DX100T Extractor Fan

[Ashalak]

Hi Guys, first post! Despite having made use of the forum for some years..

On this occasion however given the serious nature of electricity I wanted to double check my assumptions before doing myself some harm!

I am replacing a bathroom extractor fan which has packed up, and I am replacing it with an Xpelair DX100T Timer Fan. The fan I am replacing which has failed operated off of the bathroom light switch and was only live when the light switch was live, so what I'd assume to be a simple live/neutral connection on the fan.

I have partially disassembled the existing fan to check the connections, I have a 3 core wire (Pre 2004 as the house was build in 1992) featuring Blue, Red, Yellow and what I believe to be an earth cable which is sleeved in Green/Yelow tubing. I can see that the Blue is wired into a terminal on the fan marked 'N' confirming that it's Neutral with the Red wire wired into what I'd assume to be Live just next to it (No other markings). The Yellow wire however has been capped and left loose within the terminal housing. I can't quite see where the sleeved Yellow/Green earth is going to, it looks to be simply doubled up on itself externally of the fan and not actually connected to anything, but I could be wrong.

The Xpelair DX100T being a timer fan has an additional connection which must be wired up correctly in order to make the fan function.

I have 5x terminals within the DX100T, from left to right I have one marked as 'T', two un-marked which each have a wire running to the motor, 'N' which I'd assume to be Neutral and 'L' which I would assume to be Live. My assumption is that the Yellow wire I have not connected to anything would my be 'Switched Live' running to the 'T' terminal, with the Blue 'Neutral' running to the 'N' terminal and finally the Red 'Live' running to the 'L' terminal. Assuming you guys can confirm this I'm just not sure where the Green/Yellow covered Earth is meant to go, I'd assume nowhere seeing a there is no reference to it in the instructions.

I've also attached some images to hopefully illustrate the post.. Thanks in advance for any help

Ash.

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• Ashalak
• 24 Nov 2014
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• Ashalak
• 24 Nov 2014
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• Ashalak
• 24 Nov 2014
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• Ashalak
• 24 Nov 2014
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[ban-all-sheds]

If the yellow was switched live that would probably make the red permanent live, so the fan would have been on 24x7.

Find the other end of the 3C+E cable - try the light or ceiling rose first - yellow might be permanent live.

And yes - keep the earth safely sleeved or with a bit of choc-block on the end. Your new fan doesn't need it. Don't cut it back in case one day it is needed.

 

[Ashalak]

I had a quick look at the light socket which I believe it feeds from, it is a double switch - One operates the landing light and the other the bathroom where the fan is also operated from. The right hand switch (Bathroom/Fan) only has a connection with one red wire at either end of the switch.

I don't really fancy taking the ceiling out to be honest, it would be a total ballache!

I'll try get a picture tomorrow when I have some more light

 

[Ashalak]

As promised here are some pictures of the dual light switch which feeds the extractor fan circuit, it's the right hand switch which makes the fan live if that helps

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• Ashalak
• 25 Nov 2014
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• Ashalak
• 25 Nov 2014
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• Ashalak
• 25 Nov 2014
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[Taylortwocities]

I don't really fancy taking the ceiling out to be honest, it would be a total ballache!

Unfortunately, it looks like the connections for the fan come from the light fitting.

To be absolutely certain (and I like to be, with electricity) you will need a multimeter and check if there is 230v on the yellow wire both when the light is on, and when the light is off.

If that is the case then
Red - T
Blue - N
Yellow - L

 

[ban-all-sheds]

To be absolutely certain (and I like to be, with electricity) you will need a multimeter

Actually, if you want to do anything with electricity apart from turn appliances on and use it you need a multimeter.

 

[Ashalak]

Thanks for the help with this guys.

Under assumption then it looks like Red is the Switched Live, Blue is Neutral obviously and Yellow is the Permanent Live?

If I wanted to double check this with a multi-meter I would simply need to have it set to AC up to at least 240v and then test the neutral/red and neutral/yellow and the one that supplies current only when the switch is on would be the switched live, the permanent live however would be the wire supplying current regardless of the switch?

Thanks again

 

[JohnW2]

If I wanted to double check this with a multi-meter I would simply need to have it set to AC up to at least 240v and then test the neutral/red and neutral/yellow and the one that supplies current only when the switch is on would be the switched live, the permanent live however would be the wire supplying current regardless of the switch?

Indeed, as TTC said, that's what you would need to do - exercising, of course, all the necessary cautions because you would be testing on a live circuit.

Kind Regards, John

 

[Ashalak]

But of course

Thank you all kindly for the help, I'm going to borrow the multi-meter from work and get started.. I'll let you know how it goes

Thanks again!