Buy a good Wall Regulator to get good performance from your Ceiling Fan

Let’s explain different kinds of Speed Regulators for Ceiling Fans and the pros and cons of all. The objective is for consumers to know the importance of buying a good regulator as these days the companies do not supply regulators along with fans (except Remote Regulators). Often a cheap or incorrect outdated model of regulator can generate unpleasant humming noise and cause harm to the fan motor, which of course is not the fault of fan but of your buying decision.

Resistance/Choke Type Regulators

Till about 25/30 years back, all the Fan Companies used to sell fan with a compatible Regulator, which was often Resistance type (bulky in size). These  were Power Guzzlers. These regulators had spools of wire with different amounts of resistances. When you set the knob at a particular position, you included a certain resistance in series with the fan. The resistance in circuit consumed its power. So, fan consumed same energy even at lower speeds and the regulators generated lot of heat.

There were also Choke Type regulators available during that period, which were better than Resistance but not the best solution.

These are both now virtually extinct.

Triac Based –Step less Regulators

These Step less regulators were the initial changeover from Resistance type or Choke type Bulky regulators and were primarily meant for dimming lights as well. These are still available and you may be tempted to buy because of low price.

These are better than the Resistance based regulator as it saves energy but they distort the Sine wave of the power supply which creates the humming sound of the motor. Distorted power supply is also not good for long-term health of the motor.  

 

Capacitor type Regulators

This design and technology are the most appropriate Wall Mounted Regulator presently.

These helps save energy at various lower speed steps of regulator and do not become heated.

These regulate the fan speed by regulating the waveform of power supply and there is no distortion of the sine wave of the supply voltage.

So, these are your best choice but remember not to buy a less known brand or a local brand of such regulators which may be compromising on lower quality of components or trespassing certain circuits. It is better to spend another hundred rupees and buy a reputed brand to avoid any issues in the package.

Remember one point –Even with the best of Capacitor Regulator, your fan may not give uniform speed difference between each step as the motor designs of different brands and models is different. But these good regulators will not give any unpleasant humming sound or cause damage to motor.           

So, let’s choose our wall mounted regulator wisely for the better performance of the Fan.

Remote Regulators

The latest flavor of the customers is Remote Type Regulators. These are expensive and are provided by companies as standard in most of the BLDC fan models. Some other non-BLDC fan models in upper end models and Fans with light too have these as standard and in same fan package.

For more details —Read this ———