# Watt Governor Ceiling Fan?



## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

Cletis said:


> Have a customer who says her lights are flashing rythmically. Not flickering. I told her to try incandescents first. They already were. Still did it for a while (like weeks/months) now just quit.
> 
> She asked me to come over and disable the watt governor in fan ? What is that?


 
Speed control? Someone hooked a dimmer to the motor? I have no clue where she got that term from.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*Engineer*



mcclary's electrical said:


> Speed control? Someone hooked a dimmer to the motor? I have no clue where she got that term from.


They are both electrical engineers...


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*Dimmer*

No dimmer on circuit at all. ?


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

Cletis said:


> No dimmer on circuit at all. ?


Maybe they installed flashing bulbs for a Christmas tree..:laughing:


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## HARRY304E (Sep 15, 2010)

Cletis said:


> They are both electrical engineers...


That is the problem.:blink:


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## mdfriday (May 14, 2007)

Maybe they bought a cheep fan.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*Fan*

Yeah. I hear ya on the EE thing. Normal Hunter Fan, 3 bulbs, rythmically flashing like on/off/on/off every sec or so.....no dimmer, no trans/receiver kit installed, everything else in house fine....?


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## JSpark (Nov 25, 2011)

New ceiling fans have something in them that cuts power to the sockets if someone puts in a bulb that is a higher wattage then rated for.

Maybe it is acting up


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

Cletis said:


> Yeah. I hear ya on the EE thing. Normal Hunter Fan, 3 bulbs, rythmically flashing like on/off/on/off every sec or so.....no dimmer, no trans/receiver kit installed, everything else in house fine....?


 
Do away with the plug in terminals that connect the light kit, and see if it has a thermistor. They probably have the wrong size bulbs in them


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

Its a common problem with the Hunter M#25417, just remove it and wire it direct its the little black box inside of the lighting housing. Just bypass it and you'll be good to go.


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## joethemechanic (Sep 21, 2011)

Cletis said:


> They are both electrical engineers...


And they can't remove it themselves? That's scary


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*T*



JSpark said:


> New ceiling fans have something in them that cuts power to the sockets if someone puts in a bulb that is a higher wattage then rated for.
> 
> 
> Maybe it is acting up


:thumbup:



mcclary's electrical said:


> Do away with the plug in terminals that connect the light kit, and see if it has a thermistor. They probably have the wrong size bulbs in them


:thumbup:



sstlouis03 said:


> Its a common problem with the Hunter M#25417, just remove it and wire it direct its the little black box inside of the lighting housing. Just bypass it and you'll be good to go.


:thumbup:



joethemechanic said:


> And they can't remove it themselves? That's scary


:thumbup:


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

joethemechanic said:


> And they can't remove it themselves? That's scary


Just because they are electrical engineer's does not make them mechanically inclined or electrically inclined. You can be an engineer and never lift a screwdriver if you can read a book.


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*irk*



sstlouis03 said:


> Just because they are electrical engineer's does not make them mechanically inclined or electrically inclined. You can be an engineer and never lift a screwdriver if you can read a book.


Here is thing that really irk's me. They basically have a 5 year degree in electrical, therefore, around here they can be grandfathered in as a master electrician??? But, they can't fix 3 ways and ceiling fans ??


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## joethemechanic (Sep 21, 2011)

sstlouis03 said:


> Just because they are electrical engineer's does not make them mechanically inclined or electrically inclined. You can be an engineer and never lift a screwdriver if you can read a book.



The scary part is they let them become EE without any time spent with a screwdriver, and lineman's.


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

Just so they can tell us how we should do things...Please i havent meet very many engineers that ever looked at anything with an electrician mindset, they just go by what the "book" tells them to do, do you think if they really had to work on some of the crap they design that they would continue to do it that way.:no::no:


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

Cletis said:


> Here is thing that really irk's me. They basically have a 5 year degree in electrical, therefore, around here they can be grandfathered in as a master electrician??? But, they can't fix 3 ways and ceiling fans ??


I'm sorry but I think a grandfather license is a freaking joke!!


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## Cletis (Aug 20, 2010)

*dude*



sstlouis03 said:


> I'm sorry but I think a grandfather license is a freaking joke!!


I ran into this EC in a parking lot one day. I have been super busy so I always look for other EC's to sub out work in peak flow times. I quizzed this guy. He was grandfathered in as a master electrician with no test. He knew basically NO commercial, nothing about motors, no industrial at all. Just wired houses, ceiling fans, etc... I was like what ??


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

Cletis said:


> I ran into this EC in a parking lot one day. I have been super busy so I always look for other EC's to sub out work in peak flow times. I quizzed this guy. He was grandfathered in as a master electrician with no test. He knew basically NO commercial, nothing about motors, no industrial at all. Just wired houses, ceiling fans, etc... I was like what ??


