Hard Wire a Ceiling Fan
#1
06-17-05, 04:32 PM
Hard Wire a Ceiling Fan
I am trying to install a new ceiling fan. The schematics go like this
Blue-hot for lights
Black-hot for fan
White-common
Green-ground
I can't remember exactly how the old fan was wired put here are the wires I have in my ceiling
1 single black
3 whites (twisted together)
1 bare
2 blacks twisted with 1 white
I want my lights to run off a dimmer switch
My fan to run by pull chain only
What I do know that the 1 single black is from the dimmer switch for the lights and the 3 whites (twisted together) are also the neutral for the lights.
My question is this how do I connect the fan?
I assume that the 2 black twisted with 1 white is for the black hot of the fan.
Can you do that all in one wire nut? or is this incorrect?
Blue-hot for lights
Black-hot for fan
White-common
Green-ground
I can't remember exactly how the old fan was wired put here are the wires I have in my ceiling
1 single black
3 whites (twisted together)
1 bare
2 blacks twisted with 1 white
I want my lights to run off a dimmer switch
My fan to run by pull chain only
What I do know that the 1 single black is from the dimmer switch for the lights and the 3 whites (twisted together) are also the neutral for the lights.
My question is this how do I connect the fan?
I assume that the 2 black twisted with 1 white is for the black hot of the fan.
Can you do that all in one wire nut? or is this incorrect?
#2
06-17-05, 05:18 PM
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OK....
For starters the white twisted with the blacks is probably the " Switch Leg : that carries the hot down to the switch....don't mess with that as it is already in place.
Now.......the (3) whites are most certainly your neutral so you obviously will connect the WHITE from the ceiling fan with these connections.
Now...do this.....do you see the white wire that is connected with the black wires......look into the box and you may notice that the (1) black wire you have is in the same cable as the white wire that is connected to the other blacks.......If you see that then you know that the black wire is the one being switched and should go to the BLUE wire from your fan.
Now to make the fan HOT all the time and work from the pull chain you simply need to pigtail a wire from the (2) black and (1) white wire connection as that is the HOT leg.....pigtail from that connector to the BLACK wire in your fan and it will be HOT all the time and only the pull chain will control the fan.
Be sure to do your grounding as you should...connect the green wire from the fan to the metal ceiling box and ground wires from the circuit ( if you have a grounded circuit ).
Hope this explains it........I have a tendency to get people confused...lol
So again to answer can you do that with the white wire....Yes if you are doing a switch leg...However, in the new code you will need to wrap that white wire in black or red showing it is no longer a neutral and you would need to do it on both ends of the wire.....but since you are not upgrading the system itself...I would not worry about that..but yes it can be done.
For starters the white twisted with the blacks is probably the " Switch Leg : that carries the hot down to the switch....don't mess with that as it is already in place.
Now.......the (3) whites are most certainly your neutral so you obviously will connect the WHITE from the ceiling fan with these connections.
Now...do this.....do you see the white wire that is connected with the black wires......look into the box and you may notice that the (1) black wire you have is in the same cable as the white wire that is connected to the other blacks.......If you see that then you know that the black wire is the one being switched and should go to the BLUE wire from your fan.
Now to make the fan HOT all the time and work from the pull chain you simply need to pigtail a wire from the (2) black and (1) white wire connection as that is the HOT leg.....pigtail from that connector to the BLACK wire in your fan and it will be HOT all the time and only the pull chain will control the fan.
Be sure to do your grounding as you should...connect the green wire from the fan to the metal ceiling box and ground wires from the circuit ( if you have a grounded circuit ).
Hope this explains it........I have a tendency to get people confused...lol
So again to answer can you do that with the white wire....Yes if you are doing a switch leg...However, in the new code you will need to wrap that white wire in black or red showing it is no longer a neutral and you would need to do it on both ends of the wire.....but since you are not upgrading the system itself...I would not worry about that..but yes it can be done.
