Hello everybody:

I am new to this board and hope there is somebody around this Memorial Day Weekend who can help. I just bought a Modern Fan Company Aurora Hugger ceiling fan and am trying to install it. This fan has no pull cords and operates on a remote that is tucked into the fan housing. Apart from the missing set screws, which seem to be no where and I can't get them at the hardware store because I have tried, I have two other problems.

Please don't laugh. The previous ceiling fan was operated by a light switch. Far as I know, this switch only operates the fan. It turns on the fan, the old fan, and it let me pull the chain to turn on the light, so I could turn the fan on and off with the switch. I could also pull the pull chain for the fan and even if the wall switch was on, the fan would not work. OK.

So now I've taken the switch off the wall. It looks like it is a 3-way switch, but there were only two wires connected to it. One on each side. One black and one white. Now, I know enough to know that this should probably a single pole switch and it should have two black wires or at the very least one black and one white with the white marked black.

But, no, I have one black and one white wire. The remote that mounts into the box has 2 black wires and one green wire. I do not have a grounding wire in that box in the wall.

My question is what do I do? Do I assume the white wire is really black and blow up the house? Do I connect both black wires from the remote to the black and cap off the white? I am very confused because the black and the white ran the switch before.

I do have another switch on this wall that I leave on all the time. If I turn it off, it turns off the receptacles into which my TV, DVD are plugged. I suppose it is possible that the fan switch could be a 3-way, but I would think it would need more wires than the two that are there.

My next question is the ceiling. It is made from cedar, the old 11 3/4" cedar from 1948. The panels are set on the diagonal, so I have four corners coming together in the center of the ceiling. This is the spot where the ceiling fan goes. The old ceiling fan was put up on a rectangular plate that ran across two of the panels. The new ceiling fan uses a round plate.

The problem is one of those four corners is raised. So the plate won't sit flat. The fan housing mounts on the plate and there is no faux cover. Any ideas?

I feel like I am so close yet so far away from putting in this ceiling fan. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Elizabeth

If it is only 2 wires in box and there was switch, White should have been identified with black tape. White may be tied to black in Light/fan fixture box, to get "HOT" goes down to switch and back up on black for switched leg. 3 way switch can be used in place of single pole, 1 wire has to go to DARK screw, Put other wire(white ,You add the black tape) to screw on same side as dark. So when you put into wall with screws to the right, like single
Pole switches, Up will be on, down will be off.
For tha to have ever been a 3 way, you would need three wires, not counting ground.
You might could put ground to switch ground, otherwise don't worry about it.
About uneven mount. Screw into place, draw outline, remove, remove material to get flush, reinstall.

Thank you, for responding so quickly. And it's good to know I'm not losing my mind. OK, so I will mark the white wire with a piece of black tape for future reference. However, does it matter which wire connects to which wire in the remote control that mounts into the box? The remote has 2 black wires and contains no other references. There are no directions about wiring with the instructions. My best guess is this switch is a loop switch.

Elizabeth

No. Just connect the two black wires from the new switch to the two black wires that went to the old switch. If for some reason it doesn't work right you can switch them, usually when that happens the "fan" button will control the light and vice versa.

Can you remove or cut down the corner that's raised? If not, can you use the old rectangular plate as a spacer? Pictures would help.

On Dimmers and switches, doesn't usually matter.
Hopefully ceiilingfan solved problem.

Thank you, both, very much. I will try to sand down the raised edge tomorrow and connect everything. Well, I still need to find set screws, and they might have to be ordered from the manufacturer. You'd think these things would be standard and easily found in Home Depot or somewhere.

And if the fan and light switches are reversed, I'll just switch the wires. I did read somewhere that if I hadn't already taken them off the 3-way, I could have tested them to see which was which because I think the light switch wire doesn't work if the switch is off. But too late now. I don't know which terminal each was connected to, and to try to connect it back and mess around is much more work than just switching the wires if it doesn't work right.

I had looked all over this site and couldn't find my answer, so I want you to know I didn't just post. :)

I have another fan to put on a dimmer, but it uses a regular light bulb, so I might be back.

Thanks, again!

Yes, just switch the two black wires on the switch and the proper control will operate the proper thing.

Remember, you cannot use a LIGHT DIMMER on a ceiling fan motor.