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installing a ceiling fan/light switch

1440 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  kasparsport
Hello, im brand new here and know not one thing of electrical. Heres the question...

I just installed a hunter fairhaven ceiling fan/light w/remote...after i completed installing it i noticed there were no pull chords. i need the remote to turn light on or off...and i dont like how the remote looks on the wall so, I went to home depot and purchased a switch to control the fan and light...this is where im having trouble understanding,,,

The new fan/light switch has 4 wires...black, red, blue, and green

My wall outlet has following wires...Two black that are twined together, one red, and two white wires that are not being used and were capped off and stuffed in back.

My old ceiling fan ran off the outlet but it had pull chords..

Any help would be appreciated...thanks
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If the fan has no pull chains, it will only opereate with the remote control.
A wall switch will do nothing except turn the power on or off.
My memory is fuzzy, but here is how things should go, and if I'm wrong/off somebody will correct, so don't do anything until 2nd...3rd...4th....opinions come in. And, after thoroughly reading the instructions and verifying the HOT IN wire to the box you're working with.

The remote - black wire is HOT IN. Red wire is power to fan. Blue is power to light. Green is ground.

Your house should, should based on what you're describing, have 14/3 going from switch box to ceiling box. Check to see if you have a red, black, white and bare ground wire(all in one sheath)coming out of the ceiling box. There should be 14/2 coming into the box on the wall, and the black should be the HOT IN. It's possible the hot in comes from the ceiling, and the wall box/switch was a loop, so that's why you need to find out where the power ( HOT IN ) actually is.

BTW, the white ( neutral wires ) should not be loose, if that's what you're saying by capped off and stuffed out of the way.
Thanks for the replies...the new switch wires i understand (black, red, green,blue)...

Its the wires coming out of my wall that is confusing me...The only wires I see are::: two black wires braided together, one red wire, and i believe two white wires that are wire connected together that are not used...also no bare wire for ground.

thanks again
It doesn't matter what switch is in the wall. All it will do is turn the power to the remote receiver (in the fan) on and off. You will still need to use the remote to turn the fan or lights on or off.

To make a wall switch control the fan or light, the remote receiver would have to be removed from the fan, or at least bypassed.

If that red wire in the wall does not go up to the fan location, you might not have enough wires to do independent control of the light and fan from the wall.

It is probably time to call an electrician.
Ok, so i cannot have both a remote and wall switch to control fan..its one or the other...thanks for clearing that up!! too bad it doesnt say that on package..:huh:
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