30 year old ceiling fan vs. new led bulbs

[RonB]

Our Hunter Ceiling fan is approximately 30 years old. It has a light fixture attached and a remote to control both the fan and the lights. It will turn the lights on, off and dim them. I have not been able to find led bulbs that work with the old tech. They either flicker or randomly brighten and dim. The ceiling is 13', and I'd rather not climb that high more often than absolutely necessary.
Also, I'm not opposed to using a separate remote for the lights if that's the only way to do it.
My fall back will be halogen, but they don't seem to last very long in ceiling fans...

Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks,
Ron

 

[vacationhopeful]

Some LED are dim-able ... and SOME ARE NOT.

Assume NOT DIM-able unless it says "DIM-ABLE".

But the REAL question might be, if the LED bulbs are "tough" enough for "motion" of the ceiling fan. Might look for LED bulbs for SOLD for construction lighting.

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

I don't want to hijack your post, but I have a problem somewhat similar to yours.

I have a fan/light that is ~24' in the air near the peak of a cathedral ceiling.
I need to replace it-----with something that needs little maintenance (AT THAT HEIGHT!!). It doesn't work; nor do the lights. It's essential '...water under the bridge..." at this point, but it would have been nice if 25 years ago our builder had suggested a 'remote control' light/fan.

My wife looked into something called Bad Ass Fans (I think), but if others here have suggestions, please offer them up, thanks.

Oh, also 3 of the 4 suspended spotlights, that are 'only' about 20 feet in the air, are burned out, too.

Pat

 

[RonB]

@ Linda - Yes, I realize that non-dimmable bulbs will not dim...

I don't want to hijack your post, but I have a problem somewhat similar to yours.

I have a fan/light that is ~24' in the air near the peak of a cathedral ceiling.
I need to replace it-----with something that needs little maintenance (AT THAT HEIGHT!!). It doesn't work; nor do the lights. It's essential '...water under the bridge..." at this point, but it would have been nice if 25 years ago our builder had suggested a 'remote control' light/fan.

My wife looked into something called Bad Ass Fans (I think), but if others here have suggestions, please offer them up, thanks.

Oh, also 3 of the 4 suspended spotlights, that are 'only' about 20 feet in the air, are burned out, too.

Pat

If someone at your home can do it, rent scaffolding with wheels to get the height. Run a wide board or two across the scaffolding to stand on, and you can fix everything from a relatively stable platform. If you don't want to do it, hire someone...

BTW - our Hunter is still going strong after ~ 30 years

Ron

 

[sjsharkie]

Hi Ron

The dimmer is your likely issue and was not designed to work with lower watt bulbs like LEDs.

Unless you can find bulbs to work with the dimmer (Philips usually is top notch but pricey), you may want to try an adapter with remote that works with LEDs and can screw into the fixture socket. You then will use the adapter remote instead of the fan remote. Note this will add length to the overall bulb because of the remote socket.

Good luck.

Ryan

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

 

[RonB]

Hi Ron

The dimmer is your likely issue and was not designed to work with lower watt bulbs like LEDs.

Unless you can find bulbs to work with the dimmer (Philips usually is top notch but pricey), you may want to try an adapter with remote that works with LEDs and can screw into the fixture socket. You then will use the adapter remote instead of the fan remote. Note this will add length to the overall bulb because of the remote socket.

Good luck.

Ryan

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Tapatalk

Thanx Ryan. That's something I hadn't thought of, and no one else has mentioned.
Ron

 

[TUGBrian]

definitely the bulb vs the dimmer...most of the more common LED bulbs require a certain voltage as the solid state transformer gimmick within them steps down the regular house voltage (or what it expects to get) to the much less power required to run the LED.

even some dimmable led bulbs might not work correctly with really old fixtures...it all depends on how much the voltage drops via the dimmer based on what the doodads inside the led bulb expect to see.

found this via google for ya

Some of the issues that may occur when a dimmer is incompatible with an LED lamp are:

Flickering - Lamps will flicker (can also occur if a non-dimmable lamp is used)
Drop-out - No light output at the end of the scale
Dead travel - When the dimmer is adjusted there is no matching change in light output (light may not dim to acceptable level)
Not smooth - Light output may not go from dim to bright linearly
Multiple lamps - issues may become apparent when multiple lamps are added
Damage or failure - LED driver, circuit or LED is damaged or fails.
Load below minimum - The power load of the LED lamp is below the minimum required by the dimmer
Mixed models- Different models of LED will likely have different drivers - since drivers behave differently this could result in dimming issues.

