GE Smart Switch isn't working in bathroom

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
1

I’m having trouble connecting a GE smart switch in my bathroom that also has a fan. I’ll leave a list of different things that I tried and what the results were as well as some pictures. If anybody could help me figure out how to make this work, I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance!

Wiring:
So coming out of the wall are four wires: red (line), black (load), white (I assumed neutral but not sure), and green (ground). The wires are hooked up to the switches as follows:

Green is hooked up to the back of the box and top of each switch.
Red has a black jumper on it that connects it to the line (top right) hole of the smart switch on the right.
Black is bundled to a jumper that hooks up to the load (bottom screw) of the fan switch on the left (yellow bundle that’s almost in the wall). The black line wire (top screw) of the fan switch on the left is bundled to a jumper coming from the load (bottom right) hole of the smart switch on the right as well as a jumper wire coming from the white wire (yellow bundle on the far left).
White is bundled to two white jumper wires, one of which goes to the bundle mentioned above and one of which goes to the neutral hole of the smart switch on the right (yellow bundle furthest to the right).

As currently configured, the fan switch works and the smart switch turns on (as in LED light is on), but when I flip the smart switch, the lights come on for a second and immediately turn back off. That was the closest to fully functional I was able to get it.

Just a few notes that may be helpful:

I know it seems weird that the white wire (maybe neutral) is bundled with wires that come from the load of the smart switch and the line of the fan switch, but without doing that, neither one of the switches work. This was how the wires were configured