Need help combining light switches

I have 2 different lights on the same circuit with power coming in at the lights. The switches are on adjoining walls. The first light is just a standard 4 light vanity light on its own switch with power coming in at the light. The second light is a bath fan/light combo. This light is going into a double gang light box at the door with the light and fan on their own switch. I want to leave the fan on its own switch and just combine the lights. Both of the switches have a white going into the top, a black going to the bottom and the ground going to the ground screw. Both switches are standard SPST switch. Hopefully the picture will help clear up some questions.

 

Welcome to the forums.

There would be a chance you could combine if they were on the same exact circuit breaker.
You'll will need to check that first and let us know.

 

They are on the same circuit breaker

 

Ok.... that's a good start.
You don't want to run any wiring..... correct ?

My educated guess would be the ceiling fan/light combo was there originally and then power was taken from there to the vanity lights and then down to the switch.

So you need to determine what there is for wiring at the fan/light combo and the vanity lights.
Easiest to start at the fan. You can pull the grill off and the guts will come out of the housing to expose a wiring area. Tell us how many cables are there. I'm guessing three. Power in, power out to vanity, switch leg fan/light.

 

I don't mind running wire but i will do what I gotta do to get it right. After getting up there and getting the fan/light combo down i found 2 wires. Both blacks, reds, bares were tied together respectively with wire nuts. And just to be clear there are 3 light switches in the bathroom. 1 near the vanity that runs just the vanity lights and 2 in a double gang box by the door. 1 for the light and the other for the fan

 

Anyone have some suggestions??

 

Sorry to miss this.

Just to clarify...... you have 2) three wire cables at the fan ?
(A three wire cable would be white, black, red and a bare ground.)
White to white, red to red and black to black ?

Understand the three switches. You want to do away with the vanity switch.
A three wire cable from the two switches to the fan combo make perfect sense. One wire runs the light and the other runs the fan.

The part that is a mystery is where does that second three wire cable go ?
I'm wondering if it goes to the vanity lights or the switch. If it did.... it would be perfect.

Can you see what you have for wiring at the vanity light ?

I added a second diagram to your original showing how I think it may be wired.

 

No red. There is black, white, bare, and they are tied together. I will see what wires I have at vanity and take pics of all

 

Ok..... you need to be precise with your descriptions.

There are 2) two wire cables at the fan/light ? (we don't count the ground wire)
Doesn't seem correct. If the power comes into the fan/light and then down to the two switches..... there should be at least three cables....... since there is no three wire cable involved.

 

If I'm reading this correctly you have dead end switch legs at the 3 switches? As long as they're all on the same circuit, you already have the wires you need. With the constant power at the fan, you have your switch leg to the light on the fan already. On the switch controlling the light on the fan you have a black and a white on the switch, one is constant power and one goes to the light. After identifying, cap with a wire nut the constant power and pack it away. The other wire goes to the light on the fan. Now, identify the vanity switch leg, remove it from the switch and pigtail it with the wire that goes to the light on the fan and install it back on the switch. Viola!

 

Sparkknock..... You may not have understood the situation completely. The two gang switch box controls the fan/light combo unit and is at the door. The third switch for the vanity lights is on the other side of the room...... near the vanity and controls the vanity light.

We do know they are on the same circuit but by the members description.... there is a cable missing. We need to locate the tie point for power and so far.... I don't see it.

 

Ok. Sorry it took a couple days to get back to you. At the fan light combo there is a pair of 14-2 wires. I'm assuming one is line in and the other is switch. Behind the vanity light there is also a pair of 14-2 wires. The black from 1 is wired to the white of the other. I'm assuming thats because of the switch and the other white and black from the 14-2 goes to the light fixture if that makes sense.

 

I believe the drawing you added is correct. If so How can I combine the switches still?

 

We really aren't getting anywhere here.

You have two switches by the door in a 2 gang box..... one controls the fan and one controls the fan's light. That means there needs to be at least three 14-2 cables at the fan/light combo. One for power TO the fan/light combo. One 14-2 for the fan switch and another 14-2 for the light switch.

IF this is what you do have in place....... the best (and really only) way is to run an additional 14-2 from the fan/light combo to the vanity light or the switch box. You would connect the 14-2 to the light of the combo. You would no longer need power at the vanity. It can remain in the box but needs to be capped off.

 

The fan/light combo is the older style where the light and the fan plug into 2 separate plugs inside the box. I don't know if that changes things or not

 

No.... it doesn't change anything.
Most of the newer ones are the same..... or at least the fan plugs in for serviceability.

 

After running a wire from the old light switch box to the switch by the door I caped off the wires behind the vanity and hooked up the wires to the switch I wanted to keep and in the old switch box I hooked the white from the switch to the old black wire in the box and it works great.