 

[visor]

This is what you need: an extension pole to change light bulbs that can go up to 24 ft.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

 

[RonB]

@ Ryan - You have opened the door to a solution - actually two solutions. I have found a screw in adapter that fits between the fan and the bulb and has it's own remote. I also found a bulb with the wiring built into the bulb that comes with an remote. However, neither will say whether or not their product will work with a fan that has the old tech in it.

@ Brian - as you have posted, this is not s simple problem. I have gone to a lot of sites, talked to a lot of bulb manufacturer tech people and asked on a number of forums. No one will say for sure that there is not a solution, but they say that their company doesn't have a solution.

@ visor - that might work for changing bulbs if the lights pointed down, but they are at an angle, so the pole won't do it.

Thanx all,
Ron

 

[pedro47]

Our Hunter Ceiling fan is approximately 30 years old. It has a light fixture attached and a remote to control both the fan and the lights. It will turn the lights on, off and dim them. I have not been able to find led bulbs that work with the old tech. They either flicker or randomly brighten and dim. The ceiling is 13', and I'd rather not climb that high more often than absolutely necessary.
Also, I'm not opposed to using a separate remote for the lights if that's the only way to do it.
My fall back will be halogen, but they don't seem to last very long in ceiling fans...

Does anyone have a solution?

Thanks,
Ron

To the OP, according to a hardware rep at Lowe's, you should not touch the led bulbs with the human hands it will reduce the life of the led bulbs. You should wear a gloves or use a cloth to install the bulb. Is it a fact or myth? I do not know the answer.

 

[SmithOp]

To the OP, according to a hardware rep at Lowe's, you should not touch the led bulbs with the human hands it will reduce the life of the led bulbs. You should wear a gloves or use a cloth to install the bulb. Is it a fact or myth? I do not know the answer.

That is not true for LED, only bulbs that burn hot like Halogen.

 

[Passepartout]

To the OP, according to a hardware rep at Lowe's, you should not touch the led bulbs with the human hands it will reduce the life of the led bulbs. You should wear a gloves or use a cloth to install the bulb. Is it a fact or myth? I do not know the answer.

I don't think this is accurate. It is true that you should not touch those really bright halogen or high-energy projection lamps as the oils from fingerprints can concentrate the heat from the lamp on the very thin glass of the bulb. LED lamps generate very little heat, so this is not an issue. In fact, unlike incandescent or halogen lamps, LEDs don't even have a vacuum onside them.

Jim

 

[pedro47]

I don't think this is accurate. It is true that you should not touch those really bright halogen or high-energy projection lamps as the oils from fingerprints can concentrate the heat from the lamp on the very thin glass of the bulb. LED lamps generate very little heat, so this is not an issue. In fact, unlike incandescent or halogen lamps, LEDs don't even have a vacuum onside them.

Jim

Thanks for correct information.

 

[RuralEngineer]

This is what you need: an extension pole to change light bulbs that can go up to 24 ft.
Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

i used to do this with my 18' ceilings.

 

[#1 Cowboys Fan]

This is what you need: an extension pole to change light bulbs that can go up to 24 ft.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using Tapatalk

We tried one of those many years ago, but because the lights are angled, it wouldn't grip properly.

Pat

 

[dmharris]

My Pet Peeve

Don't get me started on how the government won't let me buy the light bulbs I want and yet will allow assault rifles, and all the other ridiculous stuff they've done.