DC motor speed control - Small Cabin Forum

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MtnDon Member	# Posted: 15 Sep 2014 18:57 - Edited by: MtnDon Reply This summer I needed to replace a DC motor speed control for our RCH ceiling fan due to a lightning hit. They now sell at about $100. I found a speed control on ebay for less than $8. The catch... ships from China and will not fit inside a std wall box. I took a chance and risked a total of $7.41 including shipping. Price today may be a little more. Obtaining a working model was a bit of a task. The first one arrived with a really cold solder joint; a MOSFET was loose on the board. They shipped a replacement @ n/c. Each shipment was slooow; about 20 days from China. The second arrived with the srew that hold a heatsink to the MOSFET cross threaded and loose. The third one was the charm and arrived in great shape. I connected it to the fan Friday night. It works fine. The speed is adjustable from just above stall to full speed. It just looks funky. The bonus is the other two controls also work after I re-soldered the one and found a tiny screw to repair the other. The amount of time it took was a disappointment, but their customer service was good enough for the price paid. When I get around to it I'll see how they work as a dimmer for 12 VDC LED's. I chose this one because of the high frequency. There are lower frequency ones that are a little cheaper but there is a chance of hearing a buzz. Oh... in my application it also ran very cool as well as quiet.

LastOutlaw Member	# Posted: 15 Sep 2014 19:14 - Edited by: LastOutlaw Reply That's great Don! Sounds like you are in the luck. I recently ordered something through Alibaba from China and it seemed to take forever to arrive as well. We joked that the delay was because they had to raise the children to work in the shop to make the item. Bad joke I know. The first solar panels I looked at were in China. I didn't want to take that big of a chance to order my panels there. A switch yes, panel NO! Seems there is a big push for companies in China to export directly into the US market lately. Also, I had a tv break once a long time ago in the old days when you would actually take things to get fixed instead of replacing. $50 to fix and it was a bad solder joint. I have fixed 3 tvs since then that broke by opening them up and simply hitting all joints with a solder gun.