OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

Greetings all, a troubleshooting saga.

Having finally cleared access, we replaced the ceiling fans in the
kitchen and living room. To compound issues, these were on sale at
Costco, and sat in their boxes for three years. So I'm not sure that
warranty is an option.

They being the New And Improved Modern model, it has a Remote
Control. Which is wonderful. No more old fashioned pull chains to
turn the lights on and off, or change fan speeds. Oh, and did I
mention the lights are on a dimmer control? Very nice. (Of course,
the bulbs supplied were Curly CFLs which were not dimable. And are
stuck now at a mid-level.) The living room installation went as
advertised.

We managed to get the 2nd remote and the kitchen fan "paired".
Once.
Now, the Remote Control doesn't control. The Procedure is to shut
off power at the wall switch off for two minutes, and within two
minutes of turning the power back on, push and hold the off button on
the remote. It will blink to show you have made contact. If it
doesn't change the dip switches. There are 4 switches ("Do not use 1 2
3 4 - on" says the instructions) plus a Dimmer on / off -for 32
options, at 4 minutes to test each settings. Not what I wanted to do
on a sunny day..

The annoying part is that the other fan / remote in the next room
set up and initiated as advertised. It even ran the one in the
kitchen. Neat trick, but not useful.

I think these are radio remotes, as the instructions mention
"antenna" in the receiver, so not sure what kind of app might be
available. Anyway, any suggestions for how to test if a remote is
sending a signal?
And test if the receiver is getting any signal?

Should I attempt to just splice leads into the fan, hardwiring to
a wall mount controller? Give up and put the old one back? It was
working. (The living room fan had the reverse direction switch fail.
Replacement parts could be had for 50 cents if I bought five
thousand.)

Nuke them from orbit?

--
pyotr filipivich.
Discussing the decline in the US's tech edge, James Niccol once wrote
"It used to be that the USA was pretty good at producing stuff teenaged
boys could lose a finger or two playing with."

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:12:02 -0700
pyotr filipivich wrote:

Greetings all, a troubleshooting saga.

Having finally cleared access, we replaced the ceiling fans in the
kitchen and living room. To compound issues, these were on sale at
Costco, and sat in their boxes for three years. So I'm not sure that
warranty is an option.
snip

I would try searching a bit on youtube, something like this:

https://www.youtube.com/results?sear...ing+fan+remote

Without a brand name or model number I can't help much more ;-)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:12:02 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

Greetings all, a troubleshooting saga.

Having finally cleared access, we replaced the ceiling fans in the
kitchen and living room. To compound issues, these were on sale at
Costco, and sat in their boxes for three years. So I'm not sure that
warranty is an option.

They being the New And Improved Modern model, it has a Remote
Control. Which is wonderful. No more old fashioned pull chains to
turn the lights on and off, or change fan speeds. Oh, and did I
mention the lights are on a dimmer control? Very nice. (Of course,
the bulbs supplied were Curly CFLs which were not dimable. And are
stuck now at a mid-level.) The living room installation went as
advertised.

We managed to get the 2nd remote and the kitchen fan "paired".
Once.
Now, the Remote Control doesn't control. The Procedure is to shut
off power at the wall switch off for two minutes, and within two
minutes of turning the power back on, push and hold the off button on
the remote. It will blink to show you have made contact. If it
doesn't change the dip switches. There are 4 switches ("Do not use 1 2
3 4 - on" says the instructions) plus a Dimmer on / off -for 32
options, at 4 minutes to test each settings. Not what I wanted to do
on a sunny day..

The annoying part is that the other fan / remote in the next room
set up and initiated as advertised. It even ran the one in the
kitchen. Neat trick, but not useful.

I think these are radio remotes, as the instructions mention
"antenna" in the receiver, so not sure what kind of app might be
available. Anyway, any suggestions for how to test if a remote is
sending a signal?
And test if the receiver is getting any signal?

Should I attempt to just splice leads into the fan, hardwiring to
a wall mount controller? Give up and put the old one back? It was
working. (The living room fan had the reverse direction switch fail.
Replacement parts could be had for 50 cents if I bought five
thousand.)

Nuke them from orbit?

use incandescent lamps - no dimmer or on full - see what happens. Some
CF and LED bulbs and some dimmers interfere with the RF remotes.

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

Clare Snyder on Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:34:58 -0400
typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:
On Thu, 22 Oct 2020 10:12:02 -0700, pyotr filipivich
wrote:

Greetings all, a troubleshooting saga.

Having finally cleared access, we replaced the ceiling fans in the
kitchen and living room. To compound issues, these were on sale at
Costco, and sat in their boxes for three years. So I'm not sure that
warranty is an option.

