Hard wire ceiling fan

Question

I am installing ceiling fans with remotes but I would prefer a hard wired wall switch. I purchased a wall switch but it came with a remote receiver and is essentially a wall-installed remote and I don't want to deal with replacing batteries. The receiver acts as a switch for the light and fan and therefore only requires a single hot input.

The problem: From the wall box to the existing light fixture there is 1 hot, 1 neutral, and it's grounded via the conduit. I'll need separate wires for the light and the fan.

The question: Do I need to run another wire through the conduit so that I can connect them separately? If so, what is the easiest way to accomplish this task? Is there another option that I'm unaware of?

Answer 1

Assuming the existing "1 hot" is really "1 switched hot" (i.e., the wire normally attached to a light switch) then yes, you just need to add an additional switched hot (any color except white, gray, green) and install a two switches instead of one switch.

However, this may depend a bit on the fan. Based on other questions, it seems that some currently available fans use a special connector between the remote and the actual fan/light. If that's the case, you can't simply wire up the two switched hots directly. In addition, you may find that with a simple switch controlling the fan you can't adjust the speed. (In ye olden days, the fan speed would be adjusted with a pull-chain.)