Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Ceiling fan wiring help

I'm replacing an old ceiling fan/light in the master bedroom with a monte carlo fan/light kit. Killed breaker, took light down and found 3 white and 3 black plus grounds. I've located the main b/w from the light switch, but I don't know how to hook up the other 2b/2w wires. The breaker controls the ceiling light/fan in this room + additional bathroom,pantry, and two other bedroom ceiling lights. Attempted to hook up the unit as instructed and the breaker tripped. Pulled new fan off, capped all wires seperate (all 6 wires had caps), turned on breaker and all the hooked up ceiling lights worked. I have no idea where the other four wires lead to. How the heck am I supposed to hook this thing up. All recepticles in the room work. The new light kit has w/blue/g/black wires to motor assy. Motor assy then has quick connect for lighting. One note is that I did not hook up quick connect when I tested and blew the breaker (does that matter?). Help !!! :wall:

How was the old one hooked up? Are there switches that control the ceiling fan or fan light?

Like an idiot (I was just telling my wife that the first rule is to label wires), I didn't label. Light was controlled by a switch on the wall, fan was wired to run when the chain was pulled whether or not the light was on.

You have identified the cable from the switch.
Connect the fan black, the switch white and the all the other blacks except the switch black together.
Connect the fan blue to the switch black.
Connect the fan white and all the remaining whites together.
Connect all the bare and green wires together.

Thank you. I'm closer now, but still have a problem. Hooked everything up and here's what I've got:

Light switch on-no fan
Light switch off fan low-dim bulb glow
Light switch off fan med-brighter glow
Light switch off fan high-even brighter (though dim)
Light switch on, Pull chain for light off-no fan
Light switch off, pull chain for light on-no fan
Light switch off, pull chain for light off-fan starts

You have somehow wired the fan and light in series with each other.
You are going to need to somehow identify where each cable in the fan box goes.

You have wired into a switch loop. Verify this by looking at the switch. Do you only have a black and a white attached to the switch? Ignore the ground.

You will need to determine which pair of wires does to the switch.

Once you do this you can be guided through the rest of the connections.

Yeah, I kinda figured. Just realized it's (the ceiling wires) tied into the closet. Turned on closet light and it's dim as well. Turn off switch for closet and bulbs in fan get a bit brighter. I'll figure it out once I get up into the ceiling and trace the wires. It's kinda hard to get the time as I work 12hr shifts.

if you have a switch leg, either wire can be hot. you must figure out which wires go to the switch. if you don't have a multi-meter you need to get one. then you can check it out. All of the wires in the ceiling box will likely tie together by color except the switch leg. One wire from the switch leg will tie into the black wires & the other wire from the switch leg will go to the light (usually Blue). this will have the fan controlled by the pull chain & the light by the remote wall switch.

I identified the only hot coming from the wall switch in the bedroom. Using a cheap led voltage checker, all other 4 wires don't register any voltage. It appears as though the voltage comes in on the one leg and is distributed to the closet,pantry and both bathrooms. The only lights that dim if I have the fan on are the line to the closet (pantry and extra bath are normal).

If this wire is hot with the switch on or off it is the feed.
The black feed wire will be hooked to all black wires going to other rooms to feed them. The two wires going to the switch (called a switch leg) will have to be identified so that one can be connected to the light & the other to the feed.
With a switch leg, both wires are hot when the switch is on. & only one is hot when the switch is off.

Thank you, I'll give it a shot. As I've put this stupid thing together and taken it apart 4 times already (flush mount) and spent several hours cursing I'll probably try to trace it this weekend. You guys have been more than helpful and patient.

light _________
Hot__________/ Switch


I am not sure what this will look like when posted
It is a switch leg

If you really wired into a switch loop, it's likely that this cannot be solved by rearranging connections alone. You probably need more wires in the wall.

It has to be possible as there was a fan/light installed in the exact location before that worked fine. It's just a matter of tracing the lines to figure out my screw up.