I'm remodeling a room and someone decided to help me by taking down an existing ceiling fan with a light fixture. However they didn't make note of how the wires were connected and I'm having trouble figuring it out.
The light was turned on by a switch on the wall and both the fan and light could be turned off and on by the pull-chains when the switch was on. There is a 4-wire cable (black, red, white, ground) coming from the switch box and another 3-wire cable that I am not sure where it goes.
When they took the fixture down, they put wire nuts on the exposed wires – possibly reflecting the way they were connected (they don't remember)? In the ceiling, the two neutral wires are nutted together, the two grounds are twisted together, the red from the switch and the black from the other cable are nutted together and the black from the switch is by itself.
The fixture has a neutral, power for the fan and power for the light. There is also a ground which is connected to a screw in the side of the motor housing bracket on one end and the conduit for the wires going into the motor on the other end (I think it came from the manufacturer this way).
On the fixture, the fan and light power wires are twisted together.
The red wire goes into the top of the light switch (when the switch was up, it was on).
Does the fixture neutral wire get connected to the two other neutrals? Do the fan and light power wires get connected to the red and black wires that are nutted together? If yes, what happens to the single black wire?
Also, shouldn't the ground wires be connected to the light fixture? They are twisted together but they were not connected to the ground on the fixture or the ceiling light box.
Thanks.
Best Answer
It looks like you’ve misinterpreted the use of some of the wires, but this is the way I interpret it.
For the switch box, you have a 14/2 coming in with power and a 14/2 that leaves with constant power to go on to the next outlet or light in the circuit. One switch provides switched power to the black wire on the 14/3, and the other switch gives switched power to the red.
In the fan box, the red wire is connected to the black in the 14/2 which travels to the other light in the room. The black wire is what supplies switched power to the fan and that’s why it is not hooked up.
So, the fan will connect to the black wire for power, the white wire for neutral, and the grounds will also need to be connected.
If you need more clarification, let me know and I can edit this with more detail later.