Installing recessed lights off ceiling fan switch

[thomasd87]

Electrical isn't my thing though I know just enough to get me into trouble thinking I can do it after coming up with grand ideas.

When I bought my house, it was an older house with the typical cloth two wire wiring. There was one new 3 wire that had been ran to a jacuzzi tub in the bathroom that isn't being used I guess years before I bought the house though. My living room had no light/ceiling fan. I had an electrician buddy who's no longer around come and he installed me a ceiling fan with 4 wire to control the light and fan separately. He tapped into the wiring in the ceiling going to the tub and I guess it's locked up somewhere in a junction box.

I'm now wanting to add a second switch and add 4 small led recessed lights in the living room. My plan was to tap off the wiring to the switch that he used for the ceiling fan. This is where my dilemma begins. I pulled the switch plate cover off and I'm always used to seeing two separate wires coming into the box, the main wire and then the wire to the light with the neutrals tied off in a wire nut. In this case it's only one wire so with no electrical training it's a bit beyond my level of expertise.

I don't know how to tap in to the wiring here and run it to the switch to power the new lights I want to install and I certainly dont want to blow something up or cause a safety issue. Is my plan even possible or does it require more expert assistance?

I've attached a diagram to hopefully provide better visual explanation.

The most interesting thing for me is the fact that the White wire appears to be the hot wire. When I turn everything off, the white wire is the only thing reading hot on my voltmeter.

 

[westward10]

There is no neutral at the switch.

 

[thomasd87]

There is no neutral at the switch.

I'm not sure I'm understanding you. No neutral at the switch in general in most cases or no neutral at the switch in my diagram?

If you're referring to the latter, absolutely that's where my issue is from where I've seen pictures and videos on YouTube where the neutrals are tied off in a separate wire nut and the two black wires are tied onto the switch. My particular case doesn't have the neutral, like the pictures and videos.

If the former is the case, I agree too. I've seen some with that set up as well.

But that's what my issue is. Figuring out how to tie off into that to power the new light switch for the recessed lights

I know that white is my Hot wire in this case. I imagine I'll need to wire nut the white wire with two black pig tails (so I know they are the hot wire) for each switch so they both have power. The new wire I run for the lights will have a black as well. I'll connect that new black wire to the new switch, completing the switch wiring. However, I'll be left with a new white wire that I don't know what to connect to since I don't have a neutral.

 

[westward10]

Without a neutral at the switch you cannot connect the new lights and switch from there.

 

[thomasd87]

Without a neutral at the switch you cannot connect the new lights and switch from there.

Well shucks, I kind of feared that. Makes me wonder since there's no neutral how my buddy was able to get the new ceiling fan/light installed and working.

Are there any ways of getting the recessed lights to safely work with this current set up or does it involve just needing to have an electrician come run a completely new wire from the panel?

 

[westward10]

The neutral will be at the fan/light.