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?

Reply to
pyotr filipivich
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I would try searching a bit on youtube, something like this:

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

Reply to
Leon Fisk

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

Reply to
Clare Snyder

Clare Snyder snipped-for-privacy@snyder.on.ca> on Thu, 22 Oct 2020 20:34:58 -0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

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.

Reply to
pyotr filipivich
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These are kinda fun to play with:

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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 ;-)

Reply to
Leon Fisk
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These are kinda fun to play with:

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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 ;-)

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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:

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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:

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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...

Reply to
Leon Fisk

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:

formatting link
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:

formatting link

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...

Reply to
Jim Wilkins

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