3-Way Switch Wiring, Add-On missing neutral

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
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Hey there,

I need help. I have a light in my kitchen that two switches in the room can turn on and off. I followed the Jasco 3-way switch instructions to a T. I used my multimeter to identify which switch was line and which was load and labeled accordingly. After rewiring the line switch with the new GE Z-wave Smart Dimmer (14294), I went to add the new GE Z-wave Add-on Switch (12723) and got stonewalled by the lack of neutral. Every other outlet in our house is wired with a neutral wire, but this one box. Maddening! I wish the video would have advised me to check for neutral in both boxes before continuing, but c’est la vie.

I did not get great pictures before rewiring to my new switches, but once I was stumped I took a picture of the old switch with the wires hovering where they were previously rigged up. I put wire nuts on them and turned on power just to see if the new Smart Dimmer switch would work. To my surprise, the blue LED lit up and I was able to add the switch to my Smartthings hub. Oddly, it does not turn the light on/off.

I tried to look at @jhamstead 's useful FAQ but I’m having trouble identifying which of these is my wiring situation. Can someone help me ID my wiring?

Here are pictures of the line switch wired up to the new Smart Dimmer:

IMG_1723
IMG_1723.jpg3024Ă—4032 2.51 MB
IMG_1724
IMG_1724.jpg3024Ă—4032 1.73 MB
IMG_1725
IMG_1725.jpg3024Ă—4032 1.78 MB

Note in the second picture the neutral wire. In the third picture, you can see the black load wire going to a wire nut, what might be hard to see is that the wire is black going in but appears to go out white.

Here are pictures of the load switch where the Add-On needs to go:

IMG_1721
IMG_1721.jpg4032Ă—3024 1.89 MB
IMG_1722
IMG_1722.jpg3024Ă—4032 2.29 MB

Please help! Let me know if you have any questions. Very much appreciated.

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The only reason there should be 4 wires in the second box is to have a line, a traveler, a neutral, and a ground. (One of those wires really should be a neutral.)
Like you, I’m concerned about black wires (normally line) coming in to a wire nut and a white wire (normally neutral) coming out. Someone messed up the color coding.
I’d turn off the power completely and do a continuity check to determine which wires coming into the second box match up with the wires coming out of the first box.

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In your main switch box, take the white wire that’s in the same Romex as the red wire and connect it to your neutral bundle. That will get neutral to the add-on box.

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This was the solution. I was able to identify my situation as “line-switch-load-switch-1” from the FAQ. You saying this helped me figure it out. I capped the black wire going from the main switch box to the add-on’s switch box. Used white as neutral, red as traveler, copper as ground… and voilá. Thank you so much. And thanks to @qoheleth.rms — yes, the black wire and white wire were being misused. You were right too.