GE Smart Switch/Dimmer issues

Per specs, the GE 12724 can handle 4 add-on switches, not five. A total of five switches in a six way set up, but one of those five is the master. :sunglasses:

https://byjasco.com/products/ge-z-wave-wall-smart-dimmer

Also, you probably already know this, but the GE wiring for these switches requires that they all use the same neutral.

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You guys are being extremely helpful and I appreciate that. However, I did something before posting and the lights don’t even try to turn on. The switch does activate from any location but the lights don’t even flicker. What do you guys think?

Focus on getting your master s1 switch working. Disconnect the aux. As long as the master works, the aux will follow suit.

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Ok, so I can’t get the lights to flicker with the main switch in box 1. I can get them to flicker on box 2 and 3. I moved the master to box 3. The lights at least flicker now. B1 and B2 has blacks nutted to carry the current to B3. In B1 there is a neutral on R3 that must be connected to the neutrals or no lights at all. My guess is there is something in the neutrals causing the issue. The weird thing is in B1 I have another smart switch master that operates with no issues at all. I’m guess that if the white wire in B3 isn’t connect there are no lights at all, could be the case in B2 as well.

@trevorlamont You should slow down and troubleshoot this systematically. Your problem is you are making a lot of assumptions about your wiring. We need to identify what you have and verify what romex goes where. If you just simply get your voltmeter and trace your lines so you will absolutely know which romex goes where you will have it solved in no time. No assumptions unless you want to keep dragging out your solution :wink:

The primary switch S1 can ONLY go one place PERIOD. That is where you have the incoming breaker power. If that incoming breaker power only feeds B1 then that is where you have to locate it. So get you meter out and verify exactly which romex in which boxes are your line power from the breaker. You have lots of other switches in the same boxes so don’t confuse separate power sources. You are looking to identify only the lighting power to the 6 lights.

Once you have that you know where the S1 primary GE switch goes. Then you need to locate the Light LOAD. Again use your meter and verify which romex is only the lighting load leaving the box. Then connect your LOAD to the S1 (leave the red TRAVELER disconnected). Get this part working before jumping to the other Add-On switches.

Once the S1 works with the lights then you can go to the next step and connect the Travelers to the other two switches using the red and capping off the blacks as spares.

Get everything rang out and labeled. My guess is that you are not familiar with how to properly trace house circuit wiring so consider hiring an electrician that can ring out all the wiring and label it but typically this kind of conversion to smart wiring takes only a few minutes when you KNOW what your wires are.

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@dalec Again, I really appreciate your help. I have used a volt meter to determine where the power comes into the box. I am at work currently, but when I get home I’ll look up how to trace wires. Your right that I don’t know where my light load wires are exactly. I’m obviously no expert but from what I can tell the lights power first and then the switches. That’s why I’m struggling so much. I wired my own basement and didn’t have any issues, it’s just the specific way that they wired this circuit that is throwing me off. As far as the romex I labeled before are correct because I used my volt meter to determine current when the switch was engaged.

4-way switch wiring can be confusing for sure. Smart wiring is actually easier.

Pardon me if I’m wrong with what you did for determining your power wiring. So did you actually isolate R1 from all wiring except the breaker panel of course to make that determination? Based on the way you described the way you determined your wiring I am not confident that you are doing it correctly.

Especially if you are new to tracing out circuits, you need to isolate the wiring totally on both ends and ring it out using the continuity setting. But take before pictures so you remember how to put it back together.

Yes. I disconnected everything from r1. I then took the white wire from r2 and hooked that to black on r1. From there is creates 120v on the black wire on r2(just like the diagram shows and how it was hooked originally). I took the black r2 and hooked that to the line terminal. Then on r3 I hooked the white to neutral. This is where I’m confused. If I hooked the black on r3 to load it just carries the 120v to b2. I would think the white on r3 would need to tie to the load but nothing happens other then the switch clicking when engaged. When I hook up b2 or b3 with the master switch white on r3 still hooked to neutrals light flickers when engaged. I think it all gets back to r3 white but have no clue what to do.

[quote=“trevorlamont, post:28, topic:51783”]
Yes. I disconnected everything from r1.
[/quote] Sorry for asking again but you are not being clear enough for me. I am trying to determine one thing with you and that is where exactly is the line power location. So forget about what else you did later on. Just help me know for certain that you correctly got identified that R1 romex is the direct feed from the breaker panel. So after you disconnected everything from R1 in B1, you flipped the breaker ON and measured 120 V across just the R1 blk and wht. Is that correct?
Everything should be totally dead, all your switches, lights, etc. The only power should be measured on R1

But that is not the way the diagram shows it that you marked up? Everything you did contradicts what I asked you to do? Can you go back up to my earlier post and terminate your wires just like I posted for you to verify? Of course the concern here is I am still assuming your diagram is accurate with what you have.

