It might be a remote receiver that is hard wired to by-pass its function, seeing that you do not have a remote controller from the start. In this case, it has no function and if it were mine, I would have removed it and connected the lights normally.
Just a thought......
Trace your lighting wires and make a simple connection without this "bug" that appears to give trouble.

 

I think that will be my approach.
I don't know what it is, but I know the lights work without it, so why not just wire the lights like all of the others I've ever dealt with.

I did check for loose connections at the banana plug level, so thanks for reminding me.

I have a plan at least, and I can keep the little box for experimentation.

Thanks

 

In your original post, you had a picture of the top cover. Google the name of the company and the model number A0-101A I think it is, and see what you come up with. If that fails, look up the part number of the chip on the backside and see if it comes up. As for component, anything on that board can cause it including loose solder connections and bad caps. Do you have ESR tester?

 

bwilliamsm 60,
I do have a cheap ESR Tester, and I can test some of the components with it.
I did try looking up the Model #, but that was earlier; I will give it another shot, + the number on the chip (if I can find it).

Thanks for the suggestions.

Gary

 

Can you post some really clear well lit pictures of the unit including the cover. Perhaps we can see something if we have a good shot at it. Are there any manufacturing numbers on the board?

 

My camera does not do well for close up, but I will try agin this afternoon.
I have a scanner, perhaps I can scan the board, both sides.
I will experiment and see what I can come up with.

Thanks,
Gary

 

Do you have a good cellphone. They are capable of taking very good pictures if you use the backlight combined with other light sources.

 

I havent felt good.
I will work on it this weekend (I hope).

Thanks for your input, everyone.

Gary

 

A Dimmer I think.
My wife said her sister gave us the fan, used, so that's why I don't remember anything unique about it.
We believe it must have originally had a wall dimmer knob.

Anyway, here is a photo of the number on the small board, and a photo of the chip.
I brightened the photo of the chip, and it looks like LM388M SUM9008.

I am still planning on bypassing the device, and just go with straight 110 to the bulbs.
Thanks for all the input.

 

Can you check the number on the chip again. I don't think it is an LM388 as they have 14pins and it would be a linear audio amplifier. Not sure why you would need that in a light. Most likely a LM358. This box is most likely a wattage limiting circuit which limits the size of bulb to 40watts for safety purposes. They started installing them in mid 2000 for fire prevention. Hope this helps.

 

The by-pass of the device was successful, and the lights are working as intended.

I think the bulb design will limit the wattage; it is a screw in type, about half the size of a regular incandescent.

I will check the number on the chip again when I get home.
I have a cheap PC connected microscope at work, that I can take home and get a real close up.

Thanks
Gary

 

My wife changed a burned out bulb (40 watt decorative) in the ceiling fan, and according to her, when she screwed in the new bulb, it blew out the other three. I pulled the lighting kit and checked it with a meter, and I can't find a problem. But then maybe I didn't check it properly.

How should I check it, under a load?

Could it simply be that she should have turned off the lights before changing the bulb?

None of the sockets test bad, and none are loose.
The new bulb was a GE 40 watt 400 lumens.

Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Gary

Its not entirely unheard of for a new bulb to blow first time its used, sometimes the loose ends flail about and bridge the binding posts with only a short bit of filament. This blows instantly as it contacts, and may be close enough to a short for a kick in the wiring inductance - that can finish off the other bulbs if they're getting on a bit too.

As one of those people that decided rules are made for fools, I hardly ever switch off before changing bulbs - the only ones I ever shorted had damaged holders to start with. The UK BC bayonet caps can bridge the 2 spring loaded contacts if the locking pins don't stop it turning too far.

If you're still using filament bulbs; they have a PTC characteristic that causes inrush current when lighting from cold - most bulbs blow at switch on. When I still used filament bulbs, I salvaged the inrush limiting NTC thermistor from a scrap SMPSU and grafted it into the wiring behind the switch plate - they work even better if you can mount them in close proximity to the bulb holder, the heat from the bulb lowers the resistance still further. It used to be possible to buy an NTC pellet that fit in an American ES bulb holder that was clamped in place by screwing the bulb in, its unlikely that anything similar existed for the UK BC holders.

 

Here is a magnified view of the chip.

