When I press the remote, the green light comes on, so no, I didn't try that.

Update: yesterday I left the fan/light on most of the day, even though it wouldn't react to the remote control. In the evening, I tried it again, and it worked! I was able to dim and turn off the light, and also control the fan. So I left the light off and the fan on for the evening. When I left the room for the night, I tried to control the fan and again the remote failed, so I turned off the power. This morning I turned the power back on, but the remote still doesn't work.

The fan is a MinkeAire Sleek model, purchased from Hansen Wholesale; I hope Hansen can answer this.

I'm off to the electrical supply house to try to find a better box to install my second fan.

By now you should have fijnd a ”fan rated “ box to attach to the framing studs. That would be a better way to mount the fan in this application. MinkeAire control can be a but finicky and i wiuld suspect the the dealer has not technical suppo to help you. Contact Micke directly for assistance. It sounds like a problem within the remote control system.

I was able to get a deeper box (2-1/8") and plan to mount it on the framing. My existing fan has been acting weird. Sometimes, when I turn it on (via the wall switch) it just runs at the last setting. Last night the remote started working, and it's now still working. I don't know if it's the remote or the receiver which is intermittent. For awhile, I thought maybe the communication frequency had changed, but decided that that can't be the problem when it started working again. As I said above, it has gone from working to non-working several times over the last few days.

Update: my installation of the second fan went very well, it works (with its own remote) very well. The intermittent status of the first one still exists, however. Here is the situation: yesterday, fan #1 was working fine (remote could control the fan and its light). I turned off the power and installed fan #2. The instructions from MinkeAire say that I need to change the communication frequency between the remote and the fan, by moving one dip switch within the remote (not clear that it was in the remote, but there are no switches in the receiver). To do that, I need to press "stop" on the remote within one minute of turning on the power and hold it for 10 seconds, which I did and it worked. So then, I had two fans with two remotes in the same room, on the same circuit. I left them both running for the evening as we were watching TV. Because the light bothered my wife, I tried to turn off the light on the fan near the TV, and it didn't respond. I tried the remote for the other fan and it worked fine. At the end of the evening, I turned off the power switch (which is my planned method of operation) and, of course, both stopped. This morning, I thought that maybe the first fan had "forgot" the communication, so I tried resetting it using MinkeAire's instructions. I did that, and now both fans work, but on the same remote.

So now I have two problems: the fan's individual remotes don't control them separately and, perhaps, fan #1 may be still acting up. Because it's Independance Day, I assume neither the mfr. or dealer will be open to support calls, so I'm going to call one on Monday. Should I call the dealer (Hansen Wholesale Fans) or MinkeAire?

If you have read all this, thank you!

multiple Fans in close range can be tricky to setup be switching off the power should not force you to have to re-pair the remotes the next time you go to use them. I would call MinkeAire directly after the weekend.

One step forward and two steps back -

I called my contact at Hansen and he gave me a number for tech support. After being on hold for a half hour or so, someone answered. It turns out that that number (800-307-3267) was Minke's tech support, which is good. She (the technician) said that for the finicky fan, try changing the frequency, and if that doesn't work, the receiver is probably defective and needs to be returned to the dealer (Hansen). To get the two fans to work on different remotes, she suggested the following:

Turn off the power (to both, there's only one switch).

Disconnect the power to one of the fans. The power line goes to the black wire on the receiver.

(at this point, this fan, which I will call the East fan) is set to the frequency set by the remote.

Change the dip switch on the remote for the West fan.

Turn the power back on (with the East fan still disconnected).

Reset the West fan using Minke's instructions.

Turn the power off again and reconnect the East fan. I did that and got a spark (even the power was off). I assume there's a capacitor inside the receiver which discharged.

Turn the power back on.

Here's the second step back - neither fan works! There is another light on that circuit which does work, so the breaker couldn't have tripped.

My only explanation is that when I reconnected the East fan, the capacitor inside its receiver discharged to the black wire of the entire ceiling circuit (which was turned off) and damaged the West receiver.

Regarding the finicky fan, for the last couple of days prior to my attempts described above, I've been using the pair of fans with their lights off, with no evidence of the finickyness!

Well, 40 minutes I decided to try again and they now work - using the West remote. Should I try again? If my analysis above is correct, maybe I should repeat the above procedure, but before I reconnect the power to the West fan, I should wait - a half hour? or what? Or should I discharge the West receiver (through a resistor to the neutral wire)? I am in a quandary.

Status update 17 days later - I decided to just leave both remotes at the same setting, so now either remote controls both fans. No need to ever control them separately!. They are wired to the circuit the original builder put in for three ceiling lights, with 3-way switches. I disconnected the third light and now either switch turns the fan on and off, and they both remember their settings.