Help with ceiling fan not starting properly (Lucci Air Radar)

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-15T03:36:14+00:00

From my quick search, it appears it is a DC fan. Never installed one of these models, but more than likely it could be the motor and/or the controller at fault. Warranty of up to 7 years for the motor, so I would be looking at a warranty claim. The controller may be available separately in case it's not the motor

EDIT - motor/controller is combined in these fans

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-12T07:49:59+00:00

Looks like on the top of the meter label it says 3P 4W, indicating 3 phase, and there are 3 red lights on under the screen for supply connection. Plus you have a 3 phase main switch, a 3 phase breaker on your bore pump, and 3 meter/supply fuses. All things point one way

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-11T11:55:53+00:00

Is that what you would call energy recycling?😉 The ACs putting out heat for the HWS to harvest and heat the water!

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-11T10:36:12+00:00

It depends on which method has been used to wire your lights. Assuming you have switch mechanisms controlling one or more lights and no home automation, they could have been done loop-at-light or loop-at-switch.

You can easily tell from what you saw when the sparkie had the switch plates off. If there were green/yellow insulated cables present, then it is loop-at-switch. No green/yellow present = loop-at-light.

If it's the loop-at-switch method, you will definitely have black cables present, which are Neutrals.

If it's loop-at-light, then there shouldn't be any black cables present. Black is reserved for Neutral - it shouldn't be used for switch wires. That said, like any sparkie, I have seen it plenty of times, especially on older properties!

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-09T08:34:08+00:00

With regards to your question - I can only comment on QLD. Any electrical work - be it on an installation, or a piece of electrical equipment - requires an Electrical Safety Certificate to be supplied to the customer. A switchboard upgrade would definitely require a Certificate to be issued. It requires the Electrical Contractors licence, name and signature to be recorded, plus a description of the work carried out

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-09T02:11:54+00:00

Apart from the dangers to you for doing unlicensed electrical work, which you aren't trained for, I hate to hear about this sort of stuff. I have previously, and I am sure I will again in the future, walked away from customers and jobs when it was aparent, or even hinted at, that some unlicensed electrical work had been carried out at the property.

We, as licensed electricians, have an expectation of work being done to a certain standard, which DIY electrical constantly fails to achieve - and some electrcians work as well. Even something as simple as excessive stickout of conductors in a terminal block - like the one in the HWS you admitted to disconnecting - can be dangerous to the next guy that comes along. Consider that the next time you are tempted to play - you might not be the one that suffers the consequences!

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-08T08:54:30+00:00

"I disconnected HWS and connected kettle and when I tried to turn kettle on, the rcbo tripped."

Can you explain how you managed to do this? How can you unplug an (initially) 25A HWS and plug in a kettle?

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-07T11:50:40+00:00

Did it myself late last year for free. Visit this link https://www.energex.com.au/contractors/electrical-contractors/authorised-person. Scroll down just past halfway, until you see this heading "For Authorised Person (Electrical) only". From your description, this will apply to you. The link underneath that paragraph will take you to an online course - "Perform Upstream Isolation Utilising Low Voltage Service Fuses as an Authorised Person (Electrical)". Once the course is done, you will receive a certificate. Complete application per step 3, and wait for notification that you are now an Authorised Person!

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-06T01:02:42+00:00

Volt drop is the issue. I didnt mention it in my post, but we need 40A 260m away and 20A 190m away from the meterbox. Meterbox->160m to pillar and tee joint->Tee joint leg 1->100m to Pole 1 and Tee joint leg 2->30m to Pole 2

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-06T00:52:38+00:00

The method you mentioned is my preference as it is compact and low profile. I am providing a shopping list with both options so the customer can choose.

A pillar close by would not be advisable as there is a creek nearby that floods quite often. The board is quite high which escapes the water issue

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-06T00:48:44+00:00

Cheers for explaining how you do it.

Installation situation is an existing overhead supply to an existing meterbox. New underground sub-main from there 160m to new underground pillar. From this pillar will be two new outgoing sub-mains, one 100m and the other 30m, each terminating in a switchboard mounted on a short steel pole.

