Ceiling Fan Light Kit

[Burgy]

My mother-in-law would like me to install a light kit to her ceiling fan. The ceiling fan is about 4 years old. There is no brand name marked on it anywhere. I had thought it was a Harbor Breeze but I don't think so. So we don't know the brand name. I took off the bottom cap/cover to the fan and there are two wires and a clip/harness with a tag on them labeled Light Kit. I am wondering if any light kit designed for a ceiling fan will work based on the wires I see in here fan.

The wall switch that controls the fan includes a fan speed switch as well (similar to that of a dimmer switch-slides up or down). Will this existing set up work with a light kit?

Thank you.

 

[bud16415]

For the fan to have lights that are on a separate control from the fan you need two runs up to the fan from the wall location and two switches. With adding a light kit to a single run fan the lights will be on when the fan has power to it and you wouldn’t want a speed control switch as it would try and dim the lights. You can replace that switch with a normal on/off and then use the pull chains to turn the fan on and off and most fans then have 3 speeds and a reverse switch along with a pull chain for the light.



So if say the fan was on low and the light was on then flipping the switch would turn them both on/off. Any changes in the setup would have to be made at the fan.



There is another option and that is the remote controlled units that can be retrofit into a fan. You use a regular on/off switch again and then have an RF remote to turn on lights and fan.

I have one of these on my fan/lights in my living room and it works great. The only problem is you have to find a place to hide the box that does the controlling and it has a tiny antenna. I had to put mine on top of the fan motor on the far side from where you enter the room and it is hardly noticeable. I have a drop pipe though and yours looks like a flush mount so you might have to figure something out.

 

[Snoonyb]

Take the bottom plate and match it to a fixture light kit.

 

[Burgy]

Thanks for the advice. Bud are you saying that I can use the existing wall switch as long as she is ok with using the fan chain and the light chain on the fixture to turn on/off or to adjust the fan speed while the wall switched is in the ON position? It would be a chore getting another wire run from the fan to the wall switch in her house the way it is set up.

 

[bud16415]

Thanks for the advice. Bud are you saying that I can use the existing wall switch as long as she is ok with using the fan chain and the light chain on the fixture to turn on/off or to adjust the fan speed while the wall switched is in the ON position? It would be a chore getting another wire run from the fan to the wall switch in her house the way it is set up.

That’s correct. I would remove the fan speed control switch and just replace it with a regular switch. Then you have power on/off to the ceiling with no new wires required. Then you connect in the light black and white thru the pull chain switch to where the fans black and white are connected to the power wires from the wall switch.

If she has the fan running and the light on she can go to the wall switch and shut them both off and go to bed. If she wants to leave the fan running and wants to turn the light off to go to bed she has to pull the light chain. Lots of people have them wired like this because in the old days the living room had a ceiling light and people converted those to fans, then they missed the light so they added a light back to the fan. Now in modern construction they put can lights in the ceiling and don’t have a box to convert to a fan and if they do have a box you can’t trust it is mounted good enough to take the weight of a fan.

 

[Burgy]

Hey Bud. So I have installed the light kit as well as a single pole switch on the wall. The fan works fine using the pull chain (3 speeds) when the wall switch is turned ON. The light isn't working when I pull the light fixture chain. I have working bulbs in the light fixture as I tested those in a working lamp. I am not getting any power to the light as I checked that with my voltage meter. I double checked the wires and wire nuts to make sure they are connected tight.

I have connected the light fixture white and black wires to the white and blue wires that have a label on them reading Light Kit Wires. See photo. White to White. Black to Blue. There isn't any power in any of those 4 wires. The power that the fan has is in the black wire running from the fan to the fan pull chain switch. See photo names blk fan to fan switch. So I am not sure why there isn't power to the lighting wires.

For the wall switch, I used a single pole switch and connected the white wire to a terminal and the black wire to a terminal and the ground to a terminal. There are only those 3 terminals on the single pole switch.

Any thoughts?

p.s. The dimmer switch I removed had 3 wires plus a ground wire. One of the 3 wires was capped off, not used. Not sure if this means I need a special wall switch other than the single pole I used. The fact that there is power to the fan tells me the issue I am having is up in the fixture somewhere.

