Replacing a ceiling fan - Need some help

spleen1015 · 07-23-2011, 01:50 PM

Dudes, need some help.

I am replacing the ceiling fan in my daughter's room and I have come across some wiring troubles.

The fan has a light on it. Coming from the fan, I have green (ground), blue (light), black (fan), white wires. From the ceiling I have ground, black, white and red.

The instructions say that I should be connecting the green to the ground, duh.... the white to the white, duh.... and the black & blue to the black.

WTF am I supposed to do with the red wire coming from the ceiling? Could this be the wire that connects to the light switch?

I didn't really look at the old fan to see what it was doing, like a dumbass. I know the the light and fan wires in the old fan were connected to the black wire.

Any help is appreciated.

Thanks.

spleen1015 · 07-23-2011, 01:52 PM

Homedepot.com says to connect ground to ground, white to white, black to black and blue to red.

Sounds good?

sovereignstar v2 · 07-23-2011, 01:54 PM

M GO BLUE!!! · 07-23-2011, 02:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Homedepot.com says to connect ground to ground, white to white, black to black and blue to red.

Sounds good?

sounds good to me.

I've yet to deal with newer wiring. I'm used to just black & white wires. Things was simpler back then...

knolysis · 07-23-2011, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by spleen1015

Homedepot.com says to connect ground to ground, white to white, black to black and blue to red.

Sounds good?

That is correct. You have separate wall switches for the fan and light. Red is for the light on the house wiring, blue is for the light in the fan wiring (would be easier if they were the same). If you had a single wall switch to control both fan and light, you would wire both black and blue from the fan to just black in the house and use the pull chains to actually control things as the wall switch would turn everything on/off.

SteveMax58 · 07-23-2011, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by knolysis

That is correct. You have separate wall switches for the fan and light. Red is for the light on the house wiring, blue is for the light in the fan wiring (would be easier if they were the same). If you had a single wall switch to control both fan and light, you would wire both black and blue from the fan to just black in the house and use the pull chains to actually control things as the wall switch would turn everything on/off.

+1

Wire the blue to red, as it should be the fan's light to be controlled by a wall switch directly (rather than via the pullchain only).

spleen1015 · 07-23-2011, 03:31 PM

They way this used to be set up is the light switch controlled both the fan and the light. The switch had to be on for both of them to work. The mistake I have made is I didn't see what wires were connected before taking the old one down.

I connected white to white, black to black and red to blue.

I got everything installed and the fan works with the switch on, but the light doesn't work at all. So, I really don't understand WTF the red wire is for.

I think I am going to take it down, put the black and blue with the black and just cap the red wire and see what happens.

I was kind of hoping the way I have it now would result in the switch controlling the light and the fan only being controlled by the chain, but that's not what's happening. As long as I get it back the way it was, I'm cool with that.

So, I am going to verify the connections and then go blue & black with black. That should get it back the way it was.

spleen1015 · 07-23-2011, 03:32 PM

DOLA,

Thanks for the help.

SteveMax58 · 07-23-2011, 03:41 PM

Yeah, that's strange that there is a red wire there for presumably nothing?

Is your wall switch a double or single switch? If double...do you know what both of your wall switches do? I wonder if the red wire goes to the wall switch plate but was disconnected (or maybe never connected properly?).

spleen1015 · 07-23-2011, 04:04 PM

As far as I can tell, the red wire is dead.

I did a test. I switch the fan to the red and the light to the black and the light worked and the fan didn't. I connected and reconnected to make sure I got a good connection and couldn't get anything to work on the red wire.

There are 2 switches. The other one controls a wall outlet.

I have both black and blue connected to black and both fan and light works. So, I don't know what the deal is with the red wire.

SteveMax58 · 07-23-2011, 04:34 PM

Yeah, I'd cap the red wire then.

If you really wanted to make both switches operate a different function...you may want to open up the wall switch and see what is back there as they may have left the red wire capped behind the wall switches as a future option. Hard to imagine that red wire would be there for no reason.

cuervo72 · 07-23-2011, 05:56 PM

Here's a setup for you.

We have a four switch panel in our family room.

Switch 1: Fireplace fan.
Switch 2: Ceiling fan.
Switch 3: Ceiling fan light.
Switch 4: Fireplace overhead lights.

S1 works independently of the others. S2 does as well, so the fan can be on w/o the light.

