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Fantastic Fan variable speed control

Fan Fantastic Fan Modification Speed adjustment

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#1 photohc

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 07:32 AM

I thought I would post this modification I did recently on my Fantastic Fan for anyone that might be interested. I’ve been frustrated with the speed of this fan as the three settings seem to make the fan run 1.fast, 2.faster, and 3.fastest. Too much air movement and noise for night time usage (as well as the amperage used).

I unscrewed the unit from the inside to discover that the three position speed switch was simply selecting different resistance to control the voltage sent to the motor, thus controlling the speed. This is a wasteful use of energy as the reduction in voltage is accomplished by the resistance introduced and energy is dissapated in heat.
 
The solution is to use a PWM DC motor speed regulator controller. You can find these on eBay at dirt cheap prices. I paid $2.76 shipped from China. Who knows how they make money on these at that price. A 4 amp unit will do as the fan will draw a maximum of 3 amps. This controller controls the speed of the motor by varying the pulse width sent to the motor instead of reducing the voltage.
 
Basically you have 2 wires for 12v in and 2 wires out to the fan motor. You just need to figure out which wires are the 12v source and which one’s go the fan motor. I snipped off the resistors on the 3 way switch but I later discovered I didn’t need to do that as a unused terminal on the switch bypassed those resistors.
 
I hot glued the controller to the plastic wall of the fan and drilled a hole for the speed control variable resistor.
 
The fan now can be reduced in speed to a much slower and quiet speed. I can vary the amperage from a low of .5 to a max of 3.0. Prior to this install, the fan drew 1.5 amps at its slowest speed and 3 amps at it’s fastest.
 
Here are some photos during my installation:
 

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Done!

 

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#2 Happyjax

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 11:22 AM

Nice job. Thanks for the share:)


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#3 bfh4n

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 01:40 PM

Nice job photohc and nice write-up.

 

One of my fans has the Fantasic speed controller with a remote, which gives about 14 speeds. It is kind of klunky to operate but works well and allows nice quiet, slow speeds (and low current). The other fan has the plain 3-speed switch. So I might modify it as you did.

 

Any chance you can give us a link to your source for the PWM contoller?

 

Thanks...

 

- Bernard


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#4 photohc

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 05:11 PM

Here is a link to one of many to choose from. I couldn't locate the one I got but this is pretty close relative to the amperage and physical size needed.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...=item257c75d2ea


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#5 billharr

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 07:51 PM

Here is a link to one of many to choose from. I couldn't locate the one I got but this is pretty close relative to the amperage and physical size needed.

 

http://www.ebay.com/...=item257c75d2ea

Thanks for the link.

Just ordered one. Going to change out to get aways from the resistance control and save some power.


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#6 ski3pin

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Posted 14 July 2015 - 08:17 PM

Thanks for the link.

Just ordered one. Going to change out to get aways from the resistance control and save some power.

 

Thanks for the info; ordered one also.


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#7 takesiteasy

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Posted 15 July 2015 - 02:43 AM

I wonder if I could do similar mod to our fans. We have the variable speed fans with remote controls. I like them because they have a rain sensor that closes the vents if it rains. The trouble with them is the remote control receiver and rain sensor draw current all the time whether the fans are being used or not resulting in unnecessary battery drain. I didn't know that when I ordered them. I put a master switch on the circuit so I could turn them off but maybe I could eliminate the remotes with this mod. Hmmmm....


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#8 huskyrunnr

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Posted 15 July 2015 - 07:32 AM

Nice writeup on your mod! Any problems with humming? I couldn't find a spec on what freq the pwm controller is running at. If no hum then it is fast enough!
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#9 photohc

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Posted 15 July 2015 - 08:14 AM

I haven't found any issues (no humming)  with this modification. Just a nice smooth start from stop to full speed.


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#10 Lighthawk

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Posted 15 July 2015 - 08:10 PM

billharr, on 14 Jul 2015 - 12:51 PM, said:snapback.png

Thanks for the link.

Just ordered one. Going to change out to get aways from the resistance control and save some power.

 

Thanks for the info; ordered one also.

 

x 3!!   I wonder if the company notices a sudden spike in sales?  :huh:

Excellent documentatation, photohc.


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