Intellitouch Panama 5 Restoration and Conversion

[Jordan U]

This made an appearance at the local Habitat:



In an interesting finish, a combination of copper and polished brass. Came with high-gloss walnut (?) blades, and exotic milk-glass shades.

Everything has a coating of tarnish on it, but it cleans up well:

Irons before/after






Blades before/after






Unfortunately the cosmetics were the least of the issue, the bearings are spoiled (no surprise there since I bought it) and the Intellitouch is seemingly spoiled as well.. Upon powering up, it starts at low then incrementally progresses to high.. It never seems to respond to any commands. I removed the Intellitouch electronics and found 2 spots that suggest some kind of failure; there's a burnt spot on that strap thing that goes around the motor, and there's a very fine black powdery substance (not household dust) on parts of the PC board.







I don't like electronic controls anyways, so all the Intellitouch nonsense needs to go. I will be converting the unit to a 4-speed pullchain control. I know the high-speed value is 10 uF, does anyone have suggestions as to what values would create as slow of a low as possible, a functional low, and medium?

The motor has been split open for bearing replacement







Does anyone have a recommendation of where to source new bearings from?

[Brian L.]

You have a Brass/Copper Casablanca Panama5 Gallery edition right there!
The brass/copper ones were only sold as a gallery configuration which you see there, so that light kit is exclusive to that fan. Very very nice find!

So the problem with the board, I believe the whole board itself should be fine and it sounds like a problem with the BFR(strip). I dunno if anyone has a replacement strip here, but you could probably steal one off of a worse IT fan (if you have one) and see if it works with the board and whatnot. If it is not that, I'd just go for a cheap used board on ebay as well and replace the system as a whole.

[Jordan U]

I thought this may be something a bit out of the ordinary! Thanks for the information..

I have no desire and no intention to repair the Intellitouch.. I certainly appreciate Intellitouch for what it was back in its day, but for my personal use I don't like electronic controls, I don't like the fact that it's going to break again in the future, and I have no wiring to support its use anyways.. The controls must be on the fan itself..

[fan1968]

I would personally use a capacitor based wall control, I don’t like the idea of drilling into the fan and adding a pullchain. And if still provides the clean look.

[Jonathan A.]

3 speed Casablanca uses 12uf capacitor for medium and 5uf capacitor for low. Not sure about 4 speed ones.

Bearings should have 4 digit number then a letter carved on it, like 6205Z. That's how you can get new bearings that is the right size. If old one is 6205Z, 6205ZZ or 62052Z would work. First 4 digits have to do with bearing dimensions, and additional letters or numbers could have to do with how bearings are sealed ot something. At least bearings on my Delta II is 6205Z, and it made noise when I first got white Delta II, but much quieter when I put new bearings in.

[Jordan U]

Update on the project: the bearings have been replaced, the new controls have been installed and the capacitor values have been chosen.. I went with 4uf, 7uf, and 9uf for aesthetic low, low, and medium.. The medium and low speeds are a little on the slow side, but for the bedroom it will be fine.. I can always change it out in the future.. Pictures to come soon!

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Apr 23, 2019 13:35:43 GMT -5 fan1968 said:

I would personally use a capacitor based wall control, I don’t like the idea of drilling into the fan and adding a pullchain. And if still provides the clean look.

I don't really like the idea either, but I don't have the means of using a wall control..