Fan Controller - Reverse Direction?

[Clifford Musante]

I've installed two C4 Fan Controllers in my home, controlling ceiling fans, and in both cases, these controllers replaced a blue-tooth fan controller that was provided by the manufacturer.  They work great, and I have no issues with them.

I'd like to purchase and install two more fan controllers, but the two fans that I'd like to control have 6 speeds, not 4, and both are located in rooms where it may be necessary to reverse the direction of the fan.  The existing blue-tooth fan controller has a "reverse" button, so the functionality exists within the fan, but the C4 fan controllers have only 5 buttons.  One button for OFF, and the other 4 buttons for speeds 1-4.

My question is...  How would I use a C4 fan controller to initiate the "Reverse Direction" functionality that I've got available to me when I use the blue-tooth controller.  And, let's say that I decided to install the C4 fan controller, knowing that I don't have the ability to control the rotational direction of the fan, what do I do if the fan starts, but it starts running in the wrong rotational direction.  Is there a manual fix for the problem?

[Jakelay]

Reviving this thread from a few years back. Did a search and couldn’t find anything that really answered this and didn’t want to start a new thread. Also hoping there might be some updates since this thread is from 2018.

Is there a way to change the fan direction using the C4 fan controller or navigator or are we stuck flipping a reverse switch like Neanderthals

Really only an issue in one room where we have 20ft ceilings but use the fan the most in this room.

[Pounce]

1 hour ago, Jakelay said:

Reviving this thread from a few years back. Did a search and couldn’t find anything that really answered this and didn’t want to start a new thread. Also hoping there might be some updates since this thread is from 2018.

Is there a way to change the fan direction using the C4 fan controller or navigator or are we stuck flipping a reverse switch like Neanderthals

Really only an issue in one room where we have 20ft ceilings but use the fan the most in this room.

I'm sure you realize it, but its completely dependent on the fan. If your fan has a mechanical switch for reverse then you need to modify your fan to control the switch.

[Jakelay]

2 hours ago, Pounce said:

I'm sure you realize it, but its completely dependent on the fan. If your fan has a mechanical switch for reverse then you need to modify your fan to control the switch.

All of my fans have either RF or IR and the direction can be changed with the remote. I don’t ever have to touch the fans themselves.  Just trying to see if that is doable with the fan controller or navigator. I’d prefer not to have to bother with a fan controller and buying a bind bridge for example.

[Pounce]

Both IR and RF are possible with IR being probably the least complex.

[Jakelay]

Sorry if I’m not being clear with my question.

Currently, I just use the remotes to control everything on my fan - lights, fan speed and direction. In order to wire a wall fan controller switch, I believe I will have to remove the remote modules that are installed on the fans.

I know that if I put in the C4 fan controller I will have to have a separate dimmer switch for the lights (already aired with toggle switch but bypassed to the wireless modules on the fans)and then the actual c4 fan controller keypad.  If I only want 3 speeds for fan control, is there a way to set one of the buttons to reverse the fan direction on the controller since there are 4 buttons?

I believe at least 3 of the 4 fans have wireless RF modules (added on when we installed but not built into the fan itself) so I don’t think I would even be able to use a Bond module just for direction control if we have to remove those wireless modules to hard wire the light and controller switches.

I’m really just curious about this as it seems odd that a wired fan controller and/or navigator/remote couldn’t be used to set direction from what I’ve been reading. It would seem this should be an easy thing to do so maybe I’m just missing posts that say how to do this and it’s totally possible.

If this is possible, whats the process for adding direction control to the fan controller?

Inquiring minds want to know. . . 

[Pounce]

1 hour ago, Jakelay said:

Sorry if I’m not being clear with my question.

Currently, I just use the remotes to control everything on my fan - lights, fan speed and direction. In order to wire a wall fan controller switch, I believe I will have to remove the remote modules that are installed on the fans.

