, guys, for your help, if any. I realize I could probably just buy a new one, but this is now a challenge for me. I may or may not win, but I still want to try.
I have a Hunter Ceiling Fan with a remote control that controls the fan speeds (3) and the lights. The lights are incandescent and dimmable, 60 watt candelabra style bulbs. There are two of them in the fixture. Recently, when turning on the lights, one of the bulbs blew. This isn't the first time this has happened, since I have three of this same model fan, and have had to replace an occasional bulb in each one of them every so often. In this case, however, the bulb seemed to blow in an abnormal way, seeming to "buzz" a bit longer than the usual fraction of a second it usually takes one to blow and then go out.
Anyway, after replacing the bulb, the fan still worked properly, however, the light would not dim all the way down to off. It would dim down by holding the light button down as it dims, but would reach about halfway down, and then go back to full brightness. Additionally, the usual button (same one used to dim) used on the remote to turn the light off no longer turns the light off. It just dims it about halfway from full brightness, if that makes sense.
I have taken the same remote control and used it on another fan, and it works perfectly. I have also taken one of the other remote controls and used it on the problem fan and am getting the same result as the original remote. It is not the remote.
So I took the receiver apart and started doing some visual troubleshooting. Nothing was visually abnormal. I then started looking at the components closest to the light output wires. Those wires are the wht/blk and wht. The wht wire is connected on the PCB to the AC Neutral from the mains. The blk/wht wire circuit goes through several components before exiting the PCB along with the wht to the two wire light connection. These are the wires for the light.
I started testing the usual suspect components (caps) first with an ESR Meter. A 100uf 16V showed an out of range ESR, so I replaced it. It is now green in the pics. No luck. Th rest of the e-caps tested fine with the ESR Meter.
At that point, I decided to work backward from the blk/wht wire light output and check the components from there. There is a triac (BTA08-600C) on a heatsink that I removed and tested. It is near the large coil on what would be the left corner of the PCB in the pics. It tested bad, as I was getting a reading from MT2 and the gate in both directions with a multimeter. I thought I had my problem found, so I sourced and replaced that triac. Upon powering back up, the lamp came on, quickly flashed back to not quite off a couple of times, and then stayed on full brightness. At this point, I could no longer get the light to dim at all, and it still wouldn't turn off. If I hit the light button, I would get a very, almost indiscernible faint "flicker" from the light, but nothing else. I removed that triac and tested it. It still tested OK with a multimeter as far as readings go. I reinstalled it. Note that I am limited to testing components with a multimeter and and ESR Meter.
I then tested the two diodes on the top portion of the board. There is one that leads to the triac, and there is another one that is between the three yellow large plastic wrapped caps to the right of the triac. The diodes checked ok. I then found another transistor in between the same large yellow caps. It is a D882 NPN. I pulled it and tested it. It tested bad, but I don't remember why now, but it did, so I sourced and replaced it. Note, however, when I received my new ones, the old one, that tested bad before was testing fine this time. That was very weird and odd to me. I replaced it with a new one anyway.
Upon powering back up, the light comes on, but does not change with the light button. It remains at full brightness. Just for the fun of it, even though it checked ok, I decided to replace the other e-cap on the top of the board right in the center where the board 90 degrees. It was a 220uF 35V. I didn't have a 35, so I used a 50V. It fit. There are other e-caps on the antenna section, but I did not replace them. I haven't tested them either, as it would require removing the antenna PCB from the board. I can, but I haven't yet. Should I?
Note that the diode to the right of the D882, says "D2," but the other one that looks just like it (in size, color, and shape), next to the triac says "Z1." Are "Z" designated diodes zener diodes? When I tested them, I did remove one leg, but is there a difference in the test procedure for a zener as opposed to a regular one? Like I said, they both tested ok.
Here is another question. Because I had removed and replaced the triac so many times, I damaged the PCB pads and the traces slightly where MT1 is on the triac. With a continuity check, MT1 was connected to the anode of the Z1 diode, one end of the blue varistor near it, and also over to a point on the very corner of the left side of the board, where it goes through to the other side and is connected to an smd capacitor on the soldered side of the PCB. Am I wrong in thinking that as long as I connect each one of those points with a hard wire, then that should satisfy the circuit requirements? If you look closely, that is what I did.
Here are some other observations. On each leg of the triac, when ac power is supplied to the receiver, I am getting 120 volts ac (approximately close to the test transformer ac input I am using) and back to the neutral wire. Is that normal?
So at this point, I am stuck and need to know what I should check next. Should I pull that closest varistor and check it? It doesn't have any visible signs of damage, but I know that may not mean anything. Would I have the means to test it with just a multimeter?
Sorry for such a long post, but I figured I would get most of the questions answered early. And there are lots of pics. If anything else is needed, let me know.
Thanks, guys, for your help, if any. I realize I could probably just buy a new one, but this is now a challenge for me. I may or may not win, but I still want to try.
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