I am replacing a ceiling fan/light kit combination with a light fixture. The ceiling fan is controlled by 2 switches; one for light on/off and one for the fan on/off + 3 speed control. My desired end result is 1 switch to control a new light (replacing that switch with a dimmer switch).
At the switch box:
Switch on the left (light control) has red/black/ground
Switch on the right (fan control) has 2 black wires; one was wired to the black lead on the switch (marked with blue tape in the picture) and the other to the red lead on the switch.
At the ceiling fan:
The wires are connected as what appears to be normal (no image attached):
Red to fan blue
White to fan white
Black to fan black
Ground to fan ground
Yes; both switches function as expected controlling the light on/off and fan on/off/speed.
Questions
What switch should be used for the new light? The previous fan light control or the previous fan speed control? Doesn’t matter to me which one to remove; I plan to use a blank for that.
Based upon the response to question 1, what wires to use for connecting the new light (red to lights’ black, white to lights’ white OR black to lights’ black, white to lights’ white OR something else)?
Knowing that I want to remove the extra switch, do I just cap those unused wires off or do they need to be otherwise connected?
Thank you for helping me out!
It looks like you have a pretty “normal” setup:
Black (hot) & white (neutral) come in from the panel.
Black (switched hot), red (switched hot) and white (neutral) go from the box to the fan/light.
What you should find, but is not 100% clear from the picture, is a wire nut connecting three black wires – incoming from the panel, light switch, fan switch. Assuming you can find that connection (because if you can’t then we need to figure out what is going on before doing anything else):
In the switch box
Remove the pigtail that used to go to the fan switch.
Cap the other black wire from the fan switch – you won’t be using it.
Use the existing light switch (unless you want to switch a Decora style or a smart switch) – no change needed to that switch in the box.
In the ceiling box
Cap the incoming black wire – this was for the fan and you won’t be using it.
Connect the red wire to the new light’s hot (typically black) wire.
Connect the white wire to the new light’s white (neutral) wire.
Connect all grounds together. New light ground may be green or bare.