On Mon, 28 Jul 2003 12:45:29 -0700, Josh wrote:
the ceiling fan that i bought doesn't have any lights and no remote
control. so, i bought a remote control.

later...

the electrical box in the ceiling has four wire colors which a red,
white, black and copper.

A good clue is how was this wired before? If you know please describe it.

I am assuming these four wires are in one or two cables. If there are two
cables then the four like wires are connected or all except the white is
connected. If this is not so then describe how it is connected.

You most likely have one of three setups (ignoring a wiring job done by
someone dangerous with tools):

1. Switched red, hot black.
The four wires a
bare copper or green insulated copper is the ground wire.
white is the common or return
black is always hot
red is switched

If there is another cable it may only connect to the white, black and
copper wires.

In this setup you could connect a lamp between the red and black
wires that is controlled by the light switch. A remote control
would connect to the black and white wires.

2. Three way switch,
This requires at least two cables. The two black wires are connected
together and the two red wires are connected together. The white wire
from each cable is intended for a light. In this setup there will be
two three-way switches that control the lamp socket (in rare cases
there may be one or more four way switches adding, um, complexity).

In this setup you do not have an always-on wire that will supply
continuous power for a remote control Connect the fan between the
two white wires and return the remote.

3. Shared common

This will almost certainly have an additional cable or cables. It
is unusual in a light fixture. In this setup there is 120 Volts
between the black and white wires, 120 volts between the red and
white wires, and 240 volts between the red and black wires.

my new remote control has ("IN" to electrical box in the ceiling) green,
blue, white, black. the "OUT" (going to the ceiling fan) has only two
colors which are white and black.

Your fan should have a bare copper or a green wire that will connect
to the green wire. If the box or just the cross strap is metal then
that also connects to the green wire.

my new celing fan has (to be connected to the OUT of the remote control)
four colors - white, black, green and blue.

Your fan will have four wires to connect. Green to Green and the box is
easy. White to white is even easier. Since you only have fan then you
only have one additional wire to connect. The remote control has a
circuit for a light that you will not use, the fan may also have a
wire for light that you will not use. 'Best to connect the wires
for the light to make adding one easier later.

Initially, i nutwire the red wire in electrical box (since there are no
other red wire). connect the copper to the green, connect the black (of
electrical box) to black of IN-remote and white (of electrical box) to
white of IN-remote.

One red wire is consistant with being switched.

Then, connect the white OUT-remote to white of the ceiling fan, black of
OUT-remote to black of ceiling fan.

since there is no light, i didn't use the blue wire of ceiling fan and
the blue wire of remote control.

Beyond my guess above, you will have to read the instructions on how
to connect the fan to the control.

it is not working. i remove the remote the do the same. Still, it did
not work.

can somebody share some knowledge of what i did wrong and tell me on how
to do it right?

Could the switch be off? Is the breaker off?

If the red is switched then connect it directly to the fan and forget
the remote. If the black is always hot then use it as the power for the
remote.

Do you have a volt meter or tester light? That will tell you where there
is power. Just be slow and careful about where you reach and touch when
the power is on. Make sure wire ends do not touch the box or each other.

thanks very much.
Josh

We need a little more information to solve it online, but I may have
given you enough clues to figure it out.


Richard Kaiser
Homeowner and Electronics Engineer