Can I Swap a Ceiling Light with a Ceiling Fan?

[Controlling4]

Hello,

I bought a home with C4 already installed, can I swap out one of the ceiling lights with a standard Ceiling Fan?

I'm guessing it won't be an issue but I wonder about the dimming that C4 always does when turning on and off and how that will affect a ceiling fan.

Thanks,

[henniae]

You do not want to use the dimmer to control the fan motor?

[wingzz]

just set the ramp time to "0" and it will act like a switch, you should be able to set this in Composer HE

[CFUG]

Depends on the type of motor on the fan. $1000 designer fans contain single-speed motors that cannot be controlled with modern electronics.

[bigdaddyo811]

Is this true: can one set a dimmer to control a fan by setting ramp time to 0? if it ramps from 0 to 100 and vice versa, it wont damage the fan motor?

[smccray]

It's my understanding that while the dimmer with a zero ramp time will appear to act like a switch, the internal components of a dimmer vs. a switch will still be a problem for many ceiling fans. I'm not speaking with any authority, but that's what I understand.

I'm not putting any of my celing fans on C4 dimmers. I'd love to see Control4 come out with a fan controller, but until they do I'm not going to include my fans. That said, I'm considering wiring the C4 switch in line with the fan controller (red wire from the switch to the power in of the fan controller) to add the fans, but I'm still undecided at this point.

[CFUG]

^This is doable but like the guy sweating over how to control an eqp. closet bathfan, why bother? There are $35 controllers out there that are RF and contain temperature setpoint. I sold three of these new to a buddy at work for $60. How are you going to justify $100 for a C4 switch on top of the basic control itself?

And, unless you have local T sensor near the fan, what kind of operation can you expect even if you do hang it on Control4 and closed-loop it?

[Controlling4]

Thanks,

I don't want to mess up the motor by using the dimming function of C4 (it's a standard fan/light combo for $150). My plan is to leave the light switch on and control the Ceiling Fan and Fan Light with it's own remote control. This way it will always have a constant current.

Is there a way, using Composer HE, to leave a light switch on? That way even if the kids hit the switch nothing will happen.

Thanks

[smccray]

^This is doable but like the guy sweating over how to control an eqp. closet bathfan, why bother? There are $35 controllers out there that are RF and contain temperature setpoint. I sold three of these new to a buddy at work for $60. How are you going to justify $100 for a C4 switch on top of the basic control itself?

And, unless you have local T sensor near the fan, what kind of operation can you expect even if you do hang it on Control4 and closed-loop it?

Hm... I didn't realize I was sweating over controlling a fan in an equipment closet.

[CFUG]

You mean the closet isn't warm?

[akg4y]

Thanks,

I don't want to mess up the motor by using the dimming function of C4 (it's a standard fan/light combo for $150). My plan is to leave the light switch on and control the Ceiling Fan and Fan Light with it's own remote control. This way it will always have a constant current.

Is there a way, using Composer HE, to leave a light switch on? That way even if the kids hit the switch nothing will happen.

Thanks

Wait, if you want to just leave the light switch on then why do you want to connect it to control4 at all? Sounds like you will be using the fan's remote to control it, so just leave a regular switch there, why waste $130+? If youre worried about the kids hitting the switch you can just have an electrician (or if you are comfortable doing it) connect the hot wire to the load wire behind the switch and either get a new blank faceplate or leave the switch there as a dummy that doesnt do anything. Much cheaper than using C4 to make it so the switch cant turn off.

[ILoveC4]

You can set it up so its always on and pushing the buttons doesn't do anything. I believe it can be done with Composer HE, but I don't know for sure. Under the dimmer properties there is a box you can uncheck that says "buttons attached". Make sure the light is on when you do that. Once that button is unchecked it basically turns that switch into a two button keypad and won't control the load with the buttons anymore (unless you do custom programming to tell it otherwise).

Akg4y, I think the reason he's using C4 in this application is because it is already there, he just bought the house, and doesn't want to mess with it.

I agree that removing the C4 switch and selling it or moving to a different location would be a better option, but that's just me (and you apparently =) )

[Controlling4]

Thanks for the help guys,

After reading your posts I went for just hotwireing the fan to the power and leaving the switch out of the loop. I can use the switch for some future light...

We (the electrician actually) tired hooking it up to the switch and it dimmed the lights on the fan but for some reason the fan's remote control didn't work. The light switch on the remote worked but the fan buttons on the remote did not work. After taking the C4 switch out of the loop it worked just fine.

Thanks again