Household Electrical question

[vatreefarmer]

I have a ceiling fan with light fixture above my pool table. Later I added 2 spotlights on either end of the table coming off of the same wiring feed. The fan operates via a 3 position switch on the wall. Light switch turns on the spotlights and fan light fixture does not work (I really don't remember if that was the trade-off I made when I had the spots installed.) However, I've noticed that if the fan is turned to "high" setting, the fan light fixture will faintly glow. I'm not an electrician, but that doesn't seem right, and possibly a fire hazard. Where do I begin to look to resolve this issue? Thanks

[Zach G]

are you saying the fan light fixture will come on when you only turn the fan on and not the light itself? or the light dims when you have everything on?

need a little clarification.

[vatreefarmer]

Sorry. The fan light does NOT work except for a faint glow when the fan is on "high." The fan does not have a switch on it to operate the light or fan seperately, that is addressed by the 2 wall switches, one for the fan and one for the light.

(the wall switch for "light" now operates the 2 spots)

[Zach G]

well, at first thought it sounds like it is a result of inductance. current is leaking from wire to wire cause a "phantom" voltage on the fixture wires that operate the light in the fan. I would unplug the light connector inside the fan.

[vatreefarmer]

OK, that's kinda what I thought, that a small amount of voltage was "leaking" into the light wiring. Next question is this: If I change the spotlights (6 X 60W spotlights total) over to low wattage LED lights, can I re-wire the setup so that the 3X60w bulbs in the fan-light work in addition to the spotlights?

[Igore67]

It almost sounds like something is wired in series or the fan light is wired from the fan speed switch wire rather the push button wire. The hot from the breaker must feed both switches in parallel, you should be able to work the fan, fan light and spots with no voltage drop. Does your fan run slower than before? Are your spots on a toggle switch?

[vatreefarmer]

Original wiring was for 2 separate switches to the fixture. One wall switch for the fan (5 position reostat off-low-med-high-off) and a wall toggle for the light. When the spots were added later, I may have by-passed the fan light fixture to prevent excessive draw on the lighting wire. If this helps, the house is 10 years old with 300amp service.

[Igore67]

Ideally you need a fan control knob where you push the knob to switch the light, turn the knob to control fan speed, and use your existing switch to control the spots. But...if you don't have a 12/3 cable from the switch to the fan ceiling box this won't work (from your description it doesn't sound like it). You could use the toggle swt to control the spots and fan light.

[Tmore]