Electrical – Help with ceiling fan wiring. Red black and white wires

You're going to need to run new wire, which can be tricky.

ASSUMPTION - There is a wire from the panel to the switchbox. If the supply goes directly to the fixture first, then this does not apply!!!

• Turn off power to the circuit.
• Remove the existing fixture. See if you can get the mounting box out.
• Feel along the wire and remove the staple attaching the wire to the structure.
• Do the same at the switch box.
• Hopefully, your wire will move now if you pull it gently at one end.
• Take some 14-3 wire and strip a few inches of the outer insulation off. (A dull carpet knife works great!)
• Tie one of the strands of the new wire to one of the old. Wrap the entire connection in electrical tape.
• Pull the old wire out, and the new wire will follow it in.
• Replace staples to the best of your ability.

If you can't get the wire to move, you're going to have to break and patch the drywall, which can be a pain.

Wiring - The other wire in your switchbox should be the supply from the panel. - Cut two pieces of black wire, and pigtail them to the supply black with an appropriate sized wire nut. (You are splitting the wire into two). - Wire each end of this pigtail to a separate switch. - Wire the 14-3 black to one switch, the red to the other. - Wire the whites together with a nut. - Connect the ground to the box and the supply ground. - Connect the fixture at the other end according to manufacturers instructions.

• Put the switches back in the box with one screw each. Make sure the connections don't touch.
• Test.
• Reinstall the other screws, faceplates etc.
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Conventional Switches

It sounds as if most of the switches you have been replacing are single pole switches. That is, they make (on) or break off) a single connection from one location.

Simple switches use a black (hot) and another wire, usually black, red or blue (switched hot) to make and break the circuit. Basic switches do not need a neutral wire (white), so the neutral in a switch box is sometimes capped.

Smart Switches

Smart switches, like the Insteon, often also require a neutral (white) wire. The ground wires should be present and connected on all modern switch connections.

Conventional 3-way Switches

When a light is controlled from two locations, you need a switch called a 3-way. A basic 3-way switch has a black wire or connector, called a common, and two traveler wires, usually black, red or blue. The two travelers may be the same color or different colors, but the switch itself will usually be marked. It also should have a ground.

The common wire on one of the 3-ways is connected to the incoming hot line. The common on the other switch is connected to the fixture or outlet being controlled. The two travelers are connected to the traveler terminals on the opposite switch.

This setup allows either switch to change the state of the fixture by changing which traveler is connected. When both switches are on the same traveler, the light is on. When the switches are on different travelers, the light is off. A flick of either switch can make or break the connection.

When you want a smart switch, the 3-ways often need to add a neutral (white). This is always connected to the neutral line of the circuit (other white wires) and not to a hot or a switched hot wire.

WiFi Switches

If you want to control a fixture from two locations with an Insteon type switch, you need 3-way setup. However, these types of switches do not need two travelers, just a single connecting wire. They communicate the change of state (on or off) wirelessly between the switches, and the hub if it uses one.

The wiring directions for a 3-way connection can be found here, at the Insteon site. The following is a picture of the 3-way setup.

You can see that at the switch where the hot line comes in, the line hot, switch hot, and one of the traveler line (in this illustration black) are all connected. The other traveler (red in the illustration) is not used so it is capped.

In the second box that holds the cable to the fixture, the active traveler from the first box is connected to the black to the second switch, and the red from the second switch is connected to the fixture. The second, unused traveler is also capped.

If your two travelers are both red, you need to figure out which one is the connected one and which one is the unused one. Sometimes the wires have a marking, such as a stripe to help distinguish. If not a simple trial and error approach will work. If you pick the wrong one for the second switch, it simply will not work. you can then swap the traveler wires in the second box and you should be fine. Be sure to cap the unused wires.