wiring a ceiling fan with light blue wire schematic

Your existing light fixture was controlled by a switch and only one switch. This diagram is for those who are replacing a light fixture with a ceiling fan. When taking down your old fixture you will be able to see if you have the correct cabling. So instead of a 3-wire cable going to the fan, it must be replaced with a 4-wire cable. If so then a new wire must be ran to control the light as well. If this is the case, then odds are that this old ceiling light only has enough wires to switch off & on the fan or light. More often than not, you're going to have a ceiling light fixture at the location you are planning on installing a ceiling fan. Notice the black power wire in the light box is going to a white wire with electrical tape around it which means the white wire will be used as a power wire or black wire. Because of this, the wiring must be re-color coded in order to get the conductors necessary to complete the circuit. If you notice, the power is coming in at the light box. OK, this diagram is going to be a little more confusing but I'm showing it because this can be a very common scenario. When wiring a 4-way switch, this image on the left will show how the connections should actually look when all connections are made. So the circuit above when explained should give you a good concept on how this 4-way circuit works. If no connection is available, then attach the ground wire to the box in a solid way. All grounds are connected, and the ground is connected at the light when possible. It's very important that the ground or bare copper wire is connected to the green screws on the switches. There you have it, 3-way switch wiring simplified.

Now with that said, just look at the switch again and look at the circuit. Then the traveler wires are connecting both switches and it does matter which wire goes to which traveler screw. The black wire going to the load will always connect to the common screw on the 2nd switch in the circuit. By looking at the moving 3-way switch above, the hot (black) wire coming from the power source will always attach to the common screw on the 1st switch in the circuit. The best way to simplify wiring a 3-way switch is this. When wiring a 3-way switch, this image on the left will show how the connections should actually look when all connections are made. So the circuit above when explained should give you a good concept on how this 3-way circuit works.

Wiring a ceiling fan with light blue wire schematic