So why don't you tell be since I can't see the Romex and what it is terminated to. For example is your Box 1 terminated exactly as below?

Box1
R1-blk to R3-wht and S1-LINE
R1-wht to R2-wht and S1-NEUTRAL
R1-grd to grd and S1-GROUND

R2-blk to S1-LOAD
R2-wht to R1-wht
R2-grd to grd

R3-blk to (Not Used) cap off at both ends of R3
R3-wht to R1-Blk
R3-red to S1-TRAVELER (leave disconnected until S1 works correctly)
R3-grd to grd
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R1-blk to R2 wht
R1-wht to R3 wht
R1-grd to grd
R2-blk to S1-LOAD
R2-wht to R1-Blk
R2-grd to grd
R3-blk to S1 load
R3-wht to R1 wht
R3-red to S1-TRAVELER
R3-grd to grd

Thanks, try rewiring tonight the way I listed it. You are not showing S1-LINE and NEUTRAL connected in yours?

UPDATE; I relabeled for clarity R3-blk

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I’ll give it a shot. Thanks man, you have more patience then I do.

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I’ve noticed over the years that great electricians have seemingly infinite patience. I think it’s a necessary job requirement. :wink:

They also share with hardware engineers a willingness to build a wall brick by brick, that is to work on just a foundational piece first and get that right before leaping ahead to something that looks more like the desired end result.

Many software engineers, in contrast, take a “proof of concept” approach instead, where they want to see something that looks like the desired end result as soon as possible, even if most of the alternate features don’t yet work.

The “proof of concept” approach can be useful with a lot of different kinds of projects, but it can literally kill you in electrical work. :zap: :ambulance: :fire_engine:

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Well that was certainly kind of you to put me in the same league with electricians :slight_smile: But I am just a mechanical engineer wanna be electrician :wink: with years of work in instrumentation controls

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You get my vote, Dale: your methodical troubleshooting is how I would approach it, as well. (And I’m a s/w engineer with h/w origins who’s done a lot of wiring, too!)

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@dalec Hey man I want to tell you thank you so much for taking the time to help me out. The time you took out of your life to help me means a lot! I don’t know how/why I overlooked what you told me to do to fix it in the first place. I think my frustration was blinding me a bit. Your solution fixed my issue and I hope I can pay this forward to somebody else somehow.

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YEA!! I am so glad you got it all up and working buddy! :grinning: Just give your wife a kiss and let her know you appreciate her giving you time to get this working.

I have had people like @JDRoberts @krlaframboise @tgauchat help me on stuff that got me stuck so when I think I have the expertise that can help somebody I try.

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Sorry for the crude drawing, but i always think pictures help. I’ve got two 12722 switches that i want to install. The switches i’m replacing only operate 1 light each. One for my inside garage lights, the other for outside lights. I’ve replaced each switch exactly as the old for the black wires, added the white neutral to the new switches and grounded them. The only odd thing i see is that the Line wires are all connected. My crude drawing somewhat shows what i’m talking about. When i turn the power back on, one of the switches has the blue light come on, and when i hit the switch, it will turn off and on. Neither of my lights switch on either. One more thing, these must also have some connection to my garage door opener outlet. It no longer gets power at all.

Nate, Since this is a new issue go ahead and start a new post thread for this and we can get you help. This looks to be very straight forward and should get you up and running fast.

First, it would appear you might have the garage power be on the same circuit of one of the lights. Or you accidentally disconnected it when you put in the switches?

That isn’t odd as long as they are all supposed to be on the same breaker.

Your drawing is lacking some critical info.

Can you get a picture of the switch boxes and their wiring with the romex clearly shown so we can get it all labeled. We need to determine which romex is the incoming power or in your case possibly more than one circuit., which romex are your load (lights)

So hopefully you took pictures before you removed the old switches? This always helps me solve the problem faster because I know the working wiring. If not we just need to do some detective work and isolate the romex that has your incoming power. If you have a non-contact voltage detector it is super easy.

Power off the breaker(s) feeding the switch box. Disconnect and isolate all wiring from each other, flip the breaker on, then find which romex has the incoming power and label it. We know from your description one of the romex will go to the outlet box since that outlet is dead.

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Thanks! I’ll start the new thread when i get the pic. Probalby later tonight.