Electrical – Changing 3-way ceiling fan/light switch to separate fan & light controls

What you propose is indeed possible. How difficult it is, depends on what wiring is currently in place.

You should start by connecting all the bare/green grounding conductors in the switch box together, including a pigtail to both switches. Other than that, it sounds like the wiring in the switch box is good to go.

If you want to control the fan with a wall fan control, you can install that in place of the fan toggle switch.

In the ceiling box, you'll likely find the 12/3 cable from the switch box. If the existing fixture uses a remote module, you'll likely find that either the black or red wire from the 12/3 cable is simply capped off. You'll see the black/red, white and ground wire connect to the remote module. The remote module should connect to the fixture with a black, blue, white, and bare/green wire.

If you want to remove the remote module, you should disconnect it from all the wiring. Once disconnected, you can remove the module, or cap off all the wires and leave the module in place.

To control the fan using only the wall switches.

• Connect the white wire from the ceiling to the white wire from the fixture.
• Connect the bare/green wire from the ceiling to the bare/green wire from the fixture. If the box is metal, include a pigtail to the box.
• Connect the red wire from the ceiling to the blue wire from the fixture.
• Connect the black wire from the ceiling to the black wire from the fixture.

Now the switch connected to the red wire, should turn the light on/off. The switch connected to the black wire, should turn the fan on/off (and optionally adjust the speed).

When someone does a light fixture replacement with switches involved and has a problem, it is usually because they reconnected the white wire that feeds power to a switch back to the other whites thinking it is a neutral.

Then they connect the black to the hot feed throw the switch and it trips the breaker because it is now a dead short.

When using cable to feed switches and return a switch leg, the proper practice is to feed the white wire hot to the switch and return the black wire to the light from the switch. Then (and this is the part many people don't do) you are supposed to re-identify the white wire as some other color. Black tape or red paint or something permanent. I like to use blue tape since you don't see blue in residential wiring. This show the next person that this wire is a switch feed NOT a neutral.

Sounds like the red is a hot feed from the panel that powers the whole circuit. If you are testing for "hot" with a no-contact tester you can get false positives that are from induced currents. You need a basic electrician's voltage tester.

You may have to take all the wiring apart and methodically identify each cable and conductor. Then plan how to reconnect the wiring to accomplish your goal.

Good luck!