I recently moved into a 30-year-old rental home. I bought two light kits to install on existing ceiling fans. I don't know what brands the ceiling fans are (there's a different brand/model fan in every single room). The first light kit installed easily and works fine. The second one has been a real pain.

I am trying to wire the fan and light to two wall switches so we can turn the lights and fan on/off at the switches and use the fan pull chain to control the speed. Instead, I have no lights at all, and the light switch acts as a switch for the fan, even when the fan wall switch is off. When the light wall switch is off, the fan works okay. I had this problem when I first started and both fan and lights were on one wall switch. I was hoping that putting the lights on a separate switch would help, but it has made no difference. I also replaced the fan speed switch, which made no difference.

I checked the light kit (while disconnected from the fan) and the switch and wires check out okay. There is power at the blue wire going into the fan and when I checked between a light socket and ground. Reading through this site's archives, I saw where someone else had a similar problem. Is there a way to check the fan's internal wiring? Two of the wires coming from the fan (a yellow and a white) are capped off together - could that be a problem?

Any ideas/suggestions? (Other than buying a new fan - can't afford that at present.) Thanks for any help you can give me.

 

Lets see if I can help there should be 3 wires from the fan two colored wires and one white. the white is the neutral and should be connected to the neutral in the junction box above the fan. one colered wire from the fan should be connected to one of the wires from the switches the third wire from the fan should be connected to the other wire from the second switch. This means three seperate splices (not including the ground wire)above the fan. Each light kit should have two wires one colored and one white and are commonly attached to a plug. each fan has a light fitter that should house a similar pair of wires hok it up color to color white to white. If you are uncertain if you are using the correct wires you can test for voltage where the light hooks up withe the respective switch turned both on and off. hope this helps if not post back with more info and I'm sure somebody can help.

 

If this is rental property, in most cases (all that I know of ), it is not legal for you or the owner to work on the wiring. You must hire a professional.

 

Yes, I have three separate splices (excluding the ground) between the junction box and the fan. The light kit just had two wires, no plug; I have connected white to white and black from the kit to blue from the fan (dedicated wire for light kit).

I put together the other fan and light kit the same way, and they work with no problem. I suspect there's a defect in the fan wiring, but don't know what to check next.

 

I had not heard of that before. Could it be applicable only in Texas? Also, does it apply to a minor task, like adding a light kit to a ceiling fan? I am not changing any of the basic house wiring.

 

No, it's not just a Texas thing. Call your city building department and ask. But I'm pretty sure they'll tell you the same thing txsparky did.

The problem might be at the switches.

 

tell me what you have at the switch box. How many wires? How many switches? How are they hooked up?