0

Okay so I have electrical question

I have two hot wires coming off of two toggle switches. One is white, one is red. One is supposed to control the fan. One is supposed to control the light. Now I have a remote control fan I'm trying to install and the remote control box wires to the fan blue to blue for the light white to white for the fan and black to black. Obviously. Out the other side it's black and white but I still have coming out of the house. A three-wire system black, white and red. I have tried wiring. The white and red together with the white doesn't work. I have tried wiring just the whites together and capping. The red doesn't work. Tried wiring red to white and capping. The white doesn't work. How can I get this to work?

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    How about including pictures of the ceiling box and the inside of the switch box.
    – JACK
    May 21, 2022 at 17:31
  • 2
    Having a white wire (without any red or black tape/marker/etc. on it) is a code violation. Are you 100% sure that's correct? Pics of the wiring on the switches and in the box where they're mounted (without disconnecting anything, but with the breaker shut off for safety) would be really helpful.
    – FreeMan
    May 21, 2022 at 17:48
  • 1
    Yes, can you post photos of the insides of both boxes involved please?
    – ThreePhaseEel
    May 21, 2022 at 19:54
  • 2
    Having white as a switched-hot is also a code violation, and will create a lot of confusion up in the fan box. It sounds like you have a switch loop (no neutral) which needs to be corrected so white is always-hot. You can edit to add pictures. But before you change browsers or devices, register your account so you can log in "as you" from the other device.
    – Harper - Reinstate Monica
    May 22, 2022 at 0:00

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
2

First off, I very much dislike all the remotes we seem to be forced to use these days.

I think the issue is your having 2 separate switches. This is typical pre-remote wiring. One controlled the fan and one controlled the light. The remote is intended to have a single power source incoming (one of your switches in this case).

You will not be able to control the light and the fan separately from these 2 switches, while using the remote, at least not safely. I suppose you could bypass the remote control box blue wire and wire the fan blue wire directly to your second switch (the red hot wire coming from your second switch)- then securely cap the blue wire coming from the remote control box. This would be so that if someone turned the light on from the remote then that wire will be live. This is not how the system is intended and I recommend not doing this.

It is probably possible to dump the remote control box and wire the light directly to one switch (usually the red wire) and get a fan control switch for the second switch to run the fan. Again this is not how that particular fan was set up to be used and could potentially cause problems.

Otherwise wire one switch to the fan remote control box (as it is intended) and the other switch will do nothing and must be disconnected- either at the switch or securely capped up in the fan box.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.