Switching Ceiling Fans

I have relay channels availible on a project. As ceiling fans have 3 speeds and OFF, will using 3 relay channels (one for each speed) and setting up 4 scenes on a 4 key switch (high, med, low and off scenes) work O.K. and is the capacitor better of at the relay or the fan. Also, are there other ways that will also work.

 

Hello D man,
It's possible to use one key, two relay channels and a PAC for three speed and off control. I'll dig out the logic and post next week.

Mark

 

Michael.H

Hi D Man

I currently operate my fans using 3 chanels and the supplied speed units control unit and 1 single pole relay. I have all three chanels set to the same tag and just set the turn on levels to turn on the relays Eg. Ch 1 2%, Ch2 50%, ch3 98% Then I just program a single button as a standard dimmer.
This can also be done through the scenes. I can supply the wiring diagram if reqired

 

Thanks alot guys, any logic or wiring diagrams or other ways would be much appreciated.

 

3 Speed & Off

Hey D Man, as promised.

Key input is 'Fan 4 Control', and is a 'Preset' to 100% key.
Low = low speed,
Medium = medium speed,
Low + Medium = almost high speed ( about 95% ).
The different levels for 'Fan Control' help for indication on a DLT.
You can adapt this fairly easily to use a dimmer key as well.
The beauty of this is you use the fan suppliers capacitor, thus no warranty issues.

Hope this helps,

Mark

Code:

{ Fan 4 High ON }
once (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium") = OFF) and
     (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Low") = OFF) and
     (GetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control") = 100%) then
begin
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium", ON);
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Low", ON);
  SetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control", 95%, "0s");
end;

{ Fan 4 Medium ON }
once (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium") = ON) and
     (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Low") = ON) and
     (GetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control") = 100%) then
begin
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium", ON);
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Low", OFF);
  SetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control", 50%, "0s");
end;

{ Fan 4 Low ON }
once (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium") = ON) and
     (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Low") = OFF) and
     (GetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control") = 100%) then
begin
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium", OFF);
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Low", ON);
  SetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control", 10%, "0s");
end;

{ Fan 4 OFF }
once (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium") = OFF) and
     (GetLightingState("Fan 4 Low") = ON) and
     (GetLightingLevel("Fan 4 Control") = 100%) then
begin
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Medium", OFF);
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Low", OFF);
  SetLightingState("Fan 4 Control", OFF);
end;

 

Guys,

I am trying to recreate this currently using a B&W touch screen. Can someone please advise how I would set up an upstairs NEO to control this by utilising only 1 key. I read on another thread that you could use the same key to short press for on/off and long press to cycle through the low, med & high.

As I have no idea where to start, a pretty picture would be nice..

Thanks Heaps

 

Jes,
A B&W touch screen does not have any "LOGIC" processing ability, however as mike said earlier you can easily set it up using 3 relay outputs with 3 different turn on thresholds.

Output 1 Output 2 Output 3
(turn on 25%) (turn on 50%) (turn on 75%)
Off Off Off Off
High Off Off ON
Medium Off ON Off
Low ON Off Off

You can assign the group address (GA) to the key you require and make it a dimmer (toggle or memory).

Then using a relay output module assign the GA to all 3 outputs. Then set the % limits above in the "Turn On" tab.

So as you dim the GA up or down would depend on which of the three outputs would turn on.

Hope this helps

 

C-Touch indication

Hey Jesmond.

Looks like I forgot the setup for the key input.
SP - idle
SR - recall 1 ( set to 100% )
LP - offkey
LR - idle

You can do this on the B&W toouchscreen using a preset button. Downside is the long press ramps the group off over four seconds - not instantly.
Long way of indication this one - place a button on the screen with no image.
Then have to use four c-bus buttons. These should be configured as a status key set up to display the c-bus level ( set at Preset Level ). Also need to set up Background status and text indication.

When the preset level is active, have a solid background and text to display the level eg "HIGH".
When the preset level is inactive, have a 'none' background and no text.

You'll have to do this to reflect "HIGH", "MEDIUM", "LOW", and "OFF".
Still need the PAc for this to work though.

See how you go,

Mark

 

Hey Mark,

Thanks very much for the additional information, I'll see how I go with it. No doubt i'll be back for more advise....

Regards

 

I just put the three stage switch inside the wall set on high and plugged the power into a dimmer. The dimmer on any normal switch (or on the DLT which is wha I use allow you to set any speed.


Glen

 

If you're saying that you're controlling the speed of your fan using a dimmer, that probably isnt such a good idea.....

 

Fan Control

From personal experience, some fan manufacturers ( eg: Hunter Pacific) will not honour the warranty if the fan is on quote" C-Bus or other control system dimmer".

Mark

 

Occasionally some fans will actually work OK with just a dimmer... but ya gotta be absolutely dead lucky.

Most reports I've had say that they buzz like hell when run off a dimmer, which is the last thing you want in a ceiling fan. This is most often caused by crappy motor laminations, which have not been vacuum impregnated properly.

JC

 

Yep, I bought some cheap ceiling fans and they work fine. No buzz etc and for the $100 odd dolars I don't really mind about the warranty aspects as I probably saved the cost in the extra C-bus channels required and the extra complexity.


Glen

 

All fans that I have tried buzz when dimmed.

 

Would you care to name the fan you used

mick

 

Controling fan using 3 relay chanels...

G'day,

Anynone pls help me on this matter.I'm bit of confused with the several posts.

We have installed a cbus in the hotel room and i have 3 spare chanels in th erelay.and further there is a MKII touch panel as well.

can i controll this fan using this touch panel.I'm not clear about how to use capasitors and how they connect to the Cbus relay,Is there any logic to be included for this?????

Thanks..

madhawa

 

Here is how I did it.

Assumptions: Ch 1, 2 & 3 are being used
Capacitor is a three wire version - two caps in parallel

Common 1A, 2A & 3A with un-switched 240VAC supply (from RCD)

Connect the cap speed 1 wire to 1B
Connect the cap speed 2 wrie to 2B
Connect the cap speed 3 wire to 3B with the fan wire (switched active to the fan motor).

High speed uses no external cap, that's why the two are joined at 3B.

Logic wise, you want to prevent ch1 & 2 coming on together. it is not catastrophic if you do, if both are on then you will get a super slow speed.

I set up my CQC interface with four buttons,
Off - turn all channels off
Low, turn Ch2 & Ch3 off, turn Ch1 on
Med, turn Ch1 & Ch3 off, turn Ch2 on
High, turn Ch2 & Ch3 off, turn Ch3 on

As you can see, I turn the channels off first before turning on the speed that is wanted.

No if you have two two wire cap, the setup will be very similar, and could be be small variations on this across brands.

Mick

 

You can do 3-speed fan control without the need for logic.

• Wire the fan up to the 3 channels of the relay unit so that the low speed capacitor is connected to the fan via channel 1, the medium speed capacitor is connected to the fan via channel 2 and the fan is connected directly to active on channel 3
• Give each relay channel a unique group address, Low, Med and High
• In the Touchscreen, create 4 scene buttons for Off, Low, Med and High.
• For the Off speed, set the scene to turn all 3 groups Off.
• For the Low speed, set the scene to turn On the Low speed group and turn the other 2 groups off.
• For the Med speed, set the scene to turn On the Med speed group and turn the other 2 groups off.
• For the High speed, set the scene to turn On the High speed group and turn the other 2 groups off.

If, for some reason, one of the groups gets turned on at the same time when it wasn't suppose to (say by a mistake in some programming somewhere), the fan will just go a bit faster or slower than you were expecting. Next time you change the fan speed it will be corrected.