electrical wire


  #1  
Old 06-19-02, 07:34 PM
steve burke
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electrical wire

I am trying to install the ceiling fan and when I opened the light on the ceiling I noticed that there was a white and red and black, however the ceiling fan has a white ,black, and blue (with blue tagged as the the light)
 
  #2  
Old 06-19-02, 08:42 PM
J
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Wire color isn't enough information by itself. Normally, you need to run a series of tests to determine what a wire is being used for and to what it is connected. However, we can often infer the purpose by knowing prior connections.

So, can you tell us how the ceiling light was/is connected? Next, tell us if there are perhaps two switches on the wall (perhaps this ceiling box was prewired in anticipation of a future fan). After we get this information, we may need to ask more questions.
 
  #3  
Old 06-20-02, 09:30 AM
steve burke
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There is a 3 way wire (2 switches for the box)
The previous light there had a black and white wire , with the red in the box in the ceiling pigtailed to each other.
 
  #4  
Old 06-20-02, 09:36 AM
J
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You mentioned that "the red in the box in the ceiling pigtailed to each other." Can I infer from this that there are more than one red wire in the box? Could I guess that there might be more than one black and/or white wire too?

From your first post, I incorrectly assumed there was only one wire of each color in the ceiling. Can you clarify? Tell us everything you see.
 
  #5  
Old 06-20-02, 10:03 AM
steve burke
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There are two wires Black connected to ach other , the same for red and the same for white as well after carefully looking at it again there is a white and what apears to be blue (or black ) very dusty can't tell what colour and they are pigtailed together.
 
  #6  
Old 06-20-02, 11:15 AM
J
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Two reds, two blacks and two whites normally indicate that this box is in between the two switches. However, it would only be typical for two of these three colors (the travelers) to be connected to the other wire of the same color. The fact that you see all three colors connected to like colors is unexpected.

It would now be helpful if you tell us everything you see in both switch boxes. This includes all the wires and all the connections, including connections that don't even involve the switch itself.

Also, is there any possibility that more than one light was controlled by this pair of switches?
 
 

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