Ceiling fan & light replacement switch: how do?
December 28, 2018 8:57 AM Subscribe
This is one of those "Well, it felt like it was easy" things: I have an existing ceiling fan that also has a light. Our wall switch, which was here when we got the place, broke. I bought a new one and installed it and... it's not working as intended. Electrical info inside.
The original switch was a generic looking "General Purpose Ceiling Fan Control Non Solid State", with no other markings on it. It had a rotating switch for the fan speed, and off/lo/hi for the light. Three wires on it: yellow, red, and black.
Our box has two separate groups of wires (which I'm taking as one being the fan and one the light.) The left group has a white wire and a black wire. The right group has red, black, copper, and white. They were attached as such.
Left black -> switch black
Left white -> right white
Right red -> switch yellow
Right black -> switch red
Right copper -> capped (haha, oh boy)
I assumed the left group was for the fan, and the right for the light. But this doesn't appear to be correct.
The new switch is a Lutron Diva that controls both the light and the fan. The light should just be the paddle, and the slider should be the fan.
I've tried a few variations of the wires (and took care of the ground wire), but no luck: either the switch turns off _everything_, including the fan, or the dimmer ends up controlling the lights _and_ the fan. So... unsure how to best resolve this. Help?
Original switch picture
Box and wiring with original switch picture
The original switch was a generic looking "General Purpose Ceiling Fan Control Non Solid State", with no other markings on it. It had a rotating switch for the fan speed, and off/lo/hi for the light. Three wires on it: yellow, red, and black.
Our box has two separate groups of wires (which I'm taking as one being the fan and one the light.) The left group has a white wire and a black wire. The right group has red, black, copper, and white. They were attached as such.
Left black -> switch black
Left white -> right white
Right red -> switch yellow
Right black -> switch red
Right copper -> capped (haha, oh boy)
I assumed the left group was for the fan, and the right for the light. But this doesn't appear to be correct.
The new switch is a Lutron Diva that controls both the light and the fan. The light should just be the paddle, and the slider should be the fan.
I've tried a few variations of the wires (and took care of the ground wire), but no luck: either the switch turns off _everything_, including the fan, or the dimmer ends up controlling the lights _and_ the fan. So... unsure how to best resolve this. Help?
Original switch picture
Box and wiring with original switch picture
Best answer: For the record, it's much more likely that the left side is the power into the box (Line), and the right side runs to the light/fan (Load), with a single neutral shared between the fan & light.
With that assumption, and cross-referencing the installation guide of the switch you linked, the switch hot (black) should be connected to the line hot (black), which agrees with your wiring. The switch fan (yellow) wire should be connected to whichever wire is connected to the light, and the switch light (red) wire should be connected to whichever wire is connected to the fan. Based on your successful wiring, that would indicate that your red wire goes to the light, and the black to the fan. The neutral (white) from the fan/light would be connected to the neutral (white) from the line side, with no connection to the switch. The ground (bare/copper) wires would be connected to each other, and to the green wire on the switch. (Notably, this is the exact configuration the old switch was wired in, minus the grounding to the switch itself.)
I'm confused what you mean when you say that the ground (bare/copper) wire on the right was capped, since in your photo, it looks like it's crimped to the other ground wire, and then one is cut off, with the other left long to connect to the ground of whatever device was installed in the outlet. Since your old switch didn't appear to have a ground connector, this was left unconnected, but as long as the two wires were crimped together, it's properly connected. What did you do differently when you re-wired it?
posted by yuwtze at 11:05 PM on December 28, 2018
With that assumption, and cross-referencing the installation guide of the switch you linked, the switch hot (black) should be connected to the line hot (black), which agrees with your wiring. The switch fan (yellow) wire should be connected to whichever wire is connected to the light, and the switch light (red) wire should be connected to whichever wire is connected to the fan. Based on your successful wiring, that would indicate that your red wire goes to the light, and the black to the fan. The neutral (white) from the fan/light would be connected to the neutral (white) from the line side, with no connection to the switch. The ground (bare/copper) wires would be connected to each other, and to the green wire on the switch. (Notably, this is the exact configuration the old switch was wired in, minus the grounding to the switch itself.)
I'm confused what you mean when you say that the ground (bare/copper) wire on the right was capped, since in your photo, it looks like it's crimped to the other ground wire, and then one is cut off, with the other left long to connect to the ground of whatever device was installed in the outlet. Since your old switch didn't appear to have a ground connector, this was left unconnected, but as long as the two wires were crimped together, it's properly connected. What did you do differently when you re-wired it?
posted by yuwtze at 11:05 PM on December 28, 2018
Response by poster: I had written the response above prior to doing a hard review of the images. There was only one ground wire, from the right side/load (thanks for that clarification), but it wasn't attached to anything – it had just a cap on it in the box itself.
When I rewired it, I initially matched the colors on the switch to the colors in the box as best as I could, but that didn't work. I ultimately went through a few rounds of logical deduction to figure out how it should be configured (and this was the 4th attempt, so not bad.) The things that threw me were the load versus line in the box, and understanding which switch was controlling which function. For instance, when I first had it hooked up, the switch was controlling both the fan and the light. I did a quick swap of the red and yellow wires, thinking "Oh, the light and fan controls are switched", but no – that didn't quite do it either. I eventually figured out which wire was appropriate for the power to the switch, and then it was a matter of getting the other two right.
posted by hijinx at 5:43 AM on December 31, 2018
When I rewired it, I initially matched the colors on the switch to the colors in the box as best as I could, but that didn't work. I ultimately went through a few rounds of logical deduction to figure out how it should be configured (and this was the 4th attempt, so not bad.) The things that threw me were the load versus line in the box, and understanding which switch was controlling which function. For instance, when I first had it hooked up, the switch was controlling both the fan and the light. I did a quick swap of the red and yellow wires, thinking "Oh, the light and fan controls are switched", but no – that didn't quite do it either. I eventually figured out which wire was appropriate for the power to the switch, and then it was a matter of getting the other two right.
posted by hijinx at 5:43 AM on December 31, 2018
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Left black -> Switch black
Right red -> Switch yellow
Right black -> Switch red
This worked for me. Hope it helps someone else in the future as well.
posted by hijinx at 9:45 AM on December 28, 2018 [1 favorite]