Its a big problem around here, We have a bunch of industrial/Oil field guys that have been doing "Oilfield" electric work for years and about 7 years ago they did the grandfathering here, you would not believe how many JM i have come accross that cant draw or wire a 3-way switch. Whats even worse is you hire one of these yahoo's and find out that they dont really know d**k. Very frustrating for guys like myself who took their JM test and took their Masters test and have the variety of experiance to back it up.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

Cletis said:


> Here is thing that really irk's me. They basically have a 5 year degree in electrical, therefore, around here they can be grandfathered in as a master electrician??? But, they can't fix 3 ways and ceiling fans ??


 

The rules don't work like that here. You need 10 years experiencee to sit for the masters test. That 10 years experience can be school, work, or a combination of both. As long as you can prove it, notorize, and submit it. But that just allows you to sit for the test. You still have to pass.


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

mcclary's electrical said:


> The rules don't work like that here. You need 10 years experiencee to sit for the masters test. That 10 years experience can be school, work, or a combination of both. As long as you can prove it, notorize, and submit it. But that just allows you to sit for the test. You still have to pass.


I would love to see the number of licenses that get revoked if they made all of the grandfathered "electricians" take the test for which they hold a license in. Luckily I dont forsee them ever doing the grandfather program in Texas again, they caught alot of heat of it the first time.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

sstlouis03 said:


> I would love to see the number of licenses that get revoked if they made all of the grandfathered "electricians" take the test for which they hold a license in. Luckily I dont forsee them ever doing the grandfather program in Texas again, they caught alot of heat of it the first time.


 

Continuing education requirements put a stop to all that here. There were a bunch of guys carrying the HVAC, plumbing and electrical licenses from the 70's and have been renewing them ever since. The continuing ed put a stop to 99% of those.


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## joethemechanic (Sep 21, 2011)

Cletis said:


> I ran into this EC in a parking lot one day. I have been super busy so I always look for other EC's to sub out work in peak flow times. I quizzed this guy. He was grandfathered in as a master electrician with no test. He knew basically NO commercial, nothing about motors, no industrial at all. Just wired houses, ceiling fans, etc... I was like what ??



You should have seen what this hack did to a 3 phase 5 HP compressor in this concrete plant.

I got there and it had a brand spanking new 5 hp capacitor run single phase motor 1800 on it. Nice motor, expensive motor. And of course it is wired across 2 legs with the high leg just capped with a yellow wirenut in the peckerhead.

And of course this thing is tripping breakers or overloads or something,,,,I forget.

I ask, WTF is all this about? Why was the motor changed.

Customer- "I kept having to reset that button on that fusebox over on the compressor"

Me--- Where is the old motor?

Customer-- Over on the scrap pile but it's no good , the guy tested it.


So I pull this motor out of the scrap and it looks fine, megs good, I run it off a cord and no noisy bearings. I put the original 5 HP 3 phase 1800 rpm motor back on, run this thing through like 10 cycles it a row to see what goes on. Everything is fine.

I tell him I'll be back later to check it and to call me if it even trips once.

Now he tells me he better put the cover back on------------?????????

Turns out the cover was a big steel box he found on his "dump". It's made out of something like 8 gauge steel and he has to put it on with a forklift.

This thing doesn't have any purpously created ventilation in it. All that is there is 2 holes he poked through it with the forklift so he could lift it near the top.


But anyway, This expert electrician with all his fancy graphics on his truck. He held a Philadelphia license, and from what I always heard, the Philly test is ¿ hard ?. I don't f ing know.

The only thing I can figure is somehow he got grandfathered, I mean really, how can you have no idea what 3 phase is when you see it, and still get a license?


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## sstlouis03 (Jun 23, 2011)

mcclary's electrical said:


> Continuing education requirements put a stop to all that here. There were a bunch of guys carrying the HVAC, plumbing and electrical licenses from the 70's and have been renewing them ever since. The continuing ed put a stop to 99% of those.


Continuing Ed is a joke, anyone can sit online and go through on of those 4 hour courses or go to the local community college and take a 4 hour class. The only way that puts a stop to anything is if they are to lazy to do it, otherwise I could have my wife who has no idea about electrical work sit on the computer and do my Continuing Ed. Its just one more way for the states to squezzzzzze out another penny from real professionals.


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## mbednarik (Oct 10, 2011)

Cletis said:


> Yeah. I hear ya on the EE thing. Normal Hunter Fan, 3 bulbs, rythmically flashing like on/off/on/off every sec or so.....no dimmer, no trans/receiver kit installed, everything else in house fine....?


I have installed several of the new hunter's and they have a little box in between the light kit and the blue wire coming from the canopy. I never really knew what it was, but it will cause like a 1/2 second delay when you turn on the switch till the lights kick on, several HO's complained about that but not flickering.


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