Ceiling fan turns on by itself.

[CoarsegoldKid]

Why does this happen?  We've been dealing with this issue since we moved it almost 15 years ago.  So it ain't a huge deal and yeah I could just replace the entire fan with a newer one of a different manufacturer and probably will one of these days.  Our house sits on 1.25 acres so houses are not really close together.  I'd say the closest house is more than 100 feet away from the ceiling fan.  Oddly the fan and light do this occurrence during fall and winter, daytime or middle of the night makes no difference.  Once the air gets warmer no issues. I changed the dip switch settings a couple of years back to no avail.  Our cure has been to use the wall switch instead of the remote for part of the year.  There's a Verizon tower high on a hill maybe a thousand feet away and an AT&T tower perhaps 1/2 mile out.  Both are not blocked by houses or hills.  Good for cell reception.  The CHP, rolling or stationary, are often checking car speeds or patrolling with radar on the highway about 1/2 away.  The only answer I can come up with is the denser air this time of year allows RF signals to travel further and it's either the cell towers or radar causing the issue.  If I replace the fan and it still happens I'm back to square one.  Maybe I should make an aluminum foil hat for the fan.

[Rinkydink]

Hell, I don’t have a clue. Remove the batteries from the remote. 

[Rougarou]

1 hour ago, CoarsegoldKid said:

Why does this happen?  We've been dealing with this issue since we moved it almost 15 years ago.  So it ain't a huge deal and yeah I could just replace the entire fan with a newer one of a different manufacturer and probably will one of these days.  Our house sits on 1.25 acres so houses are not really close together.  I'd say the closest house is more than 100 feet away from the ceiling fan.  Oddly the fan and light do this occurrence during fall and winter, daytime or middle of the night makes no difference.  Once the air gets warmer no issues. I changed the dip switch settings a couple of years back to no avail.  Our cure has been to use the wall switch instead of the remote for part of the year.  There's a Verizon tower high on a hill maybe a thousand feet away and an AT&T tower perhaps 1/2 mile out.  Both are not blocked by houses or hills.  Good for cell reception.  The CHP, rolling or stationary, are often checking car speeds or patrolling with radar on the highway about 1/2 away.  The only answer I can come up with is the denser air this time of year allows RF signals to travel further and it's either the cell towers or radar causing the issue.  If I replace the fan and it still happens I'm back to square one.  Maybe I should make an aluminum foil hat for the fan.

 

 

Maybe the little capacitor is going bad, not sealed, getting moisture in causing issues the temperature fluctuations.  Generally a less than $10 part and ten minute fix. 

 

[Paul De]

A funny stray RF source story was one that happened eons ago when I and my brothers were teenagers involving a neighbor's electric garage door open.  My oldest brother noted that anytime he was on his 250cc 2 stroke M/C as he would come to the end of the block with a stop board the neighbors garage door would either be opening or closing as he came to a stop.  Finally the neighbor came running out as he came to the stop sign and noted observing the same thing.  My brother has a very dry wit and asked the neightbor if he wanted him to close the door for him upon which he revved the engine as you would in a down shift and the door closed. 

 

The unexpected RF source seasonality might suggest another system in the house only used in cool weather. What about something like your furnace giving off some weird RF noise as it cycles in the cold weather. Or maybe an electronic air filter on the furnace if you have one of those?   The other thing to consider is what else might be on the fan circuit causing noise or power dips.  Maybe a sever voltage drop from another item starting up (Frig, furnace or?) freaks out the electronic in the fan controller.  I actually have this problem with the fans I installed in our 2nd and 3rd bedrooms.  If we have a momentary power outage the controller will turn on the light and fan in both rooms.  I should have spent the extra $10 for the unit we use in the mater bedroom which does not do that.

 

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[CoarsegoldKid]

Well the furnace is not currently in use yet this season.  Fan still turns on and so does the light.  The circuit the fan is on is only lights and wall outlets in the bed and master bath rooms.  No one in there at night turning on and off stuff.  No two strokes fired up at night.  TV and DISH remotes not operating.  Not raining, no snow almost never, if fact it's 75 degrees outside.  I suppose a capacitor could be faulty. 

[Rinkydink]

There is also usually what I call a “remote receiver”module wired in near your fan’s electrical connections. If you don’t find the actual cause, short of replacing the fan itself you could remove that part instead. 

[ESokoloff]

This may not apply in your case as it's been 15 years but after replacing 6@48" fluorescent tubes with LED's I found that my remote controlled ceiling fan turned ever so slightly.   

It doesn't happen all the time but rather seems to occur more during low humidity conditions.  

Have you you tried to turn off all electrical loads one at a time to see if that makes a difference?