They being the New And Improved Modern model, it has a Remote
Control. Which is wonderful. No more old fashioned pull chains to
turn the lights on and off, or change fan speeds. Oh, and did I
mention the lights are on a dimmer control? Very nice. (Of course,
the bulbs supplied were Curly CFLs which were not dimable. And are
stuck now at a mid-level.) The living room installation went as
advertised.

We managed to get the 2nd remote and the kitchen fan "paired".
Once.
Now, the Remote Control doesn't control. The Procedure is to shut
off power at the wall switch off for two minutes, and within two
minutes of turning the power back on, push and hold the off button on
the remote. It will blink to show you have made contact. If it
doesn't change the dip switches. There are 4 switches ("Do not use 1 2
3 4 - on" says the instructions) plus a Dimmer on / off -for 32
options, at 4 minutes to test each settings. Not what I wanted to do
on a sunny day..

The annoying part is that the other fan / remote in the next room
set up and initiated as advertised. It even ran the one in the
kitchen. Neat trick, but not useful.

I think these are radio remotes, as the instructions mention
"antenna" in the receiver, so not sure what kind of app might be
available. Anyway, any suggestions for how to test if a remote is
sending a signal?
And test if the receiver is getting any signal?

Should I attempt to just splice leads into the fan, hardwiring to
a wall mount controller? Give up and put the old one back? It was
working. (The living room fan had the reverse direction switch fail.
Replacement parts could be had for 50 cents if I bought five
thousand.)

Nuke them from orbit?

use incandescent lamps - no dimmer or on full - see what happens. Some
CF and LED bulbs and some dimmers interfere with the RF remotes.

As it came with CFLs, and the same make/model purchased at the
same time, I'm not sure how that might be it.
OTOH, the "Law of the Too Solid Goof" means that "if it can't be
x, it is X".

Will test that this afternoon.
--
pyotr filipivich
"With Age comes Wisdom. Although far too often, Age travels alone."

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

On Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:41:35 -0700
pyotr filipivich wrote:

snip
I think these are radio remotes, as the instructions mention
"antenna" in the receiver, so not sure what kind of app might be
available. Anyway, any suggestions for how to test if a remote is
sending a signal?

These are kinda fun to play with:

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-...dp/B011HVUEME/

You would have to install some software too but what's out there for
free is quite usable. You should be able to "see" if your remote was
outputting any radio signal, after you get done playing around
with it ;-)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

"Leon Fisk" wrote in message ...

On Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:41:35 -0700
pyotr filipivich wrote:

snip
I think these are radio remotes, as the instructions mention
"antenna" in the receiver, so not sure what kind of app might be
available. Anyway, any suggestions for how to test if a remote is
sending a signal?

These are kinda fun to play with:

https://www.amazon.com/RTL-SDR-Blog-...dp/B011HVUEME/

You would have to install some software too but what's out there for
free is quite usable. You should be able to "see" if your remote was
outputting any radio signal, after you get done playing around
with it ;-)

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI

======================================

I like this one:
https://www.sdrplay.com/new-reviews-...1a-and-rspduo/

The spectrum analyzer app lacks the 2 GHz sweep range of my vintage HP but
has many more useful features. The spectrum + waterfall display on a large
widescreen monitor is spectacular. The waterfall captures short pulses.
https://swling.com/blog/tag/rsp1a/

OT - maybe. How to test remotes?
 

On Fri, 23 Oct 2020 17:31:00 -0400
"Jim Wilkins" wrote:

I like this one:
https://www.sdrplay.com/new-reviews-...1a-and-rspduo/

The spectrum analyzer app lacks the 2 GHz sweep range of my vintage HP but
has many more useful features. The spectrum + waterfall display on a large
widescreen monitor is spectacular. The waterfall captures short pulses.
https://swling.com/blog/tag/rsp1a/

Yeah, I looked at that one after I started playing with the RTL-SDR
I already had. Much nicer unit but 4x the price too...

I also looked at the Airspy stuff and was sorely tempted:

https://v3.airspy.us/product-categor...rs-converters/

Was thinking of trying to build a RaspberryPI + SDR Digital trunking
scanner. My area is transitioning to a P25 digital system and my old
analog scanners days are numbered... This is an old link:

https://forums.radioreference.com/th...canner.371662/

A lot has changed already since I was researching it early this year.
Better hardware and software has come out...

I would really like a HackRF One, which can also transmit :)
Just not a good place to spend my money nowadays. If I was still
working in the trade I would be all over this...

--
Leon Fisk
Grand Rapids MI