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-   -   Connecting Ceiling Fan to Wall Switch (https://www.askmehelpdesk.com/showthread.php?t=54454)

  • Jan 13, 2007, 07:01 PM
    pbender
    Connecting Ceiling Fan to Wall Switch
    I replaced a ceiling fan in one of my bedrooms, in the process of removing the old fan, some of the wires got loose, so I was not sure how to hook up the new fan. I have 3 white and 4 black wires coming out of the ceiling of the bedroom, I connected all black in the ceiling to the black wire on the fan and all white in the ceiling to the white on the fan, everything works fine except the wall switch does not turn anything off, so when you come into the room you have to pull the light switch on the ceiling fan to get the light to come on, which comes on whether the wall switch is on or off. I want to know how to make the light come on when the wall switch is in the on position. It seems I inadvertently bypassed the wall switch and I don't want to do that. How do I tell which of the wires are the wall switch wires, they all look the same. And do both wall switch wires go to the ceiling? Why do I have so many wires coming out of the ceiling? If both black and white wires from the switch go to the ceiling, do I attach the black wall wire to the rest of the black wires and white wall wire to the rest of the white wires? Some where I read that both wires coming out of the wall switch are hot, does that mean they both need to be attached to the black house wires?
  • Jan 13, 2007, 11:55 PM
    ceilingfanrepair
    Can you tell which wire(s) are coming from the switch? I see three posibilities

    1. There is an additional wire up there of a different color you are missing, like red, that is the switched hot.

    2. One of the blacks is a switched hot the rest are unswitched. Get a volt tester and measure between each black and ground. One will be hot all the time, the other will be hot switched, the rest will be dead.

    3. Two of the wires form a switch loop. But if it's one black and one white, then it would have shorted when you flipped the switch.

    Ceiling fan lighting - Ceiling Fans N More
  • Jan 14, 2007, 07:38 PM
    pbender
    You were somewhat correct. Now that I know all that I do about how electrical circuits work, I feel kind of stupid. The problem was that the black wire from the wall switch wasn't connected. I did manage to connect the "white" now marked hot to the rest of the black, I then connected the blue (light conversion kit wire) to the black from the wall switch and all was just how I wanted it. Now the switch turns the light on and you can run the fan without the switch being on, which is quite helpful since my kids normally run their ceiling fans at night only. Now I can pull down the ceiling fan/light in my other kids room and see if I can get hers to do the same. I know understand that if there is only one black and one white on the ceiling fan, it will have to stay as it is but if there is a blue, I can connect the same as the last and it will be fine. Thanks for your help!
  • Jan 14, 2007, 07:51 PM
    ceilingfanrepair
    Sounds like #3-- switch loop. Glad you got it working.

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