S3 however relies on S4 being on - so to have the ceiling lights on, the fireplace lights need to be on (which is fine, as they are usually the first ones on). S4 also has a dimmer - which dims both the fireplace AND the ceiling fan lights.

knolysis · 07-25-2011, 08:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cuervo72

Here's a setup for you.

We have a four switch panel in our family room.

Switch 1: Fireplace fan.
Switch 2: Ceiling fan.
Switch 3: Ceiling fan light.
Switch 4: Fireplace overhead lights.

S1 works independently of the others. S2 does as well, so the fan can be on w/o the light.

S3 however relies on S4 being on - so to have the ceiling lights on, the fireplace lights need to be on (which is fine, as they are usually the first ones on). S4 also has a dimmer - which dims both the fireplace AND the ceiling fan lights.

I'm not an electrician, but I am guessing the hot for S3 is wired to the wrong side of S4. I would pull all of the switches out and see if there is a separate circuit for the ceiling fan light (S3) that didn't get wired up (this would separate S3 and S4). If not, I hope you will see that S3 is wired through S4 and that you can move the wire to the other pole. Beyond that, I would ping/PM CUTiger.

cuervo72 · 07-25-2011, 09:10 AM

Well, as long as it doesn't pose a safety issue I'm actually fine with the setup (which has been that way for a number of years now). I do remember it being a bit of a head-scratcher when I set it up though as I couldn't really figure out why those would be linked at all.

07-23-2011, 05:56 PM	#12
cuervo72 Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Maryland	Here's a setup for you. We have a four switch panel in our family room. Switch 1: Fireplace fan. Switch 2: Ceiling fan. Switch 3: Ceiling fan light. Switch 4: Fireplace overhead lights. S1 works independently of the others. S2 does as well, so the fan can be on w/o the light. S3 however relies on S4 being on - so to have the ceiling lights on, the fireplace lights need to be on (which is fine, as they are usually the first ones on). S4 also has a dimmer - which dims both the fireplace AND the ceiling fan lights. __________________ null

07-25-2011, 09:10 AM	#14
cuervo72 Head Coach Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Maryland	Well, as long as it doesn't pose a safety issue I'm actually fine with the setup (which has been that way for a number of years now). I do remember it being a bit of a head-scratcher when I set it up though as I couldn't really figure out why those would be linked at all. __________________ null

07-23-2011, 01:52 PM	#2
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	Homedepot.com says to connect ground to ground, white to white, black to black and blue to red. Sounds good?

07-23-2011, 01:54 PM	#3
sovereignstar v2 hates iowa Join Date: Oct 2010

07-23-2011, 03:31 PM	#7
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	They way this used to be set up is the light switch controlled both the fan and the light. The switch had to be on for both of them to work. The mistake I have made is I didn't see what wires were connected before taking the old one down. I connected white to white, black to black and red to blue. I got everything installed and the fan works with the switch on, but the light doesn't work at all. So, I really don't understand WTF the red wire is for. I think I am going to take it down, put the black and blue with the black and just cap the red wire and see what happens. I was kind of hoping the way I have it now would result in the switch controlling the light and the fan only being controlled by the chain, but that's not what's happening. As long as I get it back the way it was, I'm cool with that. So, I am going to verify the connections and then go blue & black with black. That should get it back the way it was.

07-23-2011, 03:32 PM	#8
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	DOLA, Thanks for the help.

07-23-2011, 03:41 PM	#9
SteveMax58 College Starter Join Date: Dec 2006	Yeah, that's strange that there is a red wire there for presumably nothing? Is your wall switch a double or single switch? If double...do you know what both of your wall switches do? I wonder if the red wire goes to the wall switch plate but was disconnected (or maybe never connected properly?).

07-23-2011, 04:04 PM	#10
spleen1015 Coordinator Join Date: Sep 2003	As far as I can tell, the red wire is dead. I did a test. I switch the fan to the red and the light to the black and the light worked and the fan didn't. I connected and reconnected to make sure I got a good connection and couldn't get anything to work on the red wire. There are 2 switches. The other one controls a wall outlet. I have both black and blue connected to black and both fan and light works. So, I don't know what the deal is with the red wire.

07-23-2011, 04:34 PM	#11
SteveMax58 College Starter Join Date: Dec 2006	Yeah, I'd cap the red wire then. If you really wanted to make both switches operate a different function...you may want to open up the wall switch and see what is back there as they may have left the red wire capped behind the wall switches as a future option. Hard to imagine that red wire would be there for no reason.

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