So we have taken ownership of our new home and while contractors are doing some upgrades I decided to install some ceiling fans in the bedrooms and the game room.

When I removed the lights from the ceiling this is the wiring I found in the game room.


I assumed I would be be able to control the light and fan separately with the red and black wires. After installing the first fan, I went to the controls and there was only one switch for that light, thus I had to wire the fan and light both to the hot black wire and just cap the red wire.

The I went to the bedrooms and found the same wiring. Being an idiot I wired these the same, both fan and light to black. However each room as double switch in it. I went around the room with a radio pulling it into all the outlets to see if one of the outlets was controlled by the 2nd switch and I couldn't find one which was.

So my questions are this.
1) If i re-wire one bedroom so the fan and light are controlled separately and it works, is it safe to assume all the bedrooms are wired the same? This means re-wiring 4 fans

2) in the game room there are lights on each side of the room, both controlled by the same switch. I only changed out one light with a fan in that room, but is it possible to re-wire the switch (add a switch) to control the lights and fan separately?

For question #2 I think it may be something like this. And if this is the case, I think it may be a little too advanced for me. Since those lights are on a 3 way, I would need to add a switch to both sets, then it looks like I would need to run wires between the two new switches.





[This message has been edited by Aggie_Eric98 (edited 7/10/2014 1:48p).]

1. Maybe. But never assume anything with electrical. Pull the cover from the two bedroom switches and see if you have one with a black and one with a red.
2. The short answer is it can be done. How many switches are in your game room? I read "there was only one switch" and then "since it was a 3-way".

Both sides of the room have 1 switch which controls the lights and fan together.

quote:

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Since those lights are on a 3 way, I would need to add a switch to both sets, then it looks like I would need to run wires between the two new switches.

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You don't necessarily need to add 3ways for the fan