my sister asked me to replace a ceiling fan in her bedroom with a light fixture. She has two wall switches on/off switch and another switch that is the fan speed. She will only need the on/off switch with the new light. Question is how to wire.......what do i do with the red wire? Do I connect the red wire with the black? TIA
Tape the spare wire back at both ends (cut the bare conductor at the insulation, fold it back over itself and tape it)
The spare wire is the red wire???? When I connect the wires black to black and white to white and the ground to ground and tape the red wire so it is not connected the light only works on and off with the dimmer switch..................I want the light to turn on and off with the main switch.
Don't take this the wrong way, but it doesn't help us help you when change terminology between posts. Because we want to make sure you are safe and that you do this correctly, let's make sure we know what you are talking about.
In your OP you said "two wall switches on/off switch and another switch that is fan speed". In your latest post you refer to a "main switch" and a "dimmer".
Again, just to be safe, are the "on/off switch" and "main switch" the same switch? Is the "fan speed" and "dimmer" the same switch? Even though I can't see your connections from where I'm sitting, I'll assume that that is what you meant.
Have you opened the switch box? Make sure you shut off the breaker first. If you have been working in the fixture box with just the switches turned off, that's not the safest method, but you shouldn't have power at the fixture when both switch are off, depending on how the fixture was wired. However, once you open the switch box (assuming switched hots) you will have live wires coming to the switches. Turn the breaker off before you remove the switch plate and then test the wires to make sure they are dead.
Based on what you've described, it sounds like you made changes in the fixture box and didn't look at the wires in the switch box. Again, based on what you've described, I would expect to see the black wire attached to the fan speed switch and the red attached to the on/off switch.
If that is the case, then you need to either swap the black and red wires in the switch box or at the fixture. I would recommend swapping wires at the switch box since black is the more common choice for a hot wire when no other hot wires are needed. Whatever ends up being the spare wire should be disconnected and taped off at both ends.
If you are not sure what you have, post a link to a picture or call someone more familiar with residential electrical wiring. We want to keep you around so that you can enjoy the holidays with your family.
Big question. What did each switch do? Did the fan have a light in it? Dit the "main switch" control just that light, and the dimmer control the fan completely? We really need to know a bit more before attempting to make an intelligent "guess"
Just put an orange wire nut at both ends.
There may not be a red wire anyway if the fan was installed with e.g. a Lutron Maestro switch which uses a remote controller module mounted in the fan canopy.
nate
Why would you say there might not be a red wire when the OP specifically asked what to do with with it?
Why would you mention a Maestro switch when the OP specifically said there was two wall switches, an on/off and a dimmer?
I'm confused....
The Maestro thing *is* two switches... and it sounds like the OP hasn't disassembled anything yet.
nate
You must not have read his second post where he explained what happened when he connected black to black, taped off the red wire, etc. Tough to do that without disassembling something.
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