Separate Single Pole Switches for Ceiling Fan Light and Fan Only

ddomingos · 01-13-2012, 02:23 PM

I hooked up the spare white and ground but can't activate the ceiling fixture.

psilva8 · 01-13-2012, 02:34 PM

Can you explain exactly how everything is wired, from switch box to fixture? Also, make sure you turned the circuit back on after working on it

NewHomeDIYGuy · 01-13-2012, 02:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ddomingos

I hooked up the spare white and ground but can't activate the ceiling fixture.

Which fixture doesn't work? Don't forget to pull the chain for the light/fan to make sure it's working. That happened to me when wiring up one of my ceiling fans and I thought I had a defective fan at first..

Regarding wiring up a ceiling fan and light. Easiest way is to just think about it, rather than just having someone tell you since it's such an easy setup. I'm of the opinion that you should never just blindly follow someone's instructions, as this always leads to trouble. The fan/light shares a common ground, and has 2 switched powered wires for the light and fan. So, the power for the light should connect to a switched power, and the power for the fan should connect to a switched power. Look at the wiring diagram, and connect the wires accordingly.

Jim Port · 01-13-2012, 03:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by psilva8

I didn't understand the connecting the hot wire to the 2 white wires but I'm not an electrician. What you can do with 2 (14-2) is:

At the double switch box, with power coming in, tie the hot wire with 2 pigtails each going to a switch. The 2 black wires leaving the switch box (two seperate 14-2), going to the fixture get connected to each switch. Tie all the neutrals together and the grounds together @ the switch box.

At the fixture 1 black gets tied to the blue and the other to the black for the fixture. Tie neutrals together, tie grounds together.

Kind of stupid way to do it though.

Phiilyd said.

Quote:

I have the same setting but the power source comes into the fixture box. How should this be wired

I believe the question was about using two switch loops using 14-2 cable instead of a 14-3. The power comes into the fan box.

If that is the case the two whites going to the switches become the feeds to the switch. The two blacks would act as the black and the red from a 14-3 cable.

ddomingos · 01-13-2012, 07:13 PM

Thank you to everyone for the help. I investigated some more and found that the switch was part of a switch loop connected to the receptacle near it. I replaced the receptacle (with the tab in place) and everything works great.