It reads LM356M
SUM9D08Y

I will begin to check the individual components this weekend.
The symptoms again are that it powers on, and shuts right back off.
I think a bad capacitor could do that.

Any other thoughts on testing it would be appreciated.
Any thoughts on desired output if it is a watt limiter
Any thoughts on desired output if it is a voltage limiter? (It does have an adjustment pot).

It's just fun stuff now, because it is removed from the circuit, and the original problem with the ceiling fan is resolved.

Thanks all

 

When I still used filament bulbs, I salvaged the inrush limiting NTC thermistor from a scrap SMPSU and grafted it into the wiring behind the switch plate

I used to have a hand full of NTCs that were designed to drop in before the light bulb. Great idea, but I don't expect to ever again see them in retail version . Besides, I'm down to 2 incandescent bulbs and those will be curly fluorescents the next time they burn out.

 

I used to have a hand full of NTCs that were designed to drop in before the light bulb. Great idea, but I don't expect to ever again see them in retail version . Besides, I'm down to 2 incandescent bulbs and those will be curly fluorescents the next time they burn out.

I'm just about making the transition to LED. The local £ store has 3W LED bulbs allegedly equal to a 20W filament, one is good enough for the hall and the kitchen has 2 holders - so just about adequate.

Years ago, one of the supermarkets did a buy one get one free on 18W CFLs - then dropped the price from £1.99 to £0.99. So I filled a couple of carrier bags.

With any luck, those might last until LED bulbs become a viable alternative.

If you really like filament bulbs that much, you can now get halogen capsules assembled into regular caps and glass globes. Even halogen is more efficient, so a regular 100W is replaced by about 75W halogen.

 

First, bulbs just don't 'blow' out!. The filament breaks and it fails, usually due to age, vibration, glass crack or indeed, a surge. A surge is an increase in voltage, most commonly from the power company. In industrial complexes, when a large load, like a motor is taken off the power system, sometimes the voltage rises momentarily. This will not happen with a simple light bulb, and likely not of any significance in a home environment. It's people saying that whatever doesn't work 'has a short'! Pure nonsense! Open circuits are far more common than shorts, and shorts are usually somewhat spectacular and often leave an evidence trail.

So, the 'gizmo' you found could have been a wattage limiter for the light kit, since it is common to over lamp these fixtures, but with the parts count you mentioned, it's way overkill, so it is not that!

What it is though is, as guessed by others, is the receiver for a remote lighting control.
Here is what Google found with YOUR PART number as101
http://www.smarthome-products.com/p-170-homepro-as101-z-wave-3-way-companion-switch.aspx.
If the wall switch still works, I'll bet that was where the transmitter once was, but someone replaced it with a standard switch, leaving the receiver connected!

 

So, the 'gizmo' you found could have been a wattage limiter for the light kit, since it is common to over lamp these fixtures, but with the parts count you mentioned, it's way overkill, so it is not that!

What it is though is, as guessed by others, is the receiver for a remote lighting control.
Here is what Google found with YOUR PART number as101
http://www.smarthome-products.com/p-170-homepro-as101-z-wave-3-way-companion-switch.aspx.
If the wall switch still works, I'll bet that was where the transmitter once was, but someone replaced it with a standard switch, leaving the receiver connected!

So I am going to stick to my guns on this one and call it a wattage limiter. You see they became a mandatory item on ceiling fans in 2005 and look very much like the box that gdrumm has shown. Googling AS101 will come up probably many things but what you have shown is a 3 way switch. If you opened up the accompanying diagram, you would find that the part that goes with this, is NOT AS101 anything.
As for the wattage limiter, most were limited to 40watts to control heat from the unit.
Gdrumm, it is a small circuit. You can do component tests to find problem. Yes can be a cap. Measure with cap meter and ESR. Post clear picks both sides and we can help

 

First, bulbs just don't 'blow' out!.

Sometimes bulbs do "just blow out", usually at the instant of switch on - they have a PTC characteristic, so the cold resistance of the filament is very much lower than at normal running temperature.

For a very small fraction of a second, the cold filament draws more than 12x its normal operating current. The filaments are usually coiled - sometimes coiled coil, the sudden lines of flux around it during the turn on surge cause it to contract, adding a mechanical dimension to the failure mode.