[mjmooney]

I have a ceiling fan and recessed lights in my living room, whenturning on the light switch everything comes on. I purchased a dimmer switch to control lights and ceiling fan separate. I have some electrical knowledge, but I guess not enough, Please help. Thanks

[ceilingfanrepair]

You will probably have to run additional wires for this-- how many wires are at the switch?

[mjmooney]

Well I have a Red feed wire on the bottom, and a black wire going out at the top of the switch. There is 4 sets of wires coming into the box for 2 switchs, 1 switch controls ceiling fan and recessed lights, other controls outside light. All 4 white wires are nutted together, black wire from outside light comes to top of right switch, black wire on bottom coming from pigtail for out side light. There is one group of wires coming in black, white , bare, on this one black goes to pigtail of black wires, white goes to pigtail of white wires, nothing directly to any switch. Other wires coming in consist of a set black, red, white, with red going to left switch bottom, black to black pigtail, and white to white pigtail. With 1 set of wires coming in white, black ,bare, White running to white pigtail, black to top left switch.

[ceilingfanrepair]

The two wires that go to the fan/light switch, do they connect to any other wires within the box?

[mjmooney]

The red wire appears to be a feed wire coming from a wire coming into the junction box from the bottom, the black wire appears to be power wire going to ceiling, to answer your question though, the strand of wires the red one comes out of the black wire off that same leg appears to feed the other switch in the junction box.

[donf]

It sounds like you are looking at a three wire cable (Black, White, Red and bare ground) being used as a switch loop.

By code, the White wire can be used to carry voltage away from the feed line. It cannot be used to carry voltage back to the fixture.

If the fixture was wired correctly, the white wire should be connected to the black supply feed. There should be a black coloring or black tape around the insulation to mark the wire as a current carrying conductor.

This wire will carry voltage to the switch. At the switch, a pigtail will be added to connect power to both switches. RED will bring power back to the fixture to feed the lights. Black will feed the fan.

[ceilingfanrepair]

Don, I may not fully understand the wiring he is describing, but I do not see a switch loop. He has a set of hot wires connected together and a set of neutrals. What I am attempting to determine is does he in fact have separate leads for the recessed lighting and fan? It doesn't appear to be the case.

MJ, pictures would help a great deal as your descriptions of the wires are confusing. However I Don't think you can switch the lights and fan separately without running additional wires.

[donf]

CFR,

I re-read the #3 posting and I now understand your posting. It sounds almost like the red wire is carrying power to the bottom of the switch.

I echo the call for pictures. The wall switches, the fan and light junction boxes.

[thommyschnak]

Hey guys, you're both missing the 14-3 cable that Mr. Mooney is describing in posts 3, & 5. Most of the time this wire is installed between the switch box, and the ceiling fan box. Mooney said that the Black wire from the 14-3 was connected to the pigtail in the switch box, this would be the constant feed at the ceiling fan, and would be hooked up to the fan motors pull chain switch. Typically the Red wire would run from switch of the switch box in that same 14-3 wire to the ceiling fan, and should hook to the light wire of the fan,(typically the Blue, or black with white stripe). If you look further into the ceiling fan box In your case you should see a 14-2 wire that is leaving the box and will be spliced to the red wire of the 14-3. This wire should run to the set of recessed fixtures and with this set up that I have described you will be able to dim the fan and the recessed fixtures simultaneously.
As long as you verify what I have described to be true, you will be able to install a combination fan speed control/ dimmer that will fit in your 2-gang switch box. Simply remove the black wire from the pigtail of the constant feed, and connect it to the fan control wire, and connect the wire to the dimmer control wire, and the black from the pigtail constant feed to the line side of the combination device. You can also install just a dimmer ant that would just hook up to the red from the switch box. Just keep Wattage in mind whenever installing any dimmer switch, dimmers come in three most common wattages 600W, 1000W, and 2000W, just make sure that you get the rite size for what you are controlling.

[ceilingfanrepair]

Don, The red is the hot lead to the light and fans. However that red lead appears to go to a 14/3 that also has a constant hot.

Thommy, his fan doesn't have a light. But you do raise a good point-- he should be able to connect his fan to a constant hot and install a dimmer for the lights. But he wants a separate switch for the fan and lights, and that can't be done without more wires.