Problems fitting a ceiling fan with a light Ask questions and find answers to many subjects relating to electrics and electrical work

[medicineman]

Hi all,

The bedroom light fitting that I have has the following wires; brown (live), blue (neutral), yellow & green (earth) and red (? - it is marked LIGHT, so I guess it's a live wire for the light).

The fitting that I currently have in place has two black wires from the ceiling connecting to the brown of the fitting and one black wire from the ceiling connecting to a blue of the fitting.

Can I connect the brown and blue of the new fitting in the same way ? (that is, to the two black wires and single black wire respectively). What should I do with the red of the new fitting? My gut tells me to put it with the brown to connect to the two black wires from the ceiling. But I'm not sure. Finally, I know i should really connect the earth but I'm not sure how to do this when there is no earth from the ceiling.

ps. I have already changed the dimmer sw to a regular single gang switch.

Thanks in advance for your answer, K.

[sparx]

Hi,K.
your new fan/light is designed to have a perm.live for the fan, which will have it's own pull switch for multispeeds, a switched live (the red) for the light, & a shared neutral, plus if metal fitting then an earth is reqd.
From your description of wiring you have at old fitting it suggests either the wiring is VERY old single cores in conduit or if it's pvc then there are some cores tucked up in ceiling which you need to get at! have another look! regards SPARX

[medicineman]

Thanks for your advice Sparks.

I hadn't actually taken the old fitting down but assummed the wiring from the ceiling would be the same as an adjacent bedroom. When I took the old fitting down I found 3 reds, 3 blacks and 3 greens :) The 3 reds had been bound together separately, two blacks went into the brown of the old fitting and the single black went into the blue neutral of the old fitting. And of course, the greens of the ceiling connected to the earth of the old fitting.

Question is, how do I arrange these wires for my new ceiling fan/light?

Is the arrangment I suggested in my first post going to work? Sorry, but the instruction manual doesn't give any advice on what to do with the red 'light' wire of the new fitting.

Thanks again, Keith.

[medicineman]

Ok. This is what I plan to do. Connect the black sw wire (which is really a red live) to the red 'light' wire of my new fitting. Connect the permanent live black wire to the brown live wire of the fitting. Connect the third black wire to the blue neutral wire of the fitting. I'll leave all of the reds from the ceiling bundled up together in the plastic shealth that encases them at the moment. Then I'll connect up the yellow and green earths.

What do you think? Will this work? Thankyou so much for your help.

ps. My fitting has a couple of extrra earths attached to various parts of the fitting. Do I need to use these if I use the ordinary (main) one?

Best regards, Keith.

[bigmoonface]

I have the same problem I think. Probably being real dumb here. The red wire marked "light" on the fan? Where does that go to? I've connected up all the other wires and the fan works and is earthed but the light doesn't work. I'm just not sure wot to connect it to?

[sparx]

Hi both;
No!!!!
The sw live to your light does go to the 'RED' Black wire ie this is the wire from switch.
The other Blacks are your circuits looped Neutrals which stay together and connect to the Blue N of your fitting.
The perm live of your fitting (Brown) connects to the perm. lives (reds) 'bundled up together' in a spare block, then the room sw. will operate light and fans pull sw. will operate the fan!
All earths of fitting must be connected as various parts of drop-rod etc are plated & not very good contact
regards SPARX
PS if you can't follow this PLeeease get some one in it's still 230V & it still kills people, just because it lighting it's no less lethal than a power circuit!!!

[medicineman]

Hi Sparx,

Thanks for the guidance. You truly are an electric God! I was hoping you would reply before attemping the wiring. I tried the configuration you suggested and the light works fine but unfortunately I had no joy with the fan. Except a low humming (it's a new fitting so there shouldn't be any problems with the fan motor). I've now switched the lights off at the trip switch. Will have another go tomorrow.

The manufacturer actually recommends connecting the black live sw wire to the brown fan wire of the fitting and leaving all the reds from the ceiling together, not connecting them to the fitting. According to the manufacturer, all other wires are connected as you described. But, (I've said this b4 but can't believe it) they make no mention of the red 'light' wire from the fitting. I'm tempted to isolate this red wire from the fitting (that is, ignore it) and give their instructions a go. I didn't initially understand how the lights would be powered with this configuration but the light and fan are connected by a male and female connector. Could the light feed off the fan via the male/female connectors in this kind of set-up?

I will try ringing the manufacturer tomorrow but hoped that I might be able to squeeze out one more pearl of wisdom from the legend that is Sparx.

Thankyou all once more for your patience and your time.

Best regards, Keith.