Ask Me Help Desk - Replacement ceiling fan wiring

Replacement ceiling fan wiring

We have a Skylark dimmer switch. Coming from the ceiling we have a blue wire, black wire, white wire, no ground that we can see.

We had a fan with a light kit that was connected black to black, white to white, blue to blue.

We swapped out our old fan for a new "5 minute" (ha!) Hunter fan. Hunter fan has black, black and white striped and white wires plus a ground.

We connected black to black, black striped to blue, white to white and ground to ground on ceiling plate. Resulting in the fan working and light kit NOT working. Fan was working off the dimmer and you could lower the speed of the fan via the slide of the skylark slide. Not good.

So we then tried

Black to blue, black striped to black, white to white and ground to ground on ceiling plate. Results - fan doesn't work. Light kit works as desired, able to dim the light via the slide of the skylark slide.

Of course we want both the fan and the light kit to work. We want the light kit to be dimmable and the fan to be on/off (via chain and on/off switch of Skylark).

Any ideas? The old fan was a piece of junk but it did work as desired.

Thanks in advance,
M

You have strange color wires. Are you Canadian? Pull the switch and tell us what wires and connections you have there. One of the two connections you tried should have worked, assuming the old fan worked properly

Oops. Just reread you post. Fan will not be on/off by switch unless Skylark is special switch with multiple output terminals.

How did the old fan/light work? Did the slide dimmer only work the lights and not the fan?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

You have strange color wires. Are you Canadian? Pull the switch and tell us what wires and connections you have there. One of the two connections you tried should have worked, assuming the old fan worked properly

Thank you for your reply.

We're in New Jersey. The old fan did work. Both fan and light worked. Light was dimmable, fan did not lessen in intensity.

Love the new fan but right now it's hooked up black to black, black striped to blue and white to white and the light doesn't work and the fan intensifies when you slide the dimmer switch down (one expect the light to dim).

Quote:

Originally Posted by jerro

How did the old fan/light work? Did the slide dimmer only work the lights and not the fan?

Yes, with the old fan the slide only dimmed the lights. Did nothing to the fan. Only the on/off effected the fan as one would expect.

Old fan had black/blue/white wires which were connected to the switches black/blue/white wires.

Hunter is funky and they have black/striped/white wires. We THOUGHT that the striped would be the 'blue' but when we connected black to black, striped to blue and white to white the fan works, light does not. Strangely when you move to dimmer slide downward the fan goes faster.

I take it that down should dim the light. I think something went funky in the switch. Pull switch and tell what connections you have.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

I take it that down should dim the light. I think some went funky in the switch. Pull switch and tell what connections you have.

Very weird. Pulled the switch. Two black wires coming off the Skylark switch - one twisted to a red wire from the wall junction box and capped, the other twisted to a white wire from the wall junction box and capped. Also in that box - two more white wires and two more black wires - both of which are capped off in the box (connected to nothing).

Note the distinct absence of a blue wire which you'll remember I have coming from the ceiling junction box (no red wire coming from ceiling junction box).

The house is in NJ and was built in 1966. We did not install the dimmer switch or the previous fan. This fan install is the first time we are messing with this particular box. We've swapped out fans in this house before without issue but this one is proving to be a real pain.

Thanks in advance for your advice on how to proceed.

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By capped I take it that you mean connected together with a wire nut. If I understand correctly the diagram below is what you have in the switch box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

By capped I take it that you mean connected together with a wire nut. If I understand correctly the diagram below is what you have in the switch.

Yes, exactly. Your diagram is spot on.

Quote:

Originally Posted by nojobtakesjust5

Yes, exactly. Your diagram is spot on.

Note though that underneath the slide for the dimmer is an on off (left/right). This probably does not matter but just in case... Picture of switch here:

ANTOnline.com - Lutron S-600H-IV Lutron Electronics Skylark Dimmer, Ivory #S600H-IV

Ok. There is only two terminals (wires) on that switch right?

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

Ok. There is only two terminals (wires) on that switch right?

Yes

The switch only has one circuit. It cannot control the light and the fan independently.
You have some funky wiring. Some where the red and white are changing to black. Is there an attic above this room where a junction box may have been installed.

I am having a problem determining where the power source is. If the switch is wired as described, it is not at the switch. If it is in the ceiling box there must be another wire there.

In the ceiling we know that the white is the neutral simply because you must have a neutral. Either the black or the black strip would be the power in. That wire would be hot all the time and not controlled by the switch. The other wire would be the switch leg to the switch (changing to either red or white). But, you need another wire coming back from the switch.
Are you certain there is not another wire in the ceiling box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

The switch only has one circuit. It cannot control the light and the fan independently.
You have some funky wiring. Some where the red and white are changing to black. Is there an attic above this room where a junction box may have been installed.

I am having a problem determining where the power source is. If the switch is wired as described, it is not at the switch. If it is in the ceiling box there must be another wire there.

In the ceiling we know that the white is the neutral simply because you must have a neutral. Either the black or the black strip would be the power in. That wire would be hot all the time and not controlled by the switch. The other wire would be the switch leg to the switch (changing to either red or white). But, you need another wire coming back from the switch.
Are you certain there is not another wire in the ceiling box.

Rechecked the switch box - no additional wires it is as you diagrammed previously.

There is an attic above where the fan is installed. The attic has flooring nailed down in most of it but I'll try to see if I can find the box. Once I saw the wires in the wall I knew we'd end up needing to poke around in the attic as somewhere along the way we lost a red wire (in switch box) and gained a blue and black wire (in ceiling box).

OK, check fan ceiling box for an additional wire. Has to have four wires, a neutral, a hot, a wire to switch and a wire from the switch. Otherwise you have to have a junction box wired that way with a neutral, an unswitched and a switched wire from junction box to fan ceiling box. Just has to be.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

OK, check fan ceiling box for an additional wire. Has to have four wires, a neutral, a hot, a wire to switch and a wire from the switch. Otherwise you have to have a junction box wired that way with a neutral, an unswitched and a switched wire from junction box to fan ceiling box. Just has to be.

Found the box in the attic. It is black to red, white to white, 2 black capped, 2 white capped. "Cable" coming out of this box goes into the floor/ceiling of room underneath. In that 'cable' is a blue wire, black wire and white wire (as posted originally)

I'd deduce that the blue wire coming from this box is the ground BUT the old fan had a blue wire coming from it that connected to this wire and we thought the blue wire worked the light kit for that fan.

OK, I'm going to have to digest this for a minute.

How did you determine that the blue wire was a ground? Is it connected to bare or green wires in the junction box.

Quote:

Originally Posted by hkstroud

OK, I'm going to have to digest this for a minute.

How did you determine that the blue wire was a ground? Is it connected to bare or green wires in the junction box.

It was just a guess.

Thing is the box in the attic has black-red-white-white wires (like wall switch) coming out of that box is a cable which feeds downward to go through the floor/ceiling to connect to the ceiling fan.

Somehow a blue wire magically appears coming out of that 'cable' that comes out of the box in the attic. I say magically as until it comes out of that cable, you have not seen a blue wire. Not in the wall, not in the attic, etc. You also no longer see a red wire.

Out of the cable or ceiling is blue, black, white and that's what we'd be connecting to the fan's striped, black, white.

1 Attachment(s)

You tell me what to add, change or take away