[Shop-talk] First use for new multimeter

[Scott]

Not its first intended use, but it'll hopefully work for this too:

My living room has a Home Depot/Hampton Bay ceiling fan. The fan has a 
wireless remote that operates the fan and the integrated light. The 
light has stopped working.

I first thought it was the fluorescent bulb (a 9" circline), so I bought 
a new one. No fix.

I also have a Hunter-brand fan that did this same thing, it turned out 
to be the wireless control module in the fan itself that quit working 
(which I cunningly diagnosed by buying a new control module and 
installing it).

So, I bought a new control module for the Hampton Bay fan.  Of course 
it's not that easy--on the Hunter fan, the receiver is an add-on that 
lives under the fan's trim 'bustle' that covers the ball that mounts the 
fan to the ceiling box. On the Hampton Bay, it's actually buried in the 
motor housing and if it's replaceable at all, it's going to require 
complete disassembly of the fan.

So I thought...I've got this new (cheap H-F) multimeter I bought to use 
for some HVAC diagnostics, I'll bet I can see if there's electricity 
coming out of the fan to the bulb, and that will at least tell me before 
I take apart the fan if it is in fact the receiver unit. It might 
be...something else, after all (though probably not). Maybe I just have 
(several) bad bulbs. Or maybe the thing I'll be calling the ballast is bad.

So anyone want to help me electrocute myself? I can get two different 
wire sets to diagnose--a pair (one black, one white) coming out of the 
fan housing and going into a circular thing that lives in the center of 
the circline bulb. Ah--I just read the instructions on the bulb--that's 
the ballast. I assume the power to the ballast is coming directly from 
the receiver/controller unit. If there's power there, I can assume the 
receiver is doing its job. Then from the ballast is a single plug that 
has four holes that plug onto the four prongs on the bulb. If there's 
power there, I just managed to buy several bad bulbs, or more likely, I 
have a intermittent issue which means I'll be just replacing the fan 
(feel free to tell me if I'm wrong here).

What i don't know is what kind and amount of voltage I'm looking for on 
my meter. A/C or D/C? How much should I want to see?

I'm ruling out a bad wiring connection from the house wiring to the unit 
because the fan and the lights use the same power source from the house, 
and the fan works just fine. This really is the same set of symptoms 
that was cured by a new receiver unit on the other one, but man, that 
thing is sealed up tight.

Thanks in advance.

Scott