re-wire fan to link timer with pull cord

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laurencewithau
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re-wire fan to link timer with pull cord

Post by laurencewithau »

Hi everyone. I've gained so much from this site that I'd like to give something back.
In my bathroom there was a light-switch operated wall extractor fan with run-on timer.
I've replaced it with a similar one, a Vent-Axia, except that it has an integral pull cord switch.
My idea was to have the option of using the light switch or the pull switch.
I chose the pull switch, so what I did was to access the terminal block in the new fan and disconnect the switch live wire, leaving the neutral and permanent live.
So now the fan does not come on with the light but it does with the integral pull cord.
Too late, I discovered that the timer does not now work. When I got in touch with Vent-Axia they told me the timer works only from the light switch or other independent switch, but not from the pull cord.
Going online, I learnt that a lot of fans with integral pull cord and a timer are limited in this way, except that very often, it seems, this is not made clear when the makers provide information and instructions about their product.
Fortunately, there is a workaround, a simple way of re-wiring the fan so that the timer works when the fan is operated via the pull cord, not an independent switch.
It works for my new fan, which is a Vent-Axia lo carbon Quadra HTP model.
I would assume that it works for other makes of fan with timer and integral pull cord, but it is only an assumption.
I owe this workaround to a very kind person who turned the photo I uploaded into a re-wiring instruction diagram.
Here it is, together with detailed instructions corresponding to the diagram.


fan re-wire diagram.png
fan re-wire diagram.png (368.14 KiB) Viewed 1369 times
Remove the cover over the pull cord switch and circuit board. Then proceed as follows:
Remove the two black wires from the black pull cord switch ( they may be screw fixed ) and tie them out of the way, because they won't be used.
Replace them with two short wires, probably an inch or two long. You can strip the wires from 1 or 1.5mm lighting cable.
The one on the right will be from the SL terminal of the terminal block, where it will be the only wire.
The one on the left will be from the L terminal, which will also house the permanent live of the feed cable.
The N terminal of the terminal block will house the neutral wire from the feed cable.
The switch live wire of that cable, and its earth wire, will be tied safely out of the way.
Your fan run-on timer should now kick in when you turn the fan on by the pull cord and then turn it off.
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