I know that if I put in the C4 fan controller I will have to have a separate dimmer switch for the lights (already aired with toggle switch but bypassed to the wireless modules on the fans)and then the actual c4 fan controller keypad.  If I only want 3 speeds for fan control, is there a way to set one of the buttons to reverse the fan direction on the controller since there are 4 buttons?

I believe at least 3 of the 4 fans have wireless RF modules (added on when we installed but not built into the fan itself) so I don’t think I would even be able to use a Bond module just for direction control if we have to remove those wireless modules to hard wire the light and controller switches.

I’m really just curious about this as it seems odd that a wired fan controller and/or navigator/remote couldn’t be used to set direction from what I’ve been reading. It would seem this should be an easy thing to do so maybe I’m just missing posts that say how to do this and it’s totally possible.

If this is possible, whats the process for adding direction control to the fan controller?

Inquiring minds want to know. . . 

oy

So first you posted about flipping a switch. That was misleading. If you are really stuck on this you may want to consider fans with control4 capability or instead of using C4 fan controllers on the wall use keypads and RF control the original RF controllers on the fan that have the reverse polarity relay control.

Fans use reverse polarity to change fan direction. These are a switch on the fan or relays controlled by the fan controller. I think you know this, but are hoping for some sort of magic.

[Jakelay]

Ok, sorry about the confusion.

Just to clarify:

Current setup - 2 regular style toggle switches on the wall. One is for lighting, the other for the fan’s RF receiver. The second toggle has to be up/on for the fan and lights to work. The ‘light’ switch/toggle doesn’t do anything. I believe it’s bypassed so the power to the lights stays on and is controlled by the RF module installed on the fan via the remote. When I walk into the room right now, I flip the second/fan toggle and the lights come on but the fan does not (or it will depending on last state we left it in). This is our main source of light in one of the rooms so we use the light more than the fan. Either way, that one toggle switch controls the load for both right now through the RF module.

The Remote is able to control the fan speed, the lights and the direction of the fan (reverse the direction - which is what I want the C4 setup to do as well). We never have to flip any switches on the fans themselves (I.e. no pull chains, no fan direction switches, nothing- it all operates from the remotes).

C4 questions:
It looks like I will need a dimmer switch for the installer to reconnect the wiring for the lights and allow dimming to that switch.

I also want to have some form of fan control. My initial thought was to add a fan controller so the lights would be on the other switch and fan control would be on the fan controller. I was also going to put in a keypad dimmer on an unused outlet switch for av control, scenes, etc.

If that isn’t the best option to have full control of the fan (I.e. speed, on/off and direction reverse) then what are the alternatives?

I guess I could use a bond bridge and control that with the Chowmain driver but I’d prefer not to have another ‘middle man’ in the mix if there are issues. 
 

Could I just wire another key pad dimmer to the fan control switch and then control the fan via RF using something native to C4? How would that send the RF signals then? I hadn’t heard this was an option but just starting to dig into this.

Is there another way to go about this?

I’d also like to see something on the navigator that shows which direction the fan is circulating air if possible (I.e. up in the winter, down in the summer).
 

None of this is world ending, just trying to see what others are doing so I can decide how we best want to move forward. I think we’ll be ordering our switches in the next few days so they are here for the main install so I want to be prepared.

Thanks again!

[Pounce]

Sorry, I think I answered the question. Buy a fan that has driver support, use an RF controller, buy fans with physical reverse switches and toggle them twice a year or just forget about reverse.

How much do you want to spend to put fan direction on the navigator? Seriously, put a number on it.

[Jakelay]

Thanks again!
 

I think I get the fan controller limitation.

Not going to buy new fans.

No way to do the direction change with the C4 fan controller from what I’m seeing.

So would a keypad dimmer be an ok switch to handle the fan load so I could use an RF controller? Just trying to understand if that would be better than a C4fan controller switch.

And if that’s the direction, what exactly is an RF Controller? Sorry for being dense here. Would that be something like the Bond bridge or are there other options with built in C4 drivers that work?