I am installing ceiling fans with remotes but I would prefer a hard wired wall switch. I purchased a wall switch but it came with a remote receiver and is essentially a wall-installed remote and I don’t want to deal with replacing batteries. The receiver acts as a switch for the light and fan and therefore only requires a single hot input.
The problem: From the wall box to the existing light fixture there is 1 hot, 1 neutral, and it’s grounded via the conduit. I’ll need separate wires for the light and the fan.
The question: Do I need to run another wire through the conduit so that I can connect them separately? If so, what is the easiest way to accomplish this task? Is there another option that I’m unaware of?
Assuming the technology hasn’t changed since I last looked, most ceiling fans with lights (or light options) provide each function with its own wire for connecting to hot — so, yes, if you have two switched hots available you connect one of them to each of those wires and that gives you the control. But you do need that second switched hot, and you do need the manual to help understand which of the fan’s wires is what and to know if you need to do something special to work with or bypass the fan’s built in remote control (if any).
Combined light switches and fan controllers are available that can adjust speeds for these fans if you just leave the fan itself on its fastest setting; I have two installed in my house (one for a ceiling fan, one for a bathroom exhaust fan). You can pick either speed control over the fan or dimmer control over the light, with a switch for the other function; I haven’t seen one that allowed tuning of both but it might exist by now.
Smart-home versions of dual switches or light/fan controllers do exist, if you want control other than through the manufacturer’s remote. Some fans may now be using smart-home compatible receivers for their built-in remote.
There are smart-home receivers that can actually be installed into the light’s shroud, which is a work-around if you can’t run that second switched hot. It looks like I’m going to use a few of those too. The downside is that the switch by the door would then be only a master on/off, which is not especially friendly to visitors, unless you do even more smart-home hackery so the switch is effectively acting as a remote.