Panasonic (National) Remote Control Fan No Power Symptom
Troubleshoot from remote to board
I encounter the remote control fan fails to turn on without any sight of LED lighting up even triggered with the remote control. If you happen to have a remote control from the same model, try switching the fan on. I dismantle the fan from the ceiling, same goes to the fan blades to have an offline troubleshooting.
1# Verify remote control
It is vital to verify remote control is working as a lot of appliance rely on remote control to function it. In this part it would be a general method to check the remote control. You will need a smartphone with camera to check the remote control infrared is transmitting signal out. I would recommend to use an Android, Windows or some generic smartphones in the market (except iPhone, I’ll explain later on).
Point the remote control’s infrared transmitter facing to the phone camera. Switch on phone’s camera mode and keep pressing the remote’s power button. A white glowing light can be seen from the infrared led which indicates the remote control is transmitting and in working condition. Either front or rear camera phone will work for this trick.
While using Apple iPhone rear camera, it will not work as iPhone’s camera had infrared filter installed to their rear camera. Only the front camera (selfie cam) will be able to show infrared light up in Apple iPhone.
If you does not see any light up from the infrared diode via camera phone. Then checking on the remote control is required as it might be culprit for not power up the fan.
#2 Board troubleshooting
Removed fan casing to access the board of the fan. The first sight was a lizard electrocuted on the board and was too disgusting to snap a photo of it. After I removed the remains of the lizard, the board is slightly blackish with minor burn marks on the pcb. Glance through the board, does not see any component with burns mark cause by that culprit lizard. Diodes and jumper around that area is working upon verification with multimeter.
At the top left corner of the board, there is where the AC supply comes in and a protective fuse 2A is in series. A quick check on the fuse to see is blown or still connected. In this case it is still connected.
Started by checking transistors, diodes to see any of them shorted or abnormal. Found two zener diodes, ZD1 & ZD2 are shorted in both polarities, both are identical 7.5v diodes written on the body and it is connected in serial. Roughly, 15v of reverse bias breakdown voltage between this two zener diodes.
After replacing it, I continue searching for other components to see any of them are still shorted or abnormal. It seems the board components look good without blown or shorted. Therefore, I proceed to assemble back the fan to see whether it could be power up.
One more things back assembling back, check the three big red capacitors. Use a capacitance meter or multimeter to check on the value of these capacitors. They might be ageing and giving lower value than expected which can cause the fan speed to be abnormal on the affected capacitor.
It is highly recommended to change those red big capacitors if any of it are no longer accurate in its rated value. These capacitors should be easily available in your local electronic store.
If you can’t find it, head to eBay or spare part stores online. They should have this kind of parts and price is relatively cheap. You may also use capacitors that comes with wire (shown below), just solder the wires into board and glue the capacitor on board. As long the value and rating is right, it is workable.
After assembling back on the ceiling, the fan is able to power up. Hope this helps for anyone encounter dead remote control fan. Thanks.
YH Wong is from Malaysia with a degree in Computer Engineering. Currently, work as a test engineer in semiconductor industry. Avid in troubleshooting & repairing electronic gadgets related.
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Note: You can check out his previous repair article in the link below:
https://jestineyong.com/why-car-12-volt-cigarette-socket-doesnt-work/
You can also check out ceiling fan repair related article:
https://jestineyong.com/panasonic-ceiling-fan-repair/
Parasuraman
October 19, 2016 at 10:41 am
A good job! Finding dead lizard inside electronic appliances, is disgustingly an unpleasant experience every technician has to face often! The stinging rotten smell sometimes makes us feel, why did we ever take up this line!
Albert van Bemmelen
October 19, 2016 at 12:40 pm
Interesting repair and good to know that the Fan Motor still was intact!
My brother recently bought a secondhand Vacuum Cleaner for Laserprinter Toner cleaning that had a defect Motor. Sadly the Vaxcon 3000p Motor can't be bought to replace the old one. And a new Convac 3000p is about 300 Euro/Dollar so it was a waste of money afterwards. So if in any device the Motor is gone, repair is often futile. Thanks for sharing.
Robert Calk
October 20, 2016 at 4:27 am
Did he open the motor up to see if it just had a blown thermal fuse?