 

[EricK]

Hi Burgy. I run a handyman business and install lots of ceiling fans. Here's a few thoughts I have on your situation. First, the dimmer switch you removed. Dimmer switches can be installed to run by themselves or in tandem with another switch (3 way). That's what the extra wire was for. Since the switch is a single pole that wire was unnecessary and therefore capped. I would check the wiring at the junction box at top of the fan. There should be a blue wire coming out of the fan. That wire is for your light. If you have only one switch that controls the fan that blue wire, along with the fan's black wire, should be connected to the black wire coming out of the ceiling. I noticed you have two other switches on the wall. Do you know what they are used for? I'm wondering if one of the other two switches is meant to control the light on the fan. If one of the other switches on the wall also runs to the fan, you should have an additional red wire in the ceiling at the junction box. If that is the case connect the blue wire to that red wire then you will be able to control the blades with one switch and the light with the other switch. Hope this helps

 

[EricK]

One quick follow-up. I am assuming, since the fan was installed without the light fixture that whoever installed it left the blue wire unattached at the junction box. I bet that is your issue.

 

[bud16415]

You are fine as far as the wall switch is concerned. You are sending power to the fan box or not when flipping the switch. So you don’t need to think about that.



The fan is working fine so what you need to look for is the power pass thru in that plug to control the light thru the light pull switch. I would have thought it was the blue and white also.



Is that other end of the blue in the other half of the plug connected to the black in the top of the fan?

You have a meter so you can test for voltage between the socket in the plug and the white to see if it is hot when the switch is on.

 

[bud16415]

@EricK You beat me to the punch line while I was typing. Good to see we are thinking alike.

 

[Burgy]

When the fan was installed, there wasn't any light or fan or anything in the ceiling. So I am not sure what is in the ceiling above the fan currently. The other two switches are used in this way: One is a 3 way that activates the kitchen light in the other room. The 2nd switch turns on a floor outlet for a floor lamp.

One of my pictures shows the blue and white wire (wires for the light) connected to the wire harness plug. I have those connected to the new light fixture. Erick is that what you are referring to or are you referring to wires that would be above the ceiling where the power is coming into?

Bud I will check to see if the blue wires is connected to the black in the top of the fan. Can I do that without removing the fan? I am hoping I don't have to remove the fan but I will if needed. All I know so far is that the black wire coming out of the top of the fan and connected to the plug, is hot all the way to the fan pull chain switch. No other wires in the lower half of the plug are hot.

Eric did you see the photos I had attached in a previous message showing the blue, white and black wires? I connected the blue wire coming down out of the plug to the black wire coming up from the new light fixture. I connected the white wire coming down from the plug to the white wire coming up from the new light fixture. I would think since the black wire coming down from the ceiling to the plug to the fan chain pull switch would provide juice to anything else connected to the plug.

 

[EricK]

Hi Burgy. You answered my questions about the other two switches. So I'm convinced that the light is not being powered at the junction box in the ceiling. I believe you have connected the light at the bottom of the fan near the blades correctly. Your solution is how the light is powered where it is attached at the ceiling.

You should not need to remove the fan from the ceiling. If you remove the cover that hugs the ceiling to reveal the wires you should find a lone blue wire coming out of the fan that's unattached to anything. That blue wire provides power to your light. You will need to connect the blue wire to the black wire coming out of your ceiling in the junction box. In other words, connect the black wire and the blue wire coming out of the fan to the black wire coming out of the ceiling at the junction box. The black wire from the fan will power the motor that turns the blades. The blue wire from the fan will power the light. They both get their power from the same source which is the black wire coming out of the ceiling in the junction box.

 

[Burgy]

Ok thanks. I can handle that. I understand what you are saying. This will give me something to do today since I can't work or go anywhere except to her house. Thanks again Erick and Bud. I will let you know the end result.

 

[EricK]

I predict a bright future

 

[EricK]

@EricK You beat me to the punch line while I was typing. Good to see we are thinking alike.

Thanks Bud. I've installed enough fans to troubleshoot stuff like this. I won't tell you how long it took me to install my very first ceiling fan

 

[bud16415]

Yes yours looks to be a flush mount fan and you will have to pull the motor down to connect the blue wire above.

@EricK gave correct advice. The only other option would be to pick up power on the power side of that fan switch black wire. In doing that you would be placing all the current thru the wire intended to just power the fan. It wouldn’t likely cause a problem especially with LED lamps now, but the better method is to do it right and pull the fan and make the connection in the Jbox in the ceiling.

 

[Burgy]

Understood. I hope the junction box is right above the fan so I don't have to get up in the ceiling via attack access.

 

[bud16415]

Yep there is a 4x4 box right above it. No demo required.

Good luck

 

[Burgy]

All good. The blue wire was not connected and just capped off as you had mentioned. I had to remove the fan blades so that I could hook/hang the motor unit so that I could connect the wires. A little more time involved but nothing too difficult. Now to replace the bulbs (CFL's) that came with it with bright LED bulbs.

Thanks again you guys.

 

[EricK]

Nice!