Ha. I had a coworker gift me a high end amp because the volume was all crackly. Opened it up sprayed electronic cleaner on the volume rheostat thingy and gave it a few back and forth turns. Perfect sound. I offered it back but he'd already purchased a new one. :/
I had something similar, except it was a blown fuse.
Granted, the fuse was soldered in place and you had to take it apart to get to it. But once it was replaced it worked perfectly. No idea why the fuse blew either, unless it was just defective.
It still wouldn't be dim, it would either work or not. If it's dim, it's either a bad bulb or a setting on the light housing causing less voltage (I think?) to make it to the bulb.
Depends on the CFL. I had to replace one in a fixture in my new house a few months after I bought it, and it was some goofy round one with a rectangular attachment point and some clips. Thankfully it was pretty easy to replace and was easily gettable from Dom Depot, but I was definitely surprised by the socket when I went to replace it.
That sounds like one of those fixtures where the ballast is in the fixture and the bulb is just a bulb, similar to a regular fluorescent light fixture. As opposed to the screw-in CFLs that most people are familiar with where the bulb also contains the ballast.
Those are kind of unusual in homes - I've mostly seen them in commercial applications like hotels and stuff like that.
Worst case scenario just replace the light kit and check your wiring but yeah obviously that wasn't OP's issue
Of course doing that with the fan still together/hanging is much more of a pain than just getting a new one, usually, especially if the fan is old. Most other electricians I know don't bother doing ceiling fan repairs, they'll swap em but any more than that's not worth their time. I'll do whatever but I'll be up front about it.
Especially since you're usually doing it for retired folks who can only afford so much...
Human Moment™. One of my former professors in Uni, the one I respected the most because she was one of the wisest and most perceptive people I'd met at that point, confided in us that it took her however many years since their introduction to realise that the small light on some wall-mounted light switches was meant as a guidance light if it's pitch black.
I have one of those fans. It only has a remote, no pull chains. I fucking hate that thing as much as I have ever hated anything in my life. It's so shitty. You would think having buttons would make it easier to use than a pull chain but they somehow made it even worse. Both the light and fan use the same Up and Down arrows to change the setting but there's a delay of a second or two between hitting the button and the fan actually changing (if it changes at all). There's also no indicator of which setting you're on currently (which is the only annoying part about pull chains). Also couldn't get it to switch directions for winter even after spending probably an hour on their site and Youtube looking at documentation and trying shit.