Ceiling Fan Light Fixture Probs

Was adding a light fixture to a ceiling fan. What should be a simple "connect white & black wire" effort is not working! There's a TON of wires of all different colors inside the fan housing. Most had multiple wires all pigtailed and wire nutted together. There were two loose leads that appeared tailor made for lights. One a white wire pigtailed off a bunch of other white wires. The second was a black wire coming directly from the ceiling, NOT pigtailed to anything else.

Hooked them up to the light and no go. Got the voltmeter out and was only getting about 10 VAC out of them. On closer inspection, the lone black wire has a faint white stripe running its length. Is this some three way switch wire? I didn't check ALL the wall switches, but even so why should there be ANY voltage across those wires if it's on another wall switch? Weird. All other wall switches were off.

If a wire isn't terminated in an AC conduit it will show a low voltage due to being close to other wires carrying current. It woks like an inefficient transformer.

It also depends on your voltmeter. An older analog meter with a 1000 ohms per volt circuit loading will probably show no voltage. A digital meter with almost infinite ohms per volt circuit loading will indicate voltage.

The reason for all the different wires in the housing is because most ceiling fans have a multi-speed switch and a reversing switch. The actual power connection may be above the fan with all the wiring in the lower housing for the fan. You may have to run a wire from the ceiling box to the housing if you can not find the hot lead to the switch with adequate slack to tap into it.

jtk

Normally a fan that is configured to have a light fixture added will have two wires that are tagged for the light. These wires bypass the fan speed switch and reversing switch and would show 120 volts when the fan is powered. The fan switch on the wall would control both the light and the fan, but the switches on the fan could control the speed and also turn the fan off. There could be a separate switch on the light fixture to control the lights.

If you fan doesn't have these special wires, you may need to run new wires down through the fan assembly, which could prove difficult.

Jim is correct that a floating wire running next to other active wires will usually show a few volts with a digital multimeter. A measurement of 10V probably indicates that the wire runs parallel to the active circuit for a distance longer than the short drop from the ceiling.

Remove the wall switch and see if there is an unused red wire inside the box. It is common for the electrician to use 4 wire cable for a ceiling fan run even if there is initially only a fan. The red wire allows you to add a separate switch for the light. Convert the switch to a double switch so that one controls the fan and the red wire controls the light. It is much more convenient to have a wall switch for the lights rather than having to use the pull cord to turn on the light.

Steve

I still don't understand how the wire could pick up inductance voltage. There was NOTHING else powered on in the room. The fan light switch was on, but the fan was switched off. In essence, no electrons should have been flowing!

The fan does have a second switch on the plate, but I haven't pulled it yet. The wires I used, now that I recall, DID have labels for "light use only" or some such. The only thing I can think of is the wires for the lights were never connected with in the ceiling or at the switch plate. Hopefully at the plate as it will be much easier to deal with vs juggling the fan at the ceiling. The fan has to come down to access the wires up there, it's hung by the cover plate itself.

Call an electrician. There may be other issues.

No, it is NOT hung by the "cover itself"

No matter the style of fan, there is a mounting bracket only concealed by the cover.

Youtube videos may help.


Otherwise..

Too late now for this time..but-

All Ceiling fans I have installed had a pair of wires immediately inside the bottom cover, NOT buried in the rats nest above, and usually tagged "Light Kit"

Stay OUT that rats nest of wires above those tails.

If the light wires are not obvious w/o digging, then open the ceiling canopy and see if it is there, and investigate from there.

Marc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by lowell holmes

Call an electrician. There may be other issues.

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May be best if not familiar ground for you. Marc

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Marc Jeske

No, it is NOT hung by the "cover itself"

No matter the style of fan, there is a mounting bracket only concealed by the cover.

Youtube videos may help.


Otherwise..

Too late now for this time..but-

All Ceiling fans I have installed had a pair of wires immediately inside the bottom cover, NOT buried in the rats nest above, and usually tagged "Light Kit"

Stay OUT that rats nest of wires above those tails.

If the light wires are not obvious w/o digging, then open the ceiling canopy and see if it is there, and investigate from there.

Marc

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Ummm, YES there was no bracket under the cover. It was hung by an extension tube via ball joint to the actual decorative cover plate. I had it loose. I know. Was unlike any other fan or light fixture I've seen.

I DID use the wire labelled as "for lights". I dug as well into the ceiling box as I could while juggling the fan on a short ladder! No obvious loose wires in the ceiling.

There is a separate light switch I need to investigate, no 3-way switches though, etc. Based on that it "should" be simple. Will check for bad wiring or switch next, then plan an attack on the fan itself again. Better prepared for how it's mounted though.


I am relatively handy with electrical. Wired up my garage with 240v subpanel and ran multiple 120v branch circuits and 240v for power tools, all permitted construction done myself. So basically, I can do it, but this setup is infuriating in throwing curve balls.

Also, I just had to re-wire another outlet with reversed polarity. The idiots that wired up the house used the back stab method. which I hate! Don't trust it.

HOLY CARP!!

Finally got around to checking the switch outlet and sure enough all the wires leading to the switch were dead, switch itself seemed OK. Pulled the switch out of the box and came across THIS!! Lucky the place didn't burn down or electrocute someone.

Attachment 366804

A little dark pic, but there is a loose wire nut setting there, several twisted bare HOT WIRES laying loose, close to the ground, and the switch hot lead loose all by itself. No wonder there was no power! Flipped breaker, pulled the mess out and resecured with new wire nut AND wrapped in tape for good measure. Sure enough, the new lights now work in the fan. Whoever wired up this house should be shot.

Here is also a pick of the ceiling ball joint. You can see it just rests on the brass cover plate with no bracket underneath. weird, but that's how the fan is designed.

Attachment 366805

I think I'd be tempted to at least check all of the other outlets in the house after seeing that!

Fans are not that expensive. I'd buy a new one with a mounting bracket and a light kit. I bought one recently and it was about $65 to $70 and it came with three LED bulbs for the lights.

Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy Giddings

I think I'd be tempted to at least check all of the other outlets in the house after seeing that!

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I agree. Someone was not doing things properly and I'd worry that the fan was not the only problem.

Mike

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Andy Giddings

I think I'd be tempted to at least check all of the other outlets in the house after seeing that!

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As a former Electrical contractor in MN for about 16 yrs, I totally agree.

Seriously, you should do it.

Good job Russ !

Marc

IMHO - If you do start going through all your boxes, I would start in the Kitchen area.

Next move on to "Laundry", and any other higher load outlets.

If you do find they used the stab in connectors, In those locations, definitely re wire to screw terminals.

Otherwise in house on low load outlets, not the end of the world if you leave the stab ins.

Lastly, looks like you should check alll your wirenuts.

Not just for tightness, but unscrew the nut check the conductors, then re assemble.

Good to do all this during daylight on a cool day w the Wife out for the day so you can dump the Main. Marc