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nccogan · Apr 4, 2007, 05:29 PM

So this question is in line with the other other ceiling fan wiring questions. I am trying to install a ceiling fan. The light box has four cables (each with a black, white and bare wire). It seems that one cable is always hot, one cable goes to the adjacent bathroom, one cable seems to connect to some wall plugs and the other I anyone's guess. I was told that I should bundle all the blacks, whites and grounds together and connect it as if these were one black, white and ground. When I do this, eveything is fine unless I turn the wall switch off. This trips the breaker.

I would be eternally grateful for any hints, comments or advice.

ceilingfanrepair · Apr 4, 2007, 10:35 PM

Ok, one of the cables is from the wall switch. This does NOT get bundled together with everythhing else. What are you trying to control with the wall switch?

nccogan · Apr 5, 2007, 06:04 AM

Thanks for the response. The plan was to have the light switch control the power to the ceiling fan (nothing fancy). Is is likely to be the cable that does not seem to do anything?

Thanks again for the help.

N.

ceilingfanrepair · Apr 5, 2007, 11:29 AM

Ok. Connect all the blacks together EXCEPT the black from the fan. Connect all the whites together EXCEPT the white from the switch. Mark the white from the switch with black tape, and connect it to the black (and blue, if you're using a light) of the fan. Tell me does this work.

nccogan · Apr 7, 2007, 05:40 PM

Ceilingfanrepair- I finally had time to try your suggestion and it worked easily. If you have time to give me a bit of a description of a.) what the wiring is doing right now, b.) How you knew what was wrong and c.) is this standard or non-standard.

In any case, thanks for saving me an electrician's visit.

N.

ceilingfanrepair · Apr 7, 2007, 08:12 PM

Sure.

Let's pretend for a minute the switch and it's two wires don't exist. All of the black wires are hot, that is they have electricity on them all the time. You don't want the fan to be on all the time you want it switched. So you have to tap into the "always hot" wires, send the current through the switch and back to the fan. So the fan get's it's hot lead from the switch, not from everything else. Everything shares the same neutral.

It is standard. When flipping a switch trips a breaker, that means that switch is connected directly across hot and neutral, causing it to short. So I figured two of the wires had to be from the switch.