Fan Wiring...I know, I know...PICS included

[dank.frank]

I know that there are others that ask this question...but it isn't MY fan, so...lol...like those before me, don't want to risk damaging expensive equipment.

So, without any futher delay:

This is the 4" can-fan








The speed control knob -






Thanks in advance for the help and peace of mind!!!

 

[petemoss]

frank,
What does it say on the back of the speed control? I can't read the white lettering in your photo. Any other instructions with the speed control? It's either a "two-wire" control with a green ground wire, or it could be a "three-wire" control. Is it also a on/off switch?

What you seem to have is a Can fan that already has an AC plug wired on and you now need to add a third-party speed control. To do that, you just need to cut the Line wire and insert the speed control. Your AC cord has three wires: white, black and green. (white=Line, black=Neutral, and green=Ground).

Cut the white wire anywhere you wish. Then splice in the red wires from the switch. Don't do anything with the green/gray wire. You can treat any "three-wire" speed control as a "two-wire" control, ignoring the "third" wire.
That's what I do, and it works.

edit: Here's a diagram of a 'three-wire" speed control and an Elicent fan. Here the "red" wire is the extra third wire and it doesn't need to be used. I've heard it called a "anti-hum" wire which sometimes works to reduce motor hum. Also, the Line wire is Black in my diagram (white in yours).


I have my speed control mounted in a 2" Gem box with a pair of AC outlets. One of the outlets is switched and speed controlled and the fan is plugged into that outlet.

 

[dank.frank]

the diagram for the fan control says it does not count the ground wire when counting wires...in real small print on the bottom of the diagram I posted...so I was assuming that it was a 2 wire.

Yes, the speed control knob does turn completely off. When it turns on it starts on high, and then turns clockwise to reduce the speed of the fan. So I was assuming that meant it was "switchable"...but I'm no expert.

 

[petemoss]

I think it's a two-wire speed control, although I've never seen a grounded speed control.
All the controls I have are ungrounded. The three-wire contol I have has all three wires coming out of one oval hole, unlike yours. Also, the wires are different colors: red, black and gray. Yours has two red wires and a green one, which leads me to believe that the green wire is either a ground or a third wire.
So the first (top) diagram probably is your switched speed control and you can wire it up as described above.

 

[petemoss]

I'd recommend wiring up the control in a box. That way, you can just plug in your fan. Break off the connecting tab located between the two screws in the pics below. Leave the other tab intact. Then connect the red wires from the control to the screws. (the red wires can go on either way -no polarity.) The top outlet is switched (turns on/off) and speed controlled. The bottom outlet is a normal outlet.

 

[dank.frank]

sorry, not to be dense, but I am not really sure I get it....

On the can-fan, the green is ground, the black is netural and the white is line. The red, is....??? The diagram shows the red is a -c- between the white (line.)

On the speed controller, one red is line 1 and the second red is line 2. Line 1 controls a switch.

So would I take the top red wire on the speed control to the red wire on the can fan. Then the second red wire to the white on the can fan. And the green to the green.
(but I am still confused. Do I attach the speed controller to power cord's wires or to the wires from the fan itself?)
When I do this, I just want to unscrew the original wire and add the speed control wire and clamp them together, and screw it back in place.

 

[petemoss]

If you want to wire in the speed control, you could do this: unscrew the white wire (third screw from the top, left side on your pic) and screw in one red wire from control. Join the other red wire from your control to the white wire you just disconnected using a wire nut.

I'm still not 100% sure that that green wire from your control is a ground. It could be the third wire of a three-wire speed control. Better leave it alone (tape it up) and see if the control works using just the red wires.

 

[dank.frank]

well, the diagram for the speed control does label the green wire as a ground wire.

 

[petemoss]

Then it must be a ground. You can add the green wire from the control to the upper left screw on the terminal block, where the green ground wire from your AC cord is attached.
It's just that I've never seen a grounded speed control. Must be a new model. You should be good to go. Let me know how it turns out. Any humming from the motor?