Ceiling fan/light wiring - extra yellow wire ?

[JBrennand]

I removed my old ceiling fan and light and set about fitting the new one this aft - a simple Bank Holiday job !!

Turns out I have 4 supply wires feeding the fan. Earth, live, neutral and errr a yellow one. Anyway I decided to blank off the yellow wire and connect the 3 others to their respective connectors on the fan's junction box.

Upshot is that the fan & light both work fine from the pull cords but independently of the wall switch. So I guess the yellow wire is the connection to the wall switch. The fan is a a sod to get on and off so I am leaving it until later in the week now to have another go.

So should the extra yellow wire be joined to the live or the neutral terminal in the junction box ? I'd hate to have to fit it more than once again.

Thanks for any help

JohnB

 

[Adam_151]

Yellow sounds like it is the switched live, you can blank off the other live (using a terminal block) and use yellow instead, that will mean it only works when the wall switch is on.

My guess is that sometime in the past, a light was used that had separate live terminals for light and fan, and it was set up so the wall switch controlled the light, and the fan could be switched independantly using its pull cord

 

[pdcelec]

The yellow is probably the switch wire whereas the red is probably the permanent live. It could also be the other way round. A voltmeter would come in very handy for this.

 

[breezer]

A voltmeter would come in very handy for this.

they often do, but does anybody listen?

 

[ban-all-sheds]

JohnB - did the old fan have a timed overrun?

A voltmeter would come in very handy for this.

they often do, but does anybody listen?

No -plenty of people who would never dream of trying to use nails or screws without a hammer or a screwdriver think that for some reason they can mess with electrics without the appropriate tools...

 

[JBrennand]

JohnB - did the old fan have a timed overrun?

Nope - I realise now (having inspected the wreck of the old one) that the fan had the permanent live feed and the light had the feed from the wall switch.

A voltmeter would come in very handy for this.

they often do, but does anybody listen?

No -plenty of people who would never dream of trying to use nails or screws without a hammer or a screwdriver think that for some reason they can mess with electrics without the appropriate tools...

Agreed - I actually have 2 voltmeters and they both work ! I'll check the feeds next time but I think i've already done the experiment and gotten the answer.

Was just one of those days - thanks to everyone for putting me straight.


Thanks folks.

 

[mapj1]

No -plenty of people who would never dream of trying to use nails or screws without a hammer or a screwdriver think that for some reason they can mess with electrics without the appropriate tools...

I on the other hand possess a wide selection of electrical and electronic test gear, and still find some occasions when hammering the screws in works a treat, particularly in softwood

 

[HDRW]

...
-plenty of people who would never dream of trying to use nails or screws without a hammer or a screwdriver think that for some reason they can mess with electrics without the appropriate tools...

Then there are people like my late mother, who would use:

Pliers, mole-grips, the back of an axe... basically anything metal and heavy, as a hammer
Chisels, scissors, paint scrapers, kitchen knives... basically anything metal with a narrow edge, as a screwdriver

Her father was a brilliant electrical/electronic engineer - they say things skip generations, and I'm really glad in this case that it seems to be true and that I don't take after her!

"A bad workman blames his tools" - because a good workman will refuse to use crap tools!

(That's interesting - I didn't say "rubbish" above, but a more basic Anglo-Saxon word, and the site translated it automatically!

Cheers,

Howard

 

[ban-all-sheds]

(That's interesting - I didn't say "rubbish" above, but a more basic Anglo-Saxon word, and the site translated it automatically!

Yeah - the attitude to even very mild expletives here is pretty crap.

In America (and presumably in UK casinos) it's also the name of a game of chance involving the rolling of a pair of dice - doesn't seem to upset anybody.

 

[HDRW]

(That's interesting - I didn't say "rubbish" above, but a more basic Anglo-Saxon word, and the site translated it automatically!

Yeah - the attitude to even very mild expletives here is pretty crap.

I was going to ask how you did that, but I can see now!

Cheers,

Howard