Confused by some of the threads about this, so I thought I would ask specifically. I have a new home, and a traditional switched outlet. I have lamps plugged into the outlet and the light switch turns the lamps on and off.
I want to add a z-wave switch and replace the regular switch on the house. However, after removing the wall plate, the current switch only has 2 wires and a ground. A red and a black wire. No other switches work this outlet. Does this mean there’s no neutral? And don’t I need a neutral wire to install this switch?
The functionality I’m trying to get, is to be able to operate the lamps with my phone, or the mechanical switch.
I’m using the Lowe’s Z-Wave/IRIS on/off switch, and not a dimmer one. Let me know and thanks!
The old switch may not have needed the neutral (white) wire, but there is probably a bundle of white wires in the box. You can just add a short wire from that bundle of whites to your new switch. As for the red, I’ve only seen that in three-way switches, but maybe it just goes to the outlet and the black is the live wire. Can you check that?
I have a newer home and thought my switch did not have a neutral but it ended up being buried behind the othe wires in the box. Not sure if this helps.
I had this same issue, and it was exactly as stated, there was a bundle of white neutral wires behind everything. I simply went to the hardware store and picked up a spool of wire, and then made pig tails from the bundle to the new switch.
Not to be a pain, but I didn’t have much luck with the aeon micro switches. I didn’t feel comfortable with the way the wires were secured to the device. That and packing all of that into my outlets was a big pain. They worked great, I just didn’t like the screw downs that held the wires in place.
So this then works? You CAN put this switch to an outlet, and then flip it on and off, but still have full control of the switch with your phone when needed?