Brandon,
Here’s my best guess at your problem.....
The fans have Rain sensors. Just under the edge of the lid. If these sensors get wet in any way the fan lid will close. This is to prevent you from accidentally leaving them open and getting rain inside your unit.
The fans have 6 (yes I said SIX) switches to operate them
#1 Fan on-off switch. This switch activates
12 volt DC power to the fan motor
#2 Lid open-close switch. This switch actuates the fan lid up and down.
#3 Rain sensor. This switch overrides the lid open-closed switch if it becomes wet.
#4 Lid position switch. This switch disconnects power to the fan motor when the lid is closed, preventing the fan from running without air flow.
#5 Fan speed switch. This dial controls motor speed 0=off 1=low 2=med 3=High
#6 Temperature switch. This switch allows you to roughly control at what temperature the fan turns on an off at.
So with that said... for the fan to operate these things need to happen
#1 fan lid has to be open. This means that the rain sensor must also be dry.
#2 fan power switch must be in the “On” position
#3 fan speed control has to be on 1,2,or3 setting. (If on “0” fan will not work)
#4 Temperature control must be set low enough for it to allow the fan motor to operate.
NOW. About manually operating the Fan Lid with the Spin Dial.
You should not turn the dial with it engaged with the lid lift motor.
You should disengage the Spin dial.
To do this “pull” down on the Spin dial and then you can rotate it with out the resistance of the lid lift motor. To re-engage the lid lift Spin dial to the motor push up on the Spin dial ( you may have the slightly turn the dial while pushing up on it to get it to re-engage with the splines of the lid lift motor.
Whew!