Hampton Bay controller swapped. Absolutely nothing happened

So I got the replacement Hampton Bay Zigbee Ceiling Fan + Light controller in, I actually got 2 of them, and wouldn't you know it, I get absolutely NOTHING out of the fixture, no light at all, no fan, nothing.

It's still wired up, and the multimeter is next to me, the canopy is down, and wiring is spread to allow access. I need to see if I am even getting power to the controller. There are some odd possibilities here...

#1. No power coming from the breaker to at least this segment of the circuit. Possible, but not likely.
#2. 3 bad Hampton Bay controllers in a row. Possible, I guess...
#3. Wiring fault somewhere in the fan. More possible than the other options. It's an old fan...

Time to climb the ladder and check out the power status, which is a HUGE problem.

I injured my knee, waiting for MRI appointment, if I were smart I would stay off my leg until the doc gets it squared away...

1 Like

Well, I'm not smart. I went ahead and took the controller completely out of the circuit and rewired the fan and the fan light. The fan and fanlight worked perfectly from the pull chains and switch.

That means I either have at least 3 bad Hampton Bay controllers or I have no clue what I'm doing installing them.

Don't climb a ladder, bench test it. :slight_smile:

Use this:

Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 2.23.54 PM

The ribbed side is Neutral. Cut 6" of cord off the end and wire it to this:

Screen Shot 2021-04-18 at 2.25.20 PM

Wire it all up and use plenty of electrical tape to make it safe.

They come with a Remote, use that to confirm the light works.

I'm more accustomed to low voltage dc wiring.

Should I get 125v across neutral and ground?

absolutely not.

If your house is wired with the common colors, white should be neutral and black is HOT.

If you're seeing hot and neutral reversed, then the house wiring is scary. :slight_smile:

You should find 125v on only 1 wire, relative to ground (green) and zero between the other wire and ground (green).

1 Like

Black gets 125V, white gets 0,

So I have the fan / light fixture wired directly to the house wiring, and the fan works, the lights work although no dimming.

I have my initial Hampton Bay controller that wouldn't reset, but would send power at least to the light fixture, but not the fan.

I have tried 2 new in box Hampton Bay controllers that aren't passing power to either light fixture, or fan.

From new, I think I am doing the pairing procedure incorrectly. Per the Home Depot video, install with the power off obviously, wall switch, then breaker, do the install, turn breaker on, put hub in pairing mode THEN turn the switch on.

I was expecting to turn switch on, lights flash, then pairing mode, lights flash again like it does in a factory reset...

For troubleshooting purposes, you can ignore/defer the Hub Pairing til it is working correctly via the little Remote included with the controller.

No power to light or fan would be normal on power up, I believe. So click the light button on the little Remote and verify that the light comes on. Then with the fan. Once all of that is working THEN it's time to debug the Hub/Zigbee functionality.

I only suggest this because of the 3 HBFC failures. It's so odd that I'm hoping there's another answer. :smiley:

Are they pairing easily? You might want to consider doing a hard reset...they can get funky once in a great while. Connect the wires for 3 seconds, disconnect for 3 seconds, and repeat 5 times (I know, it sounds silly, but it works). You can just hold the wires together....just try not to zap yourself.

image

Also, if the fan light is a dimmer, make sure to flip the Remote switch to "D".

image

1 Like

@dbhosttexas I agree with @csteele, 3 bad units in a row is very odd.

1 Like

Any chance you are forgetting the setup step that tells you to turn the fan itself fan speed on high and the light on prior to installing? Is it a problem of the fan itself actually being off?

May I ask where you are buying these? I need another but can't find them anywhere.

Extremely odd.

I suspect I messed up the install steps.

I have the fan set back to non automated install status. I will go through the fresh install steps again here shortly. Might not be tonight but you never know.

They are made by King of Fans. I know when Home Depot was having difficulty getting them some people were able to buy them direct. They did cost more.

These controllers are quirky as :volcano:. If it is at all possible, I would run the additional wiring to control the fan and light separately using more traditional devices.

Budget being what it is, barring a lotto win that will take time. But it is the long term goal.

I've mentioned I am remodelling the house. Let me run you through what would need to happen to make this work..

I think the ideal would be swapping the 12/2 for 12/3 to the fixtures, I need to get this done for a 3 way arrangement for the guest bathroom anyway so I can get the traveller wire.

I have had exceptional results from Zooz, and would most likely go with Zen30s and call it done. But it literally means rewiring 6 ceiling fans, All 4 bedrooms, kitchen, and master suite vanity / dressing room. Plus rewiring the vanity lights in the guest bathroom for 3 way operations and the traveller wire. Will be putting a Zen27 in place there.

Honestly if I had the $$ to make my order right now and call my electrician to get it done, I would be getting 6 Zen30s, 3 Zen27s, and validate with Zooz if the Zen21 works with small AC motors like bathroom vent fans, and if so, order up 4 of them to get smart control that isn't just a bulb for driveway, garage lights, and the ventialtion fans of course for both bathrooms...

The Inovelli is tempting as it doesn't require running new conductors, HOWEVER there IS the ceiling fan canopy installed receiver that at least in the Hampton bay controllers have proven to be pretty hit or miss.

These were donations of a fellow member here after my existing one for the kitchen died a miserable death.

If you can hold off on automating the fans, look at a proper in wall switch instead. I am just trying to use what I have / have been given is all... Keep costs down at this point. I do NOT recommend these controllers.

Okay, so yes, it helps if you actually do something dumb like follow the directions not what you THOUGHT were the directions...

Kitchen fan is online now. Now I need to shuffle some names around and start plugging away at the thermal control there... Oven makes that space HOT and it helps to move the air around, get the cool air from the living room in there etc...

:tada: Woohoo!!! :confetti_ball: This definitely a game that required diligence. Iā€™m glad youā€™ve been successful at getting one online.

I absolutely understand co$t and priorities. I really put that out there for others that might think this is the easy path. It isnā€™t, but sometimes we donā€™t really have another choice.

Witout a doubt.

These do come up on Ebay, Just FWIW, I have seen them recently for not a lot of money, but they are definately work. Documentation on them is quite poor etc...

So the one I just got paired is not playing nice with Hubitat yet. Need to see what is different to the original other than the obvious dip switch setting.

Do you have a good Zigbee repeater a close as possible to the fan? These controllers have very weak radios. They are almost impossible to use without a repeater very near. I successfully used Peanut plugs.

2 Likes