Help wiring switch to bathroom fan.

DIGItonium

My house is 3 years old and within a couple of months both of the Leviton timer switches failed with a nasty buzzing noise. So I bought regular single pole switches (2-terminals and a ground tab). From the Leviton switch, I moved the green wire connection to the ground tab. The red and black wire connections to each terminal of the switch (red on top). The white wire was disconnected.

The fan still isn't working, so I'm not sure how to wire it correctly from the timer to a regular switch. So I'm guessing I'm missing something about the white wire coming off the timer switch.

__________________

firulice

Nope looks good. Maybe it fried your fan motor. Do you have a volt meter or electrical tester? See if power is getting to the fan. My bet is blown motor ($12 @ Home Depot)

__________________
40th-40th edition. HFC, Nismo exhaust, Stillen intakes, GTR start, UpRev

SouthArk370Z

The black or the red wire should be hot all the time (the other supplies power to fan). If neither is hot, check fuse/breaker. For a single-pole switch, it doesn't matter which wire goes to which switch terminal. If everything checks out in the switch box, then check voltage at fan (as per firulice), if you have volts, then the motor is probably bad. If you don't have volts, then it's probably a wiring problem (I'd check the neutral first).

You say you wired a green wire to the switch ground, but all I see is a bare ground wire. If you have bare grounds, the green wire may be for power.

__________________
Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub
Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

jchammond

White & black are your hot wires in the house...the white goes to the polarized side of a recepticle & black to other...green is ground.
not sure about your fan switch-hooked mine up 18years ago...lol

__________________
MazWorx built long block | FI-TT-100 Stage 2.75 | IPT built 7A/T

http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...s-musings.html

DIGItonium

There's definitely power going to the Leviton timer. Here's the wiring diagram.


To reiterate, the white wire from the timer was connected to a bundle of wire with a yellow cap (assuming this bundle contains the neutral house wiring, light fixture, and fan motor). The single gray wires were connected to the black and red wires of the timer, which is now connected to terminals of the switch. The bare copper wire was connected to the green wire of the timer, which is now connected to the ground terminal of the switch. If this looks right to you guys, then I'll definitely look into checking the fan motor.

My electrician is definitely playing tricks on me when the house was built. I have no clue which breaker the wiring for this bathroom is connected to. I literally shut off power to the entire house.

__________________

SouthArk370Z

The white wire (upper left) on the timer is not needed for a "regular" SPST switch. The black wire (power from breaker box) should go to one of the switch terminals and the red wire (switched power to fan) to the other switch terminal. The neutral wire passes through from breaker box to fan (wires in yellow wire nut).

It sounds like the grey wires may go to the fan but I can't be 100% sure. If they are the fan wires, one will go to neutral (yellow wire nut) and the other to the switched side of the switch (red on the timer).

If the bathroom is an add-on, there may be a separate breaker box for it.

__________________
Steering Lock Links - Search The370Z Bookmarklet - FSM @ NICOclub
Mankind has progressed past the need for war but we haven't evolved that far. - NachoMahma

DIGItonium

Yea, for the white wire that makes sense, and I needed a sanity check. That's pretty much it with those two separate grey wires connecting to the red and black wires of the timer. I had the same issue with the other bathroom fan that failed, and I think the faulty timer fried the motor. Basically it was chattering the relay keeping the motor from getting constant power, and the fan would run slow or fail as a result.

Man, just 3 years after the house was built and I'm already dealing with this.

__________________

DIGItonium

Here's an update... I finally had some time to figure out the problem: the fan motor coils were shot. Thank goodness I live alone if you get my drift.

So after $32 for a pair of motor replacement kits, I definitely saved myself from calling an electrician.

__________________