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Wiring Help. Switching from Ceiling fan to a regular light.

Wiring Help. Switching from Ceiling fan to a regular light.


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Old 07-20-14, 05:59 PM
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Wiring Help. Switching from Ceiling fan to a regular light.

Greetings,

I have one bedroom in my house with an 8 foot ceiling and an old ceiling fan. The other day I inadvertently reached up and hit the light/fan with my arm, there were a few sparks, a few pops and the fan/light were no more. I decided that at 6'2", a fan is not going to work for me in this room anymore so I am going to replace it with a regular light. I have installed several lights and fans in my day but wiring this light has me puzzled.



Some background Info:

-There are three wire bundles in the junction box. Two with a white, black and ground wire, and a third with a grey, black and ground wire.
-There is one switch on the wall for the light.
-In the fan wiring that I removed, all of the black wires were attached to the black wire on the fan, the white and grey wire from C and D (see pic) were attached to the white wire on the fan, and the white wire from A was attached to the blue wire on the fan.
-My original thoughts were to connect the two whites and grey wire to the white wire on the new light and all of the blacks to the black wire on the new fan. When I installed it this way, the light was on when the light switch was off, and when I turned the light switch on I blew a fuze.

So I did some testing with the multimeter:
-Grey wire from B is hot all of the time regardless of the position of the light switch.
-No other wires are hot.
-I checked the continuity of all of the wires and black and grey wire of B are always continuous, the black and white of C are always continuous, and the black and white wires of A are ONLY continuous when the light switch is in the 'on' position.

Im basically just trying to figure out how bundle the wires to connect to the white and black wire on my new light.

Any insight that you may have would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!!
 
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Old 07-20-14, 06:42 PM
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Welcome to the forums.

A looks to be a switch leg.
B appears to be your feed and if it's an NM type(romex) cable then it should be white and black.
C appears to feed out to somewhere.

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Old 07-20-14, 06:42 PM
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What is the wiring at the switch. How was the fan wired? Do you have conduit or cable?
 
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Old 07-21-14, 04:53 AM
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I saw you were removing the fan due to its mounting height. Every fan I have seen requires at least 7 foot clearance to the floor. Perhaps a shorter downrod or a different fan would work for you.
 
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Old 07-21-14, 05:18 AM
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Thanks for the replies.

Im not worried about not having a fan in that room, its in the basement and stays cool year around.

PJmax, If I am understanding you correctly then all of the black wires will go to the black wire on the light, the white and grey wire form B and C will attach to the white wire on the light and the white wire from A would be capped?? Thats simiair to the original wiring of the fan, except that the white wire from A fed a blue wire on the fan.

Im not sure of the wiring at the switch but I might have to investigate it if I cant get it figured out.

Thanks again!
 
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Old 07-21-14, 07:05 AM
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With three cables it sounds like you have power in, power out and the switch loop cable. The white in the switch loop splices to the black to take power to the switch. The black from that same cable connects to the fixture black.

That white should be marked as a hot with black tape or magic marker.
 
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Old 07-21-14, 07:57 AM
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Im not sure of the wiring at the switch but I might have to investigate it if I cant get it figured out
The switch is half of the circuit. It is critical to understanding the circuit. The word might should not be in your mind if you really want us to help us help you.
 
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Old 07-22-14, 04:32 PM
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ray2047, you are absolutely right. That was dumb on my part.

I investigated the switch. It is a standard switch with the black wire connected to the top screw and the white wire connected to the bottom. Wiring bundle 'C' runs into the laundry room and supplies power to the light (that light also has a switch loop which connects to that switch).

I believe that the diagram below indicates the proper way to move forward. I have not included the grounds on the diagram, but they will obviously also be included.

Thank you for all of your help and let me know if you believe I am interpreting this incorrectly. Thanks!!
 
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Old 07-22-14, 05:51 PM
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Yes that is correct.

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