Hello again,
I recently installed a new ceiling fan at the top of the stairs. It plugs in to a wall outlet to power the fan. However, I did use the switched power in the ceiling to power the light kit. The intent was that the fan will operate from the pull string but the light will still work from the switches(3). I installed the light today.

Everything is great, except, when the downstairs light is on the ceiling light is off. And vice versa. This occurs with all 3 switches and is not affected by the position of the fan pull string.

The wiring in the ceiling for the light was pretty simple so I'm a little confused as to why this is happening. I only had to connect the 2 light wires to the 2 ceiling wires.

Would having the ceiling connection backwards cause this?

 

Hi, what did the switches control before, did everything work correctly?
Geo🇺🇸

 

Just the 2 lights, and all switches worked correctly.

 

How can it plug into the wall and connect at the light ?

 

I just wired the fan to a plug and plugged it into the wall. Only the light kit is wired into the ceiling. This way the switch doesn't have to be on to run the fan.

 

We need details of what you had and what you changed.

 

You could only wire it that way if you had four wires.... a black, a blue and two separate neutrals.
You're currently sharing one neutral for the ceiling light and the wall receptacle.

 

Hey pj,
No, no sharing. Unless I misunderstand you. The fan wires are completely separate and wired to a 3 prong. Now, it's been a few weeks so maybe I'm remembering wrong. And I will pull the fan and check the wiring as soon as I get a chance. But I'm pretty sure the fan was wired completely separate. Then I just connected the two wires for the light kit into the circuit for the lights.

Now, this is weird right? All I can think of is, how is this even possible? 😊

 

What did the switched power in the ceiling control before installing the new light? Was this switched power operated by the 3 switches? Are two of them 3-way switches and one a 4-way switch?

 

Sorry guys, I live in a crazy house.

Joed
I took the light at the top of the stairs and replaced it with a ceiling fan. But I wired the fan power to an outlet and the light kit power to the wiring in the ceiling. That is all.

Beelzebob
What did the switched power in the ceiling control before installing the new light?
- As noted above, were talking about an upstairs light and a downstairs light.
Was this switched power operated by the 3 switches?
-Yes, and they worked as expected. Any one of the 3 switches would change the condition of both lights.
Are two of them 3-way switches and one a 4-way switch?
-This I don't know. I would assume they were all 3-way. But I did not look. In any case, I'm having trouble wrapping my brain around any situation that would cause the upstairs light to operate in opposition to the downstairs light. Obviously, I did something wrong. But still, how can you "make" a light work in opposition?
Answer "that" question, and I think I have my solution.

 

If you did that it would work.
We need details of the wiring connections in the light box.

 

Other than, it was the white and black wires, I can't say until I open it up again.

Maybe I can get to it today.

 

At any moment after you removed the old ceiling light fixture but before you hung the ceiling fan, were there more than two loose individual wire ends poking down and out of the ceiling box?

If so then how were they grouped at the back of the box as they exited into the ceiling?

 

I'm pretty sure there was, but I can't say until I look again.

 

Dang it PJ!
Superior intelligence can often be annoying, but don't let that stop you from sharing it.

You were right. There is only one neutral for the fan assembly. So I "was" sharing it.

Since I had the whole assembly down I went ahead and ran another neutral through the fan assembly so I could connect the light to the switch neutral.

All is good now.

I can't thank you all enough!