Ceiling Fan Pull Chain Switch ( 5 to 8 Wire)

I am hoping to enlighten and give information to help others that may struggle to understand why they can't just change out a ceiling fan pull switch with another. I have found through research that all switches are not the same.

They look identical on the outside but are very different inside. I will try to simplify so that you might not have to struggle with fixing your ceiling fan like I did. Others that are experts, I am not trying to insult your intelligence.

Lets Begin:

The pull chain is only to index the center contact to the next position.

There are many different pull switch varieties out there. I am going to talk about mine only. Mine is a 5 to 8 wire double layer switch. The switch has small ports to plug in wires in up to 8 places.

The way it is configured, it will grab the wire when pushed in and requires a release tool to remove the wires. A paper clip is what most instructions tell you to use. I used a small jewelers screwdriver to remove my wires. My switch is one of the 3 double layer switches that I discovered. There may be other double layer switches but this is all that I know of. Mine makes connection with three of the terminals at once in both layers.

As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. I have taken time to disassemble my old switch to illustrate the inner workings. This should at the very least give you a good idea as to how the switches function. I bought the wrong switch for my fan and this was the beginning of my quest to solve the problem.

The one I bought was to connect 2 terminals at a time with each pull of the chain. In the end after deciding it was a last resort, I disassembled my switch and the new one that I purchased. I merged the two switches and got a good working switch. I used the new bottom half and my old top layers. They fit together perfectly. I would only recommend this as a last resort. If you do take it apart, go slow and be careful. You may wind up with junk in your hand or on the floor.

Please feel free to comment on this instructable. I will improve it if possible. Thanks for looking.