Hello, old topic but I’m confused on how to install three GE Z-Wave switches. My room is wired as shown in the picture. Any help would be appreciated
Unfortunately when power starts at the fixture, smart switches won’t work. Reason is you don’t have enough wires at the switches and no neutral. You could use an Aeon micro switch installed in the fixture instead.
I have the same scenario. Without a neutral to the switches, there is no proper way to use smart switches. Therefore, I installed the Aeon micro dimmer in the fixture. Works well, especially in my case as I usually operate the light via a motion sensor anyway, so rarely have to use the switches themselves (but can, if needed). What I can’t do is dim the light from the switches (but I can from the phone app).
I think I need to re-evaluate the diagram…My house is 7 years old and I have neutral wiring. It is capped in the back of each box except the third one. All the wires are connected in it. I removed all three switches and turned the power back on…I had power at each box on one wire or another. It makes it impossible to find the line and load wires. I’ll get some more info and re-post.
If they truly ran the neutral through the light, then, yeah, that would be an issue. But if they did that, you’d have an open neutral and I doubt anyone did that just 7 years ago!
You just have to figure out exactly where you’re getting power from. A little odd that you would have power at all 3 boxes with just bare wires. The power has to be switched through those switches or the lights won’t really turn on/off.
Thanks for the info everyone.
I was questioning my earlier statement about having power at all the switches when they are all disconnected so I disconnected them all again. Here is what I found:
Exposed ceiling fan wiring and with the light off no power to any of the wires.
Switch 1 (3 position): 1 Black that is hot, 1 Red that is Cold, and 1 Red that is hot…There are white wires capped off in the back of the box and they are hot as well.
Switch 2 (4 position): 2 Black that are hot, 2 Red that are Hot…There are white wires capped off in the back of the box and they are hot as well.
Switch 3 (3 position); 1 Red that is Hot, I Black that is Hot, 1 White that is Hot…No white wires bundled in the back of the box. All wires go to the switch.
Very Confused. Anyone had luck with the Leviton VrS05-1LZ?
I think you are correct to assume you have the wiring Config. With the picture posted above. Those measures are exactly what you will get with that diagram. If you really want to go further. You can remove the white bunch from switch 1 and separate the 2 white wires. You will get 120v from the white wire in the same romex as the black wire on the C terminal of switch 1. That white wire is your line hot wire. There should be no power anywhere else.
Thanks for confirming my suspicion, I think this cowboy is getting off the horse! I’ve put 5 other switches in my house and all have had a neutral wire. Makes me wonder why this one is wired different!
Maybe a reno was done recently or possible a differ electrician. I know I have my favorite 2 ways, 3 ways and 4 ways when I was doing home electrical and almost always stick with my fav wiring.
Just wanted you guys to know that this guide helped me tremendously - I had two blacks and two red connected at the 4 way switch - I was able to use my tester and simply daisy-chain the black all the way to the end while keeping the red as the traveler.
Working perfectly! Thanks all!
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I’m just hoping someone can confirm I’ve got the same wiring as the first diagram posted. If i test the white and black from the 2 wire bundle I do get a complete circuit.
If this is the case, I understand I’ll need to order a micro switch to install in the switch with the 2 wire bundle. But how will the operation of the regular switches done manually affect the micro switch?
You may want to start a new thread to get the most responses. It appears u have a 4 way switched light fixture based on the pictures. Two 3 way switches and 1 4 way switch. I personally don’t have any experience with the micro switches, nor their compatibility with regular 3 and 4 way switches.
I have a 4 way setup in my home using the a leviton smart dimmer and 2 leviton smart add on switches, as well as another light setup with one GE smart dimmer and 2 smart add-on switches. Both brands came with wiring diagrams for my scenarios in the instructions. The add-on switches are about $20 each, not too bad. The smart dimmers are not cheap though, maybe $50.
Sorry for being late to this discussion but I just did the same thing in my hallway but my house is from the 80s.
I couldn’t figure out how to do the Z-Wave switches on a 4 way circuit. I bought a Lutron Caseta dimmer smart switch that came with a remote. I purchased an additional remote ($20). I just hooked up the main dimmer where the power comes in and then put the remotes mounted in the switch boxes at the other end of the hallway (2 x $5 mounting hardware). The Lutron doesn’t require a neutral. This was super easy.
