Electrical – How to safely install drywall anchors near wiring

The short answer is that it depends on the internal circuitry of the remote. I have a Harbor Breeze fan/light combo that came with a wireless remote, and I know that there are protective circuits inside the receiver that detect if there are non-incandescent bulbs in the system (e.g. CFLs/LEDs, which can cause power spikes, don't work with simple dimmer circuits, etc), or if the wiring is connected incorrectly. This protects against certain short-circuits and against overloading the wiring. From what I know, the basic design assumes you will either use it for a fan only, or a fan with light.

If this is the case, you can't use the remote to control just a light. The receiver will detect that the motor circuit is discontinuous and shut off to protect itself. However, the receiver may not be that "smart", so as long as the Motor Hot wire is capped off to avoid arcing, shorting and electrical fires, the circuit through the Light Hot and Motor/Common Neutral wires should still work. You just have to connect the receiver unit properly; the wires coming out of one side of the receiver should go to the J-box, matching white to white and red or black to red or black, and the wires in the other side should go to the light, again matching white to white and black or red to blue.

If this doesn't work, you're probably going to have to put the light on a wall dimmer. There are models of wall switch that are also receivers for remote controls. Lutron's "Maestro" system uses one wired wall switch, to which a number of wireless controls can be linked and communicate with it via RF. This allows for, for instance, 3-way switching where there used to be none, without having to fish wire. In your case, the Pico remote control works with a Maestro switch and allows similar functionality to what you want with the Harbor Breeze control; a remote you can take in hand and control the lights from anywhere in range of the wall switch. You can get this system at a Home Depot or online. Downside? It's toward the cutting edge of home lighting controls, and so is pretty high-end; the switch and remote control combo is about $80.

To be sure of a sound attachment, you need to attach into the concrete. Anything else will almost surely fail. Plaster does not have the structural strength except where you can spread the load over a large area from behind the plaster, and even then it is iffy.

As suggested by others, to attach to the concrete, you can use tapcons, concrete expansion bolts, or expansion anchors that you put screws into. Any of these will make very small holes in the concrete and not compromise its strength. These holes could easily be filled when you leave.

SUPPLEMENT BASED ON COMMENTS: You need to know what you are drilling into if you go that route.

A very different approach would be to create what is basically a free standing rack and then fixing it lightly to the wall.

The existing rack could be screwed or bolted to the top of the face of 2 upright hardwood boards, maybe 1x3s, as tall as you need the rack to be. The bottom of those uprights would be attached to a foot extending out from the wall about 12 to 15 inches. A brace would be attached on a 45 degree angle from the far end of the foot to a spot on the upright about 12 inches up.

The braced feet will counteract the downward pull of the coats. You could even attach a flat board to the tops of the feet to make a shelf for shoes, etc.

This whole unit could then be screwed into the wall through the uprights into plastic anchors in the drywall. This is just meant to keep it from shifting, not supporting the weight of the coats.