Albert van Bemmelen
October 20, 2016 at 3:51 pm
Yes the Motor turns but the Fan and its Rotor coils must be badly damaged.
And he is looking for a replacement Motor that fits and works equally. It must be an equivalent 230VAC 800 Watt Motor. And that won't be easy cause you also do not want any Toner Bags to break open.
YH Wong
October 21, 2016 at 12:10 am
Albert,
Seldom encounter fan motor spoiled by overheating or etc. Unless some unbranded fans might have higher risk on it but Japanese fan motor do last a decade
BIRUK
October 19, 2016 at 1:25 pm
nice job thanks for sharing this idea.
Yogesh Panchal
October 19, 2016 at 3:17 pm
YH Wong,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
Muiddin
October 19, 2016 at 5:31 pm
wow interesting and resolving.thank you
suranga Electronics
October 19, 2016 at 6:03 pm
YH Wong,
Well done Friend.
Thanks for this.
Andre Gopee
October 19, 2016 at 8:59 pm
Good Job M. Wong.thanks for sharing.
YH Wong
October 21, 2016 at 12:10 am
Hello Andre,
Thanks
Bulent NUR
October 19, 2016 at 11:20 pm
Congratulations and thanks for sharing
Said
October 20, 2016 at 12:28 am
Thank you for sharing.
Fatai
October 20, 2016 at 2:06 am
Thanks for this post. Especially, testing of remote control with mobile phone is a new experience. Instead of looking for transistor radio with AM functions, the phone system is easiest. Just keep it up.
YH Wong
October 21, 2016 at 12:11 am
Yes, that is the simplest way and clear doubts easily
Thanks.
Robert Calk
October 20, 2016 at 4:29 am
Thanks for sharing the repair with us. Did you test the caps with an insulation tester under voltage?
similinga
October 25, 2016 at 4:57 pm
good job
Robert Samuel
October 26, 2016 at 4:42 pm
Good repair job. The 3 large Red capacitors - do these go off value often in this model of fan?
Thanks.
Humberto
October 31, 2016 at 11:16 pm
Good repair YH Wong. Good explanations.
Zam
February 12, 2017 at 10:15 pm
Hi YH Wong, can you share with me value for diode D101.
Thanks.
KF Yap
May 7, 2017 at 10:39 pm
I had this National Ceiling Fan MY14S that need a push to start the fan motor rotation. The Polyester Capacitor already changed to new one after finding old one to be less capacitance value.Resistor R31 is blown out with a burn mark (hole in pcb)Will faulty triac (SCR1 or SCR2 or SCR3 cause any of this problem of requiring push start of fan motor ? Once push start the fan motor can rotate by itself. The Remote controller is working for start/stop , Speed 1 or 2 or 3. while fan motor is rotating.
Hope you can help me on this matter.Thank you.
Jestine Yong
May 9, 2017 at 7:45 am
Hi Kf Ya,
If the resistor is blown then it will have an open circuit and the circuit may not work. Your problem is mainly due to bad capacitor, open component (burnt resistor), bad circuit track or even dry joints. For your information I do not have the diagram of this fan thus I would not know the value of the resistor. Unless if you can compare a working unit then you can find the exact resistor value.
Jestine
maybelchh
March 3, 2018 at 5:17 pm
I have the exact same ceiling fan model and will check the caps. At speed 1, it is not turning - not at all. other speed works ok
Syed Asrizal
April 19, 2018 at 9:07 am
I have exactly the same model and my problem is the low speed capacitor blown..i cant see the capacitor value..if u not mind can u give me the low speed capacitor value..btw very helpful thread..thanks in advance..
Hariz
September 4, 2018 at 4:08 pm
Good info..Nice joob
Eric
April 4, 2020 at 12:22 pm
hi wong,
this article problem same like we facing recently. press remote control can hear sound tik but motor speed not change and remote must nearest to fan only can function and normally timer light can on when press. now timer light cannot always on when press timer button. what is possible cause this problem. please help. thank you so much.
Avraham
October 3, 2021 at 1:49 pm
Hi I have a similar model of fan with speed problems, from your post it looks like the board is on the top part of the fan above the blades and the wires are soldered onto the board without release connectors? Can this fix be done without removing the fan from the ceiling?