I called Casablanca today and they confirmed that my Bel Air fan can be operated by the included wallplate, or by the Casablanca remote control (not included, but I bought one on Amazon.com because the place where I bought the fan didn't sell it), but not both. When using both, they get mixed up.
Actually, I'm smart enough that I might try using both, since I understand what the problem is. Neither the wallplate nor the remote has a receiver to pick up the signals from the other. And both control have complicated logic that requires a local understanding of what the ceiling fan and light are actually doing.
But even for me, it can be very disconcerting. Turn the light on (but not the fan) at the wall and then dim the light with the remote and the fan might start running, if it had been running the last time you used the remote. The fan beeps when it comes on under remote control, and the high speed of the fan can be startling or even intimidating. Even if not already at high speed, in the process of trying to turn it off quickly you can panic, and then push it up to the high speed by not pressing the right buttons.
Still, I think I can handle it, but I'm afraid that others might not. So I will keep the remote in reserve for those times I use the bedroom.
I think the problem could have been fixed by having whatever control you use should only try to change the function you are actually changing. If I dim the light at the remote, the remote shouldn't bother to make sure the fan is running at the indicated speed also. It should just send the signal for dimming the light. Duh. OK, then, the speed indication on the remote will be incorrect. THAT is the graceful failure--let the stupid indicator be wrong rather than have the fan do something unintended. The art of computer programming is partly determining how and where things should fail.
But as well described in the book The Inmates Are Running The Asylum, that isn't how things end up being programmed because programmers don't think like users. OR, in another variant, it's a bureaucratic mess up. The specification writer (possibly the Boss) wants the remote control to show fan speed, AND insists that the fan speed indication be accurate (perhaps someone complained about that). The program designer finds the only way to guarantee that the fan speed indication is correct, mostly, is to re-send the fan command whenever any command is sent. This never goes around the bend again, or when it does it is simply found that the way to "fix" the problem (rather than graceful failure to display the correct speed, as I suggest, or having all units have a command receiver--a large additional engineering and manufacturing cost) is simply to declare that users not use both controls. That's a loss to users IMO because we end up with crippled products that could have been so much more. And that's just one example of how this sort of thing can happen.
I think it's a shame because dual control (wallplate and remote) is very nice. The "hack" that both Casablanca and Hunter use for those users who must have remote control is to have a remote that sits in a clip on top of the wallplate. Well, that's stupid, because if the remote is misplaced there won't be a proper switch near the door when needed.
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