#3
06-17-05, 06:30 PM
I guess I'm confused. I looked into the jbox and the (1) black wire IS in the same cable as the white wire connected to the (2) blacks, like you thought may be the case. The problem is I have the lights connected to that black wire so do I connect the fan to the same black wire?
How do you pigtail something? Sorry I am Electrically Illiterate! LOL
How do you pigtail something? Sorry I am Electrically Illiterate! LOL
#5
06-17-05, 09:22 PM
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Penny,
First, a pigtail is just a short piece of wire (maybe 6") that is used to make the connection to a fixture more convienent. Like the bundle of white wires you have, one end of a pigtail is attached to the bundle and the other end of the pigtail is attached to the the fan or light fixtures white wire.
In your case, I am wondering if one of the 3 white wires bundled together is a pigtail that was connected to your old light fixture. If not double check and make sure you did not count something wrong because your cables entering the box should have the same number of black and white wire and your desciption has a total of 4 white wires and 3 black wires.
Anyway, I suspect this is the way it should be wired
Bundle of white wires (2 or 3?) gets attached (with a pigtail if needed) to the white wire of your fan
Bundle of 2 (1 or 2?) black wires and one white wire gets attached (with a pigtail if needed) to the black wire of your fan.
Individual black wire gets attached to the blue wire of fan (use a pigtail if the wires hav difficulty reaching each other)
First, a pigtail is just a short piece of wire (maybe 6") that is used to make the connection to a fixture more convienent. Like the bundle of white wires you have, one end of a pigtail is attached to the bundle and the other end of the pigtail is attached to the the fan or light fixtures white wire.
In your case, I am wondering if one of the 3 white wires bundled together is a pigtail that was connected to your old light fixture. If not double check and make sure you did not count something wrong because your cables entering the box should have the same number of black and white wire and your desciption has a total of 4 white wires and 3 black wires.
Anyway, I suspect this is the way it should be wired
Bundle of white wires (2 or 3?) gets attached (with a pigtail if needed) to the white wire of your fan
Bundle of 2 (1 or 2?) black wires and one white wire gets attached (with a pigtail if needed) to the black wire of your fan.
Individual black wire gets attached to the blue wire of fan (use a pigtail if the wires hav difficulty reaching each other)
#6
06-18-05, 06:58 AM
Sorry I do have 2 threads because I thought the other old that I posted a week ago would just sit at the bottom and no one would respond to it. When I updated it, it moved to the top. And yes the are it is the same fan we are talking about.
As for the wire count I did count the white wires wrong, there ARE 3.
The fan I bought is Pre-wired and has only 1 white, 1 blue and 1 black wire running to a connection with 3 prongs, (don't know what it's called), and 1 green wire running to a screw, anyways you plug that 3 prong connection into the plate it came with which is attached to the ceiling. So the only wiring I can mess with is the wiring in the wall to the 3 on the backside of the ceiling plate. I think this is part of the problem. My old fan had all kinds of wires running up through the extension rod and no 3 prong connection.
So I have only 3 wires I can play with.
So this is where the confusion comes in. I only have one single black wire hanging down from the ceiling. So this gets attached to my fan and lights? Which are the black and blue wires.
As for the wire count I did count the white wires wrong, there ARE 3.
The fan I bought is Pre-wired and has only 1 white, 1 blue and 1 black wire running to a connection with 3 prongs, (don't know what it's called), and 1 green wire running to a screw, anyways you plug that 3 prong connection into the plate it came with which is attached to the ceiling. So the only wiring I can mess with is the wiring in the wall to the 3 on the backside of the ceiling plate. I think this is part of the problem. My old fan had all kinds of wires running up through the extension rod and no 3 prong connection.
So I have only 3 wires I can play with.
So this is where the confusion comes in. I only have one single black wire hanging down from the ceiling. So this gets attached to my fan and lights? Which are the black and blue wires.
