so, i bought 4 MinkaAire F574 fans and their handheld remote. i want to control all fans at the same time. each fan has its own canopy controller. each controller can be set to its own frequency but i want them on the same freq so that my one remote can control them all at the same time.
now, here's where things get interesting. Minka support via email says i can damage the controllers by having them all on the same freq (which made no sense to me). i called them and kinda get the same answer. whaaaat, how could the canopy controller get damaged because all 4 are on same freq??? this doesnt make any sense to me. phone tech (not so techy, just kept saying "this is what the company says") said that when all 4 go on at the same time the controller can get damaged, she went on to ask me if i am daisy-chaining the power from one fan to the next, but i think she meant pass-through from box to box (parallel power). technically no, that is not how my power is wired. each fan has a max motor rating of 52watts (and can power a 100w bulb), so lets just say 152w max, and the controller has two output channels, one for motor and one for light. my line power is not box to box, it runs the length of my patio (40ft) and then via j-boxes a line runs down to the fan.
and for clarity, the power is a 20A 12/2 branch circuit that runs out from service panel ~100ft to a j-box, and from there the wire to the fans is 14/2.
so, anyone have any idea how having all 4 fans operate at the same time can damage the canopy controller(s) ??? i can see there might be some inrush current into the motor, but how would this damage the controller just because i am controlling all 4 at the same time?
now, here's where things get interesting. Minka support via email says i can damage the controllers by having them all on the same freq (which made no sense to me). i called them and kinda get the same answer. whaaaat, how could the canopy controller get damaged because all 4 are on same freq??? this doesnt make any sense to me. phone tech (not so techy, just kept saying "this is what the company says") said that when all 4 go on at the same time the controller can get damaged, she went on to ask me if i am daisy-chaining the power from one fan to the next, but i think she meant pass-through from box to box (parallel power). technically no, that is not how my power is wired. each fan has a max motor rating of 52watts (and can power a 100w bulb), so lets just say 152w max, and the controller has two output channels, one for motor and one for light. my line power is not box to box, it runs the length of my patio (40ft) and then via j-boxes a line runs down to the fan.
and for clarity, the power is a 20A 12/2 branch circuit that runs out from service panel ~100ft to a j-box, and from there the wire to the fans is 14/2.
so, anyone have any idea how having all 4 fans operate at the same time can damage the canopy controller(s) ??? i can see there might be some inrush current into the motor, but how would this damage the controller just because i am controlling all 4 at the same time?
