I need guidance wiring a wall switch that controls a ceiling fan with light. Bear with me, as it is complicated and I'm a newbie at wiring.

I have two ceiling fans on my patio that both have light kits. Each fan has a switch for fan (on/off) and light (on/off) mounted on the wall. The two wall switches are wired together so that either light switch controls the light on both fans; likewise each fan switch contols both fans.

The pull chains are sucky and hard to operate, so I bought a duplex wall switch (only one) that controls the light and the fan speed. I'm trying to put this switch in the second wall box - the one at the end of the run of wire.

I removed the switch from the wall box and find a green ground and three wires for the light switch and three wires for the fan switch. One side of each switch has a black screw and I believe this side is the "hot" side. The other side of the switch has two brass screws that I think are for a neutral wire and a "traveler" wire that comes from the other switched box. All of the wires coming into this wall box are black EXCEPT the green ground wire and one red wire going to the brass screw side of the fan switch. The other wire going to the brass screw side of the fan switch is black. On the light switch, the brass screw side has a black wire and a black wire that someone has wrapped red tape around, I assume marking this wire as the same as the red wire on the fan switch.

The new wall switch has a black and white wire that I connected to both wires that were attached to the black screws (hot?). I paired up the black and red wires for the fan and connected them to a black wire marked "for fan" on the new switch. I paired up the black and red-taped wires on the light switch and connected them to the wire on the new switch marked "for light". I connected the green ground wires and turned on the breaker.

Now, the multi-speed fan switch turns on the fans AND lights when set to high. None of the other fan speeds work. Likewise, if I turn on only the light switch, BOTH the fans and lights come on in both fans.

I want the light switch to control the light and the fan switch to provide speed control as well as on/off. It doesn't.

I suspect that I have improperly wired the "traveler" (brass screw) side of the switch but don't have enough knowledge to know.

Any help is appreciated. If you choose to e-mail me direct my address is gigem at suddenlink dot net.

Thanks in advance.
Jim Crenshaw '65

Maybe I'm not reading correctly, I usually have to see this kind of thing...

Are the original switches 3-way switches?

What I'm putting in the room that has this issue is the following: Lutron Maestro 3-way fan dimmer switch.

Yes, speck, the original switches in the room are three-way. The new switch is a Harbor Breeze wall mount fan and light control - a >$20 item, unlike the item you list. It's description is at http://www.lowes.com/pd_130622-1811-WM-7WWL_0__?productId=1131651&Ntt=harbor+breeze+wall+mount+fan+control&pl=1¤tURL=%2Fpl__0__s%3FNtt%3Dharbor%2Bbreeze%2Bwall%2Bmount%2Bfan%2Bcontrol&facetInfo=.

Further into - when I tried to other three-way switch, it no longer works. I've obviously wired something incorrectly OR this switch will not work in this application. The Harbor Breeze switch described above has four wires to be connected - a ground, an AC hot, a fan wire, and a light wire. I'm trying to connect that to the three-way that has a ground, two hots, two neutrals, and two "travelers"(?).

[This message has been edited by Jim65 (edited 5/22/2011 5:13p).]

The switch you bought WILL NOT work in the way that you're trying to make it work.

That's why I posted the expensive one.

What you labeled as the traveler might be the switchleg", i.e. the switched wire that runs from the switch to the fixtures themselves (as opposed to the traveler between the two 3-ways). You can use the switch that you bought, however, you have to lose the other switch location, i.e. you will no longer have 3-way control. You wind up having to wirenut the wires that used to be at the seond switch location. If you still want 3-way control, see Speck's Lutron link. Lutron makes good products.

Thanks to both of you. I kept the same switch and did away with the three way capability. I really didn't need the other switch and didn't want to pay for the Lutron. Next time, I'll make sure I'm buying something other than a single-pole.