Fan With Dimmer Switch

[binky]

Got a bathroom to do, customer wants dimmer switch for lights, but that will affect the bathroom fan (timer model). So question is will fan work (slowly) without damage to it, or do I need a cunning plan, like a relay for the fan, or use humidistat model

 

[betty swollocks]

At home I have a fan and 4x 50w lv spotlights on a dimmer, turning the lights down past 50% the fan slows, finally grinds to a halt at around 25-30% perfect for chilling in the bath ( although obviously condensation builds up!) it's been this way for about 5 yrs and neither the dimmer or fan has been replaced, however I bypassed the timer of the fan because of the fan going off during the night with the kids.

 

[davetheglitz]

On an Icon fan I've found that using the dimmer output on the switched live is enough to get the fan working. Reasonable - as the dimmer effectively chops up the waveform to reduce the power - so the peak voltage doesn't get reduced that much until the light is really dim.

On another fan I had to use a 12v transformer, bridge rectifier, capacitor and 12 v relay (which latched at around 6v and was OK with 18V) to provide a true switched live.

Hope you are lucky!

 

[ProDave]

Yes, as long as the fan's permanent live is direct to L shouldn't be a problem. The SL into the fan is only a trigger for it's timer, so it should work with that coming from a dimmer.

I'll bet the fan manufacturer won't guarantee it used like that though.

 

[Sharpend]

the fan going off during the night with the kids.

Dangerous!

 

[binky]

Yes, as long as the fan's permanent live is direct to L shouldn't be a problem. The SL into the fan is only a trigger for it's timer, so it should work with that coming from a dimmer.

I'll bet the fan manufacturer won't guarantee it used like that though.

I did wonder if that was the case, just didn't want to find out the hard way :^O