Ceiling – 4 pair of cables lead to Ceiling fan box

ceiling-fan

I've got two power switches that go to this ceiling fan. Both switches would cut power to the fan and to the light.

It's been so long since I took it down I don't remember how it goes. I've got 4 pairs of cables leading into the box. 1 hot, 3 hot/1 neutral together, and 3 neutral together.

I read this: Why are there four electrical lines (12 wires) in this ceiling fan box?

But I don't understand if I use the standalone black cable for power and just tie in my fan's neutral to the 3 neutral cable or just tie into the black and neutral bundle.

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Best Answer

You have a switch loop here

The white wire bundled in with the blacks along with the solo black wire are telltale signs of an old-style switch loop run using /2 cable from the fixture to the switch(es), with the white wire as the always hot and the black as the switched hot in your case. So, with the power off at the breaker:

  • Use a wrap of black electrical tape to mark the white wire nutted in with the blacks as a hot wire
  • Nut the ceiling fan black and blue (or just the black, if you don't have a light kit on your fan) wires to the lone black wire
  • Nut the ceiling fan white wire to the existing bundle of entirely white wires
  • And nut the ceiling fan green wire to the existing bundle of bare wires.
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