Devices that don't require a Neutral wire

[tgauchat (ActionTiles.com co-founder Terry @ActionTiles; GitHub: @cosmicpuppy)]

@JDRoberts

Asked and answered. They have their own patented switch design.

Thanks… I guess I still don’t understand how the switch can pull standby current without at least partially completing the circuit, and I thought lots of “old” smart switches (including X10) did that via trickle current, not rocket science. Is that the patent?

This works fine, of course, with a physical incandescent filament that closes the circuit to the Neutral in the light socket. But isn’t reliable in CFL or LED as stated many times due to insufficient dark load.

Ah…

How does Caseta do CFL/LED without neutral?

By the way, the trickiest part of the Lutron trick is what they call “phase adaptive” switches… The switches are able to detect the amount of power that the bulbs require and then they adjust the amount of current to match that. That’s way smarter than a typical dimmer switch. And it’s the reason they can run a switch without a neutral and still dim a CFL or an LED, although not all brands. A typical switch sends the same amount of current regardless of the bulb type. It just adjusts the amount it sends based on the dim level requested. The Lutron switches are also detecting how the bulb is handling the current and making adjustments on that basis. It’s really high-tech. And exclusive to them. They are also able to determine polarity for the incoming lines, which is why it doesn’t mat…