We are trying to replace a ceiling fan with light with a chandelier which only has 2 wires. The ceiling fan was controlled by two switches (one dimmer switch at the bottom of the stairs and one regular light switch at the top of the stairs). It could be turned off or on from either switch. The man trying to install the new chandelier is confused because there are 4 wires coming out of the ceiling where the fan was removed and only two wires on the new chandelier. Can you give us advice as to how to wire the new chandelier in this situation?

You have four wires, two black and two white in the ceiling box. These wires are in two cables, one black and one white wire in each cable. One cable (one black and one white wire) brings power to the ceiling box. The other takes power to the switch, through the switch when it is in the on position, and brings it back to the actual light.

You must first determine which cable brings power to the ceiling box and which goes to the switch. If one of the white wires has a piece of black tape on the end, or otherwise been colored black, that is the cable that goes to the switch. After determining which cable goes to the switch, connect the white wire in that cable to the black wire in the power cable. Then connect the white wire of the chandelier to the white of the power cable. Connect the black wire of the chandelier to the black wire of the switch cable.