I just removed my exisiting ceiling fan and noticed three wires coming from the box (white, red, black) and ground wire (attached to screw in box). I have two switches in the bedroom - one for the light and one for the fan. The chandelier I bought has two wires and a ground. Which wires do I connect to the ceiling wires - one extra wire?

By the way, the wall switches are hooked up in the following manner. The light switch has a red wire and black wire with the ground. The fan switch has two blacks connected and the ground. The light switch black wire is capped off with one of the two black wires on the fan switch. Thank you in advance for your help. Love this site!

 

It doesn't matter. One wire is connected to the fan switch, the other to the light switch. The 3rn (white) is the common, and you connect that to the white or ribbed wire from the fixture. The green wire from the fixture will connect to the box or the bare wire in it.

 

The common way to do it would be to switch the black and also connect the black to the light and then just cap off the red wire in the ceiling. The black and red wires are both hot, the white is a neutral.

 

Decide which of the two switches you want to control the chandelier with. Use that wire, cap the other wire with a wirenut.

The extra switch won't do anything. You can remove it if you want and cap its two wires, or just leave it there to fill the space. You'll need to replace the cover with one that is made for a switch and a blank space if you do remove the switch.

 

Thanks for responses. This site is great!

One more question, I want the light switch (closest to the entrance) to be the active swith to turn on the chandelier light. This switch has a red wire on upper right and black wire on lower right (ground on left side). The fan switch has two blacks. Based on this info., which wire should I cap - black or red - if I want to use the first switch to turn on the light (chandelier). thanks!

 

If you want to use the switch with the red wire on it, then use the red wire at the ceiling. if you want to use the switch without the red wire on it, then don't use the red wire at the ceiling. Cap off whichever wire you don't use.