I have a question about adding a light kit to my ceiling fan. I've gotten it to the point where I can have the fan running by itself, and I can have the fan running with the light on, but I can't have the light on without the fan. My question is: "How can I control the light and the fan independently from each other?"

Here is my wiring situation:

The fan has 5 wires coming from the ceiling - 3 black, 1 white, and 1 red.

1 of the blacks from the ceiling is connected to the pull-chain
1 of the blacks from the ceiling is connected to the speed control
1 of the blacks from the ceiling is connected to the switch that controls the direction of the fan - this connection also has a lone white wire connected that says "For Light" on it.

The 1 red wire from the ceiling is connected to the directional switch - this connection also has a black wire that connects to a black rectangular box (I can't figure out what this black box is. Maybe a wireless transmitter?)

The 1 white wire from the ceiling is connected to the directional control switch. This connection also has a black wire that is connected to the mysterious black box.

In addition to the wires coming from the ceiling, there is a black wire coming from the pull chain, that is connected to a white wire with a black stripe, which comes from the speed control.

Of course, the light kit I have has one white wire, and one black wire. I hooked the white wire from the light kit to the white wire that said "For Light". I connected the black wire from the light kit to the red wire that came from the ceiling. Using the pull chains on the fan and light, I can get it to do the following:

Fan on by itself
Fan on with light

But I can not get the light on without the fan.

The wall switch it a dial dimmer with just two black wires connected to it. If I turn the fan and the light on with the pull chains, the dimmer controls both the fan and light at the same time.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

-Jon

First of all, what make is the fan?

Are you trying to have the fan and light controlled independently from the wall, or just from the pullchains?

Leave the wiring inside the fan alone, don't change anything yet. We'll get you straight.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

First of all, what make is the fan?

Are you trying to have the fan and light controlled independantly from the wall, or just from the pullchains?

Leave the wiring inside the fan alone, dont change anything yet. We'll get you straight.

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Unfortunately, I can't tell the make of the fan. We bought the house about 3 years ago, and the previous owners didn't leave a manual for the fan... and I don't see any markings on the fan itself that would help identify it. There are Hampton Bay lights in the other rooms, and Home Depot is less than a mile from here, so if I had to guess, I'd say Hampton Bay.

My goal is to have the light and fan controlled from the wall. Right now, there is just a knob-style dimmer on the wall with two black wires going into the back of it.

Thanks for your help,

Jon

Pictures would help a lot.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

Pictures would help a lot.

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Attached is a diagram of how all the wires are connected. The yellow triangles represent were the wires are capped. Hopefully, the rest makes sense.

I'll snap some pics of the fan itself when I get home from work tonight.

Thanks again for your help.

You're missing the supply wires from the power source.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

You're missing the supply wires from the power source.

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You mean the wires from the ceiling?

They connect at the ceiling and run down the center of the fan into the switch housing.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

They connect at the ceiling and run down the center of the fan into the switch housing.

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There are 5 wires that are coming out of the center of the fan and into the switch housing - 3 blacks, 1 red, and 1 white. In my diagram, these are the wires that branch out from the "fan" in the center.

Ok, I need you to separate the 3 that come from the motor from the 2 or 3 that come from the ceiling. Pulling gently on the wires from the top of the fan should make that clear.

Two of the five wires that enter the switch housing are noticeably thicker than the other three. These thicker wires are all black. Could they be the supply wires?

I updated my diagram to show which ones they are.

As promised, here is a picture of the fan. As I said before, I can't find any markings that indicate a brand or model number. I tried to take a picture of the wiring, but there's too much going on in there to make any sense of it.

I can't guess based on wire thickness. I need you to confirm what wires are coming from the ceiling. Then this is easy.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

I can't guess based on wire thickness. I need you to confirm what wires are coming from the ceiling. Then this is easy.

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Ok. I'll see if I can figure out which ones are coming from the ceiling.

The fan hangs from a very high ceiling, and has a (what I'm guessing is about a) 4 foot downrod. So, as long as I can tell which wires are which without having to get all the way to the ceiling I should be fine. If I have to get to the ceiling... then I may need to buy a bigger ladder!

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

Ok, I need you to separate the 3 that come from the motor from the 2 or 3 that come from the ceiling. Pulling gently on the wires from the top of the fan should make that clear.

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The two thick wires are the ones coming from the ceiling... problem is, I had to take the fan down and cut the wires to figure that out.

So, right now, I have a 3-4' downrod, with two black wires coming out of it hanging from my ceiling.

I'm about ready to blow the damn house up and move back into an apartment...

Connect the light to those two black wires.

Oooo--- just reread your post-- cutting the wires was a mistake. You will have to thread two new wires down from the ceiling all the way to the bottom of the fan where the light is. I recommend using a black and white other than two blacks.

It's incorrect to remove the fan from the downrod and leave the downrod in the ceiling. You remove the fan from the ceiling down.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

Oooo--- just reread your post-- cutting the wires was a mistake. You will have to thread two new wires down from the ceiling all the way to the bottom of the fan where the light is. I recommend using a black and white other than two blacks.

It's incorrect to remove the fan from the downrod and leave the downrod in the ceiling. You remove the fan from the ceiling down.

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Yeah, I had a feeling that cutting those wires wasn't the best idea, but I couldn't get the wires threaded back up through the fan, so I didn't have much of a choice. Oh well.

I now see that there is a black, white and copper ground at the ceiling. Hopefully, I can get everything hooked back up tomorrow.

Sounds like they were spliced at some point.

Feed a new set of black and white (and red, if you want to be able to switch the light separately) through the fan from the top of the motor. Make sure they are long enough to reach all the way up the downrod and have at least 12" at the ceiling.

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Originally Posted by ceilingfanrepair

Sounds like they were spliced at some point.

Feed a new set of black and white (and red, if you want to be able to switch the light separately) through the fan from the top of the motor. Make sure they are long enough to reach all the way up the downrod and have at least 12" at the ceiling.

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Illness and bad weather have prevented me from going out to pick up new wires.

Once I get them, will I be connecting white to white, black to black, and red to black?

Your help so far is greatly appreciated!