Adjusting the rotation speed of an AC 230V fan

Projects General Guidance
1

Hello everyone,

I'm a beginner, and I wanted to seek help.
I have an AC 230V 60W ceiling fan that is equipped with a potentiometer.
What I want to do now is modernize and automate the fan by measuring room temperature.

Turning the fan on and off using room temperature is something I could do, but I don't know how to adjust the speed of rotation.
It should start automatically from e.g. the temperature 25 degrees the engine.
At 28 degrees, the first stage should start and the engine should spin faster, and so on.

I've read a lot of forums and I've read a lot about thyristors and zero cross detection, or octocouplers. Now I don't know how or with what to do there. That would be an option.

Isn't there any way to digitize the existing potentiometer and connect it to the Arduino?

Couldn't I just drive the motor (for example, if I have 3 levels of velocity) with 3 different relays and resistors.
The first relay drives the highest resistance, so the lowest voltage gets to the motor.
The second relay would drive the middle resistance, etc.

Thank you in advance potentiometer and connect it to the Arduino?

2

What experience do you have working with these sorts of voltages?

3

Put a tiny servo motor (Sg90) on that potentiometer knob. Safe and easy.

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4

Probably but first you need to draw a schematic of the circuit that the pot is currently connected to.

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5

The "pot" will most certainly be an "after market" fitting, very much like a dimmer on lighting.

Original control would be either a switched tapping choke or a switched tapping on capacitors.

The latter would use direct for full speed and approx. 1.8uF and 2.5uF for the remaining 2 speeds.

I say approx. as it depends on whether 36" or 48" or 56" fan AND if 3 or 4 blade.

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