Need help troubleshooting fan/can light wiring

Years ago I had a ceiling light fan combo that ran on two different wall switches - one for the fan and one for the light. Following advice on this forum, I removed the light kit and installed recessed cans instead. I used the fan as a junction box, connecting the can light black to the red wire that had gone to the light kit. The whites and grounds were connected accordingly and everything worked fine.

Now I’m installing a new fan, and I can’t get seem to get the lights to work. The fan came with four wires - a ground, a white, a black, and a blue that is indicated as being for the “light”. I assume the white goes to the whites and the ground ties into the grounds. The blue and black supposedly go to the black “hot” wire from the fan. I assume the red wire (from the 3/1 Romex that’s hot) should still go to the black wire from my cans. However - that’s not working. The only way I can get my cans to light up is to use the black wire (from the 3/1 Romex that’s hot), but then the lights are running off the fan switch.

Any ideas on what might be the culprit?

It sounds like you do not have a proper neutral connection, so make sure the whites are correctly twisted together.

The white neutrals are all wired nutted together well, so that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

One potential clue: the 3/1 romex has a hot black AND red when the fan control switch is on. However, when just the light switch is on, the red is not hot. Seems as if the only wire that’s hot is the black from the 3/1.

BobStrauss said:

The white neutrals are all wired nutted together well, so that doesn’t seem to be an issue.

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Not necessarily, because when you disassembled and then reassembled, and did not twist all the conductors together, PRIOR to, installing the wirenut, you could have a bad connection.

BobStrauss said:

One potential clue: the 3/1 romex has a hot black AND red when the fan control switch is on. However, when just the light switch is on, the red is not hot. Seems as if the only wire that’s hot is the black from the 3/1.

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And if both switches are on?

If the cans are wired as stated, "I removed the light kit and installed recessed cans instead. I used the fan as a junction box, connecting the can light black to the red wire that had gone to the light kit." they should work, unless something else has changed.

How are you switches wired? Does the power come into the switch box and then go to the fan via the 14/3? Or does the power come into the fan box and just have a switch leg to the light switches using one conductor as the hot and two as the switched power leads?

https://electrician101.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/single-pole-switch/

To see how it is wired easily, go to the switch box and see how many pieces of Romex are coming into the box.

Having a 14/3 switch leg for two switches would not change the basic wiring in this diagram. You'd just have to pigtail the hot to both switches.

Sparky617 said:

How are you switches wired? Does the power come into the switch box and then go to the fan via the 14/3? Or does the power come into the fan box and just have a switch leg to the light switches using one conductor as the hot and two as the switched power leads?

https://electrician101.wordpress.com/2013/09/20/single-pole-switch/

To see how it is wired easily, go to the switch box and see how many pieces of Romex are coming into the box.

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Here are some pics of the wiring at the switch. The left switch is the dimmer for the light. It has a RED that's connected to the RED of the 14/3 Romex, a BLACK that's in a wire nut with three others, then ground to ground, WHITE to WHITES. The right switch is the fan control. It has one BLACK that is wired to the BLACK of the 14/3 Romex, and another BLACK that is in a wire nut with three others (the same group as the one that's connected to the light dimmer).

We might have fixed the original problem in a way that's giving us a more complicated problem now. it might help if we review what we did back then. I think this is the right thread, but apologies, I have'n read it through.:
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18695

slownsteady said:

We might have fixed the original problem in a way that's giving us a more complicated problem now. it might help if we review what we did back then. I think this is the right thread, but apologies, I have'n read it through.:
http://www.houserepairtalk.com/showthread.php?t=18695

Click to expand...

Yes, basically that’s the same arrangement. The photos for that project were of my living room, whereas this thread is about my master bedroom. Both rooms follow the same general pattern, however: two switches from the wall and the wiring (one 14/3 romex).

So in the switch box the switch and the red wire both get power from the incoming black.

Both switches get power from the incoming black. The red wire from the dimmer switch ties to the red wire of the 14/3 romex. The other black wire on the fan ties to the black wire of the 14/3 romex.

Do you ever get power at the switch where it connects to the red of the 12/3 Bad switch????

nealtw said:

Do you ever get power at the switch where it connects to the red of the 12/3 Bad switch????

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Great question! You're right, the switch was bad. Wasn't getting any power out of it, but certainly had power going in. I swapped it out for a different one and now I'm back and running.

Thanks for helping a noob out!