HPM/clipsal fan speed controllers

[Mark Hathaway]

Howdy guys,

I have a Comair Rotron Tarzan fan which has a permanent split capacitor
style motor that I would like to speed control. The "fan controllers" from
HPM/Clipsal, will they work with a permanent split capacitor style motor?
The web sites of the two vendors are pathetic. Googling did mention phased
controlled triacs will work on a PSC motor, but of course I can find no
mention of the hpm/clipsal offerings,

thanks for any help,


Regards,
Mark

 

Mark Hathaway wrote:

Howdy guys,

I have a Comair Rotron Tarzan fan which has a permanent split capacitor
style motor that I would like to speed control. The "fan controllers" from
HPM/Clipsal, will they work with a permanent split capacitor style motor?
The web sites of the two vendors are pathetic. Googling did mention phased
controlled triacs will work on a PSC motor, but of course I can find no
mention of the hpm/clipsal offerings,

thanks for any help,


Regards,
Mark
G'day

Clipsal also make a light dimmer which is also suitable for fan
control, I dont have the exact make and model. The capacitive ones are
currently the most common and its what ceiling fans tend to come with,
but they also cause a lot of TV and radio interference when switching -
they're quite shocking actually. The older ones used to use multi
tapped inductors which are much larger physically - older houses often
still have them in every room.

Basically they are all voltage controllers, because of the speed/torque
characteristics of a fan you can vary the speed by changing the voltage
- you dont need to go to the expense of a VFD. With reduced voltage the
slip in teh motor increases which slows it down, but makes the rotor
hotter and the whole thing becomes very inefficient. If the motor isn't
designed for this it may overheat.

a normal ceiling fan is only about 80 or 90 VA, so if your fan is
larger the normal fan controllers may not work for too long.

I know this doesn't directly answer your question but hopefully it
might help you find it.
Cheers