I bought a new light/ fan combo to replace and old one in a bathroom. This new fixture has those connectors that are plug and play, so to speak. You simply plug the appropriate color wire from the cable into the corresponding hole in the wiring harness for the fixture.
The catch is that I have a ground, two hots and one neutral (12-3?)and the harness has a spot for each of them plus an extra white (neutral) that of course my cable doesn't have. Seeing as my old fan/light was wired with the same house wire, should I cut the harness to splice together the two neutrals, or somehow branch/split the neutral and plug into the harness?
If branching/splitting is the recommended course of action, how do I do that?
Best Answer
There are two neutrals on the fan light, because
By giving you separate neutrals, it gives you the versatility of being able to put the fan and light on separate circuits, or other circumstance where you'd need separate neutrals.
In your case, and in most instances, both devices share a neutral - the two hots (red and black) are switched, the neutral is not.
You address this by just sticking two 6-inch wires (of the size you are using in that circuit; larger is allowed, smaller is not) in those connectors, then joining those two wires and your supply neutral with a wire nut (or splice connector if you're in Europe.) I would not alter the fixture.