FanLinc installation tips

I recently installed some new fans and put FanLincs on each of them. Both of the fans we were installing were reversible, but only via the remote. After some testing and playing around I managed to get both motors working on the FanLincs and have the remotes available to reverse the motors twice a year. The FanLinc will fit (barely) in a 4" square deep box so wiring can be properly secured.

Hampton Bay Altura (Home Depot brand) - The included controller for this fan remembers power state when it is restored which made this one much easier. I installed the provided controller/receiver in the fan canopy as intended for "normal" installs and installed the FanLinc in the attic in a separate box before the fan itself. I didn't install the light kit for this fan, but if you wanted to use the light function you could run an additional load wire from the FanLinc (blue) directly to the light on the fan and bypass the included controller. Make sure to cap the unused blue load wire from the included controller if you do this! Set the included remote to "Fan High" and you're good to go.

If you don't want the reverse function or don't have room to wire the FanLinc outside of the canopy, the FanLinc will fit in the canopy in place of the included controller. If/when you want to change direction on the fan you will then need to swap controllers, reverse, then swap back.

Note on reverse for this fan: To reverse the fan, set the FanLinc to High and press and hold the reverse button on the remote. Yes, it will speed up to high, make a clicking sound eventually, then you can hear the motor starting the opposite direction. At this point I shut it off and let it coast to a stop before turning it back on, but these instructions don't appear anywhere in the included documentation. I spent over an hour trying to figure this out thinking something was wrong with my wiring on controllers.

Craftmade Epic - These were the much more annoying fans, both because of the way the controller worked and because the ceiling was 18' up for these. The controller for these fans is the switch and the remote pairs with the switch - it is not intended to be an optional part of the install (which I learned after the electrical had been pulled, drywall patched, textured, and painted, and there was not a good or easy location to put the switch at this point).

After a lot of testing, this switch does not retain fan power state after loosing power which means it needs to be installed before the FanLinc (and will need to have the fan set to High again every time the power goes out). The good news is that you can remove the housing for the switch itself, including the back and install it in the canopy with the FanLinc itself - use small wire nuts! The actual electronics in the switch are only about 1/4" deep, but there is also some power leads and the remote antena that make the total depth about 1 1/4". I modified the antenna a bit so it wasn't quite as deep and was generous with the electrical tape to make sure things didn't short.

We do not have lights on these fans and it likely will be difficult to do without tearing into the motor housing to run an additional light load wire. The included switch (which includes lighting controls) is a 2 wire switch with a line in and load out meaning it is sending control signals down the wire rather than changing the load on separate circuits. The wiring out of the fan itself is 3 wire (load, neutral, ground) not 4 wire (Fan-load, light-load, neutral, ground), but the wiring under the bottom cap already has connectors for a light. Installation note: the battery in the switch is required for it to function at all, not just for the remote features.


Overall the FanLinc is a great idea, unfortunately there is no standard way for these electronically reversing fans to be controlled making it difficult/impossible to incorporate into the FanLinc. If your fan has a manual reverse switch and 4 wire wiring, these controllers are a home run. If your existing fans don't have that, be aware you may be in for a lot of trial and error to maintain WAF or loose functionality (reverse and/or lights). If you're buying new fans, check out the wiring on them before convincing your wife they'll look good in a particular room!

These two solutions will likely work with other brands and models of fans as well. Hopefully this saves someone some headache when planning wiring or installing these.

[matt (support)]

Great information -- thanks for documenting and sharing it.