Add RC capability to a fan?

[risshuu]

I have been wanting to see if I can add RC capability to a fan that I have.  My mother just got one of her knees replaced.  This would help her out quite a bit.  I can't exactly go out and buy a new fan for her.  I have parts (433MHz receiver, IR, Atmel chips), but I don't know how to start or if it would be possible with this fan.

Any suggestions are welcome.

[CatalinaWOW]

Depends on what you want to do.  Just turning it off and on is really easy.  Just use your radio link to control a relay (mechanical or SSR) on the power cord.  Set the fan to the desired operating mode and then turn power off and on.    Or purchase BSR-X10 or one of the many other systems that do this pre-packaged.

If you want remote control of the fan speed you would need to control a set of relays to replicate the three or four switch contacts in the switch.  More complicated and much less available as a commercial product though you might want to look at using one of the remote control modules intended for an overhead fan.

The final degree of difficulty would come if you also wanted to switch the oscillation function off and on.   That is done with a moving cam, and you would have to set up something like a double acting solenoid or a linear servo to move the cam.

[risshuu]

Thanks for the reply.  The fan would likely be oscillating all the time.  At the very least I wanted to power on/off and hopefully fan speed too, if not too difficult.

Would I be able to get the power for my atmel / RC component from the plug that is already connected?

[jonovid]

many times I had an idea. only to discover its cheaper to buy it. uther then make it.
particularly if the idea is not new, or original.

[risshuu]

But then I wouldn't learn anything.

[jonovid]

But then I wouldn't learn anything.

True. 

[danadak]

Consider using ESP8266

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4M-4FLASH-NodeMcu-Lua-WIFI-Networking-development-board-Based-ESP8266/32551536028.html?spm=2114.01020208.3.81.b028KP&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_4_10065_10068_10084_10083_10080_10082_10081_10060_10061_10062_10056_10055_10054_10059_10099_10078_10079_426_10073_10102_10096_10052_10050_425_10051,searchweb201603_9&btsid=0918c1a6-f888-4f81-928c-98485dcd121e

Lots of videos on youtube to do control. Software pretty easy, most tools no cost.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ESP8266



There is a version that has module pins easily spaced for

[risshuu]

Sounds good.  I actually have one of these I can use.

Now I just need to figure out how to power it.

[danadak]

This might help as well -

http://cache.freescale.com/files/microcontrollers/doc/app_note/AN3471.pdf


Regards, Dana.

[risshuu]

Thank you for the idea.  I will look into this. 

[risshuu]

Cool!  I hadn't thought of this.  I will definitely have to look into this.  Thanks

[Ammar]

I did a very similar thing. I used an old 27MHz RC car, an old DVD power supply, a PIC micro and three relays. The RC remote would signal the micro to change relays to increase the speed. The DVD power supply had a 12V and 5V rail for both the relays and the power supply.