I have a long dark hallway that enters a basement, my wife hates parking the car and coming in to dark house she is normally carrying things and dealing with 3 screaming kids.
I am trying to look at automation to turn on the lights in the hallway and lights in the basement going up the stairs. I understanding that in a 2 way switch you need a master and then a Aux but what do you do on a 4 way.
I have tried to draw my basement and am just trying to control the lights in the north side of the basement but there are 2 3 way switches and a 4 way. What switch needs to be the master (the 4 way ?)
Thanks for any help you can give my idea solution be be to also dim the north side as well
Do you have an existing 4-way wiring? If yes you piggyback on it, usually placing the master at the location having highest number of wires already terminated at the switch. If you do not have existing 4-way the easiest is to get battery operated zwave\zigbee switches which you can easily relocate as you wish. I use the Xiamoi wireless switches and Logitech Pop in some places. The Pop is unstable and has range issues. The other automation you should consider is motion sensors to turn the lights on and off when your wife comes in. I use it in many locations around the house and it is super convenient. I recommend Xiamoi and Ecolink motion sensors and
What you need is to find out what kind of wiring configuration first. If the romex for Line hot/neutral from your circuit breaker is at your light fixture then you won’t be able to use wall smart switches due to lack of neutral. So first step is to spend the time and draw out the old wiring.
Here is an updated diagram with the wiring to each switch each switch will run power to the led bank of lights it controls the wire to the lights will be 14/2.
I also have the following
Visonic Window/Door Sensor for Samsung SmartThings - MCT-340 E
Bosch Security Motion Sensor PIR Pet Immune for Samsung SmartThings and other Smart Hubs with Zigbee Wireless - ISW-ZPR1-WP13
I was hoping to use the door sensor to trigger the lights and maybe the PIR to sense her coming or going
The master switch needs line and load so the stair landing is where you will need to put it. Now you need to figure out where the load line is that goes to your lights. Your diagram doesn’t include that. So next step is to open each box and take pictures of current wiring and list which Romex wires are coming in and connected to your switches.
Thank you for all your help Michael, I have just wired or lets say rewired so I kind of know where things are, after taking a day to get my head around 3 and 4 way switches and the wiring.
( The lights in the basement where not originally separated and use to be just 2 single 100W bulbs also you could not turn the lights on if you walk down the stairs in to the north part of the basement you had to walk to either the door leading to the outside or the far wall on the left, I split the lights and put a control either side of the hallway and then added the switch at the right of the stairs.) I will be mounting all the LEDS / Cans this week (I have about 20 to hang)
I have updated the image to show the load or where I was going to link to the LED lights. I can move it to the stairs. It is getting a little tight in there even with a deep box but I can fit another wire in there if push comes to shove.
I have my switches for the hallway and the main part of the basement in and working just fine, I am waiting for my hub to arrive tomorrow to pair everything,