I am installing a ceiling fan for my master bedroom. Problem is: I have one light switch and the fan is a fan/light combo. Hence the electrical problem.
There is no Red wire in the ceiling coming out of the box. Only black, white and ground.
As of today, I have installed the ceiling fan because an employee of Lowes said it was fine to attach the black and blue on one line. Unfortunately, this turns the fan and lights on at comparable levels. (i.e. fan on low, lights dim. Fan on high, lights bright.) I was wondering how to install a wire/switch that would contain a 3-wire combo instead of my existing 2-wire?
2007-06-07 01:13:59 · 4 answers · asked by jazzpiano420 2 in Home & Garden ➔ Do It Yourself (DIY)
OK, once you get the 3 wire from the switch to the fan box the hard part is over. First we will start with the fan. wire as follows:
bare copper to green (ground)
white to white (neutral)
black to black (feed for your fan motor)
red to blue (feed for your light)
OK got that. Now would be a great time for a break no reason to over do it.
All right now lets do the switch. First you need to decide what you want do do with your switches. No matter what kind of switch you choose be it a just a regular snap switch or a dimmer you will wire it the same. You also can ether remove your old box and cut in a two gang box so that you have two separate switches. Or you can take the easy route (witch is what I would all ways go for) you can get a single switch that has two toggles on it. you can find them at Lowe's with the rest of the switches. OK now that that is taken care of lets start wiring. First you will need to identify the feed. When you take out the old switch you will have three wires going to the switch:
a bare copper (ground)
and two others they are most likely both black but that is not all ways the case so you will have to do some detective work, but not much. The wire that went to the light is now re paced by the new 3 wire and is not needed. The other on is the one you are looking for it is the feed. Now there may be other stuff packed in to the back of the box don't bother with them, they could feed other stuff or well it's hard to tell just leave them alone. OK now that's done lets finish up. Wire the switch as follows:
bare copper to green screw (ground)
red wire to bottom screw of switch you want to control the light
black wire to bottom screw of switch you want to control the fan,and your feed will go to the other screw on the switch, if you are using two separate switches you will need to bring a wire off each switch and wire it to the feed
2007-06-07 14:03:42 · answer #1 · answered by sparky 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The three wire plus ground coming from the light to the switch, needs a FEED to the two switches! So, one of the three wires has to be connected to the feed. That would be the black wire. I believe that the white wire is one of the switch legs coming from one of the switches. That is why when you turn on the second switch, the breaker pops. Take that white wire coming up from the switch box off of the group of whites in the ceiling box and cap it.
2016-04-01 07:36:18 · answer #2 · answered by Brianna 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Home improvenemnt stores sell switches for fan/ light combos. They also have ones that have a dimmer switch on them so you can adjust the level of lighting. ;)
2007-06-07 01:18:52 · answer #3 · answered by jennifer k 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here is a great web site to help you wire a light-fan combo.
http://www.selfhelpandmore.com/switchoutlet/fanlight/
If you want separate control of light and fan you will have to run another wire.
2007-06-07 01:31:36 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