Ceiling Fan Switch Replacement
 

In the small addition to the read of the house I installed two ceiling fans way back in 1988 or so. The fan over my desk finally broke the pull chain when shutting it off a couple days ago. So I pulled the bottom cover and took a couple closeups and how the colored wires went into the 4 connectors I.E. "L", 1, 2, 3. Checked the various stores such as Lowes and Home Depot and got a switch with the same part # so went home and killed the power. Plugged the wires in, turned on the power, pulled the chain.....a slight humm on pull #3. Doubled the checking, ETC and no go?! Pulled the bottom cover off the other fan and hummm, the colors of the wires were different so redid everything and now it works! When there were about 18 different switches for the fan all were different.
John

you're going to let the smoke out of the wires...........

The hole in the glass cover needs to be aligned with the switch else the pull chain breaks

Leave the cover loose, a little silicone lube on a swab on the slide surfaces, and it will align itself.

The switch should work either direction. I've replaced a couple.
New cheap ones might have a smaller diameter wire. Take it apart and solder in a bigger one if needed. There is a spring in there. Most likely the fan is also worn and there is insufficient voltage supply.