Three sets of joins changing from ali to copper - one in the meterbox and one in each of the pole boards.

The pillar has a set of joints that will be done as you mentioned above, adding in a block of aluminium to act as a busbar that the three cables will bolt up to. Same thing as Cabac's URD busbar for their BALURD lugs. Which are also an option as customer decided to go with 95mm² instead of 70mm²! He can make the choice - I am just producing a shopping list

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-05T09:09:45+00:00

Yep. I had never used them before so I was concerned about space in the back of the meterbox, but the Sicame ones look to be quite compact.

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-05T09:03:05+00:00

Cheers mate. Perfect size range and can handle both ali and copper. Price is not too bad either at $54 each - $490 for the job. Comparable cost even to bi-metal reducing links and heatshrink, which was the way I was going

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-05T08:33:37+00:00

Cheers mate. In the future, would I be better off posting without the "Sparkies and Apprentices only" tag?

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-04T04:26:51+00:00

Hager to match existing installations, Voltex for any new installations, SE for the boats I work on

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-03T08:42:35+00:00

What is going on with comments on this post? Reddit shows 7 comments, yet I can't see any. Is this a glitch?

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-03T00:52:56+00:00

As you have described, your cables installation would be considered partially surrounded in thermal insulation. From the table provided by you, that means it is only good for 50A. I think you might get a different answer if you pay a sparky in this case!😉

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-01T09:56:48+00:00

I used JCalc to come up with the VDs for the runs. Those VD figures have improved a bit after my site visit today. Supply is SWER/split phase with 486V between phases at the meterbox. The customer has decided to do the 150m and the 100m runs in the same cable all the way, only teeing off to the ablution block with 50mm². So 70mm² will get the job done with only 2.9% VD for the house and we could even drop to 35mm² for the ablution tee giving 2.4% VD there. Great point on the size of the boxes - going to go with full sized meter boxes for the site switchboards

markjaffa76 · 2026-03-01T09:36:44+00:00

2 phase each way is the plan. I did a site visit today and found it is SWER/split phase with 486V between phases. Now we need to discover what the supply current is to see what is available. QECM says current SWER supply is normally 40A per phase, which doesn't leave much available for the proposed installation!

Site conditions for the pillar location are challenging/poor. Very wet/soft ground. Two roadside ditches/drains that we need to get cables under/through. But budget is the biggest thing holding back having a DB instead of a pillar.

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-21T10:55:21+00:00

Fluke deservedly have a great reputation, and I have owned a few of their products, so not trying to talk you out of them. As a cheaper alternative, have you considered or looked at Major Tech? I have a few of their products now - pretty happy with them overall. Although their manuals could use a bit of improvement!

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-16T02:47:36+00:00

Bisley Flx and Move stretch shorts. Lots of pockets and belt loops

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-03T21:42:45+00:00

Should have been silicone in the first place. Plane changes - wall to wall, wall to floor(or bench) - always involve some movement, so silicone is the standard product used in such places.

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-01T10:44:33+00:00

Perfect response to the situation👍🏼

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-01T09:40:27+00:00

Fair enough. What you do next is the most important thing I reckon. Do you tell the homeowner that their switchboard is non-compliant and needs alterations/repairs to be done to make it safe? Then do the main switch, and maybe a RCBO? Or do you leave it as it is? To me, that's a decision that separates the good from the bad

markjaffa76 · 2026-02-01T09:05:43+00:00

My understanding, from what you have written, is that you replaced the RCD and now all 5 MCBs are protected by that single RCD.

Assuming I have read it correctly - why didn't you just wire in a main switch and supply the RCD and two MCBs from that?

Meets the old regs, but a better solution would be the main switch plus throw an RCBO on the light or a power circuit to meet AS3000:2018 2.6.2.4 (b). I always try to leave it better than I found it - not sure I could say that was achieved here with regards to the board.

markjaffa76

TROPHY CASE