There might be better heat transfer in the ceiling fan box - the bracket may act as a heat sink.
Hmmm. I have yet to have my canopy put back in place yet. I will measure temp at the controller using the non contact thermometer. I seriously doubt they generate much heat.
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Everything depends on how long it is left on for .... 
Running continuously for at least the last 14 hours, so I have to assume at full operating temp. Ambient air temp in the kitchen is 74 deg F. Surface temp of the controller is 78.8, so 4.8 degree F temp rise at the controller.
Mind you, like I said, the canopy is not enclosed at this time. the wire nuts don't fully cover the exposed wire parts. I need to throw the breaker and trim back the conductor on the romex a bit, reassemble and then I will be comfortable with closing up the canopy.
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With the canopy off? Wow.
Problem solved in another thread. HOWEVER.
Still itching to know how to safely use the Hampton Bay controllers for a hugger style fan.
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I placed the controller on top of the sheetrock and brought the wires in via a knockout on the fan's electrical box. (Strain relief and jacketed.)
I did it a couple years ago so I don't have pics. 
Used this:
And all the wires go through the strain relief:
(not just the AC power.) [Amazon pics, not mine.]
I'd have preferred a side knockout, to allow the controller to sit flat, but they don't seem to mind .
That would most likely work.
My thought process though, and correct me if I am off...
Prepare controller, and remote by installing fresh batteries and setting the dip switches.
Remove Sylvania Smart+ bulbs in fixture from HE, and replace in fixture with dimmable LED bulbs in cool white.
Turn fan on high, turn lights on, flip wall switch to fan off.
Plastic double gang new work box with lid attached to one of the stringers roughly above the Tradfri plug to insure signal is as close as possible. Bore hole for 3/4" knockout / conduit.
14awg wire extensions, making certain to mark the correct sides for input and output of the controller crimped and heat shrink protected. Run in a 3/4 flexible PVC conduit to the area of the existing box.
Turn off power to that breaker and VERIFY! . Once we know 100% power is off there,..
Knock out one of the plugs and get the physical connections for conduit made. At this point the controller should be in the remote box, and wires should be run to the fan mount box.
Make the fan wiring connections in the fan box, and re-mount fan in place.
Turn on breaker.
Start Zigbee Pairing mode in HE.
Flip switch to fixture.
Pray it actually works.
Oh and a fair warning. Given the ones that were given to me, the one I bought on Ebay, and if I can possibly reutilize the one that I pulled out of the kitchen fan, I have 3 more of these installations / configurations to go... You will likely hear some carefully concealed cussing on my part for a while.
I simultaneously love and hate these things.
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I climbed up into the attic to add those boxes and supports and was done sweating so much. When I found out the controllers didn't want to fit.. I said the usual set of bad words and then just pulled the box down from inside and pushed the set of controller wires through the strain relief. and wire nut'd as much as I could. Then I pushed the controller through the hole, followed by the box. After the box was secure again, I finished wiring... one other note.. I add a switch inside the canopy for the controller power.. no 5 clicks of a breaker box for me.
I got a bag of these and wired (with heat shrink) one per controller. Now if I have to reset them, I just drop the canopy and click that switch 5 times and I don't have to worry about any of the other controllers on the same breaker.
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That's a terrific idea!
That is fantastic idea, especially for these devices! 
Well I'll be a monkeys uncle. It would appear that the saga of the reluctant Hampton Bay Zigbee controller isn't quite over yet.
So today my knee had enough left in it to climb the ladder and reattach the canopy to the fan, you know to enclose the wires and make my wife happy.
Yeah, well...
Now the *#$% thing won't respond again...
I swear these things just don't WANT to work...
Could the canopy be acting as a Faraday cage? Perhaps extending an external antenna would help.
There was another post somewhere about adding better antennas, but perhaps this one will suffice. Although kinda unsightly, this guy put the antenna outside of the canopy. Another person bought upgraded antennas. [EDIT] The Amazon link goes to a discontinued item. Go to my second link for an available antenna.
[EDIT] Here's another replacement antenna.
This guy put the antenna outside as well.
Well some new information that I forgot to update last night. Apparently it's not just the kitchen fam but all of the Hampton Bay ceiling fan controller.
And yes the Antennae are outside of the canopies...
I've had 3 of these controllers for over 2 years now. I have never had any issues with them. I did not modify the antennas in any way and they are all mounted inside the metal canopies.
I use iris 3210-L's as my main repeaters, I wonder if that is the key?
Well, even before my Frankenwiring, I had very few problems with them. I just did my little experiment to ensure there wouldn't be problems. I have six of these running, and I bought some extra ones super-cheap from a guy that just could not get them to work for him....They all connected immediately for me. (I felt bad for him)
Have you tried csteele's idea? There's gotta be something else going on.
Sorry if it wasn't clear. They WERE working.
The only change I know of is that I secured the canopy to the fan, with the antennae outside of the canopy.
I can not with any authority state that this is when the fan stopped responding as it was responding yesterday morning, I turned the fan off to keep from getting my head lopped off by the blades while I secured the canopy, and upon reapplying power I found the fan unresponsive. Later that night, I found the other Hampton Bay fan controllers unresponsive while testing / troubleshooting. No hardware changes have been done.
Aside from initial pairing issues, which seem common with these controllers, I had zero issues with them under Smartthings.
In each room within 10' of the fan, is an Ikea Tradfri Wireless Control Outlet (Zigbee smart plug / repeater) . These are in active use for things like bedside lamps in all rooms except kitchen, where there is a smart plug, but no real application for it.
Okay. This might sound a little weird, but there were discussions about how the HB DTH would get "stale". They recommended changing the DTH to something else, saving it, and then changing it back and saving again. It's a painless procedure, and could explain why all the fans have stopped working all at the same time.
Same issue, but this guy included republishing/exclusion/inclusion. Maybe try this if the above doesn't work.
Uh, not to sound too dumb here, but you are posting links to issues with DTHs going stale in Smartthings. Is that relevant here? Are the Smartthings custom DTHs usable here? I never had a problem with the custom DTH used for the King of Fans (Hampton Bay) Zigbee controller under Smartthings, and it presented a more manageable verbage to Alexa to adjust speeds etc...
