Shop Products
Houzz Logo Print
wishiwasinoz

Going from a ceiling fan to a chandelier

wishiwasinoz
13 years ago

I am changing out a ceiling fan in a bedroom to a chandelier. Inside the light box is a black wire, a white wire, a red wire, & a grounding wire.

Excuse my lack of correct terminology --

On the chandelier (bought from CL) is a cord that resembles a regular plug-in cord, though the casing is stripped off & the wires are hanging out about an inch. There is also a grounding wire on the chandelier.

I've tried connecting that wire one at a time to each of the wires in the box, while plugging the un-used wires. When I turn the electricity on, I am not getting any light. I thought it would be as simple as that. What am I doing wrong? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Natalie

Comments (9)

  • DavidR
    13 years ago

    The ribbed wire in the chandelier goes to white. The other wire in the chandelier's zip cord goes to black or red (probably each one, black and red, is controlled by a separate switch). The bare ground wire goes to the ground wire, obviously.

    All must be connected at the same time for it to work (technically not so of the ground wire, but close enough).

    Use wire nuts on each connection. If they weren't included with the chandelier, get them from the hardware store. To get the right size, tell the counterperson you need to connect one #18 wire to one #14 wire (again, the situation might be a little different, but this should be close enough).

    And if none of this makes sense, might be time to call in a pro. :)

  • smithy123
    13 years ago

    not enough info. is there a fan control or are there two switches? For the wires, use ideal tan wingnuts from your electrical distributor.

  • wishiwasinoz
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    There are two switches to control the fan.

  • weedmeister
    13 years ago

    Of the two switches, one controlled the fan, the other controlled the light on the fan. Assuming you are not going to remove the extra switch, connect the red and back to the smooth insulated wire from the chandelier and the ribbed one to the white wire. Either switch should then turn on the light.

  • DavidR
    13 years ago

    "connect the red and back to the smooth insulated wire from the chandelier ... Either switch should then turn on the light."

    Heh. If it were my house I'd flip the switch and the darn light would stay on, because someone had turned both of the switches on! I recommend connecting only one hot wire and leaving the other switch to control nothing, but either way will work.

  • wishiwasinoz
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    I just checked - red goes to the light switch, black to the fan switch.

  • smithy123
    13 years ago

    nec allows wires thicker than 1/0 to be paralelled. prohibits your wires to vbe paralled. you can, however wire it so some of the sockets are on one switch, some are on the other.

  • andersonrwilliam
    13 years ago

    Pick black & red wire and connect them to black & red, leave the third wire.

    Here is a link that might be useful: chandelier

  • smithy123
    13 years ago

    my idea is better. in my hall light, i wired one socket on the switch and the other one live. i then used a reducer and screwed a c7 led retrofit into the reducer.

    here is what i used. i used the warm whites. they look like a regular nightlight when they have a shade.

    Here is a link that might be useful: led retrofits