I am wiring a fan with a white/black/green wires. The cable going to the switch box to fan has an extra red wire that was twisted with the black. I capped the red and connected the matched colors to the fan. At the switch box there is a light switch that is for the vanity light and one that controlled the old fan. The new fan switch has two black wires (one for fan and one for light) and a green ground wire. It is a 5 setting dial type switch. I tried a couple of things but couldn't get it to work. The box has several white wires twisted together, red and black together. Black wires together and a couple of black jumpers that were connected to the old switch I removed. What am I doing wrong? Should I re-connect the black and red at the fan and do the same for the switch or use just the Reds???
2 Answers
You said
At the switch box there is a light switch that is for the vanity light and one that controlled the old fan.
So you are removing this switch and replacing it with the new one? It isn't exactly clear what you are trying to do. A drawing or pictures would help.
If the new fan has a light in it then you need to use the either the black wire for the fan or the light and the red for the other. The new switch should be fed with a "hot" wire (one that is energized all the time) and one of blacks goes to the light and the other to the fan.
Hope that helps.
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Actually, I'm just trying to install the 5 position light/fan/Bluetooth dial type switch into the box. The vanity light switch is a separate switch in the box which is not being touched.im just trying to figure out which wires to connect to the two black wires on the switch marked switch and fan. Like I said, I have the black to black, white to white and ground connected at the fan with the red wire capped. Just not sure at the switch end. Thanks for your help. Don't know if that clears anything up for you or if I can post pictures.– C. MacJan 2, 2016 at 3:45
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Well the switch has to get power from somewhere so one wire/terminal has to get power from the hot feed. Then, if you want to control two items (fan and light) you have to have two separate wires to the fan/light besides the neutral (white) or ground (green). Normally that would be the black and red wires of a 14/3 NM cable. Unless, this unit is designed to allow Bluetooth control of the two functions without two separate switch legs. Then you just need to supply power to the unit and control it with Bluetooth? If you have a name and model # or owner manual that would be good. Jan 2, 2016 at 9:49
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It's the home netwerks 7130-02-BT. There is a couple connection videos out there but none with a 4 wire connection. Thanks.– C. MacJan 2, 2016 at 14:48
White wire twisted together are very normal. that's the neutral, or return power for all the circuits.
Black and red twisted together is usually for a second hot line into a device. this is common for ceiling fans if you want to have the light on a wall switch, but control the fan by the chain. it's also used for switch controlled outlets and 3 way switches.
Generally, you don't want to change anything in a switch box unless you change how things are operating. The two black jumpers in the switch box should be the only thing you need to touch. I suspect the red wire goes into a junction box and then gets sent as a black wire for the fan.
Set the wires in the same configuration that you found them, with the old switch. Get that working again. Then use only the jumpers to hook up your switch. There was probably a double stacked switch in the box using the black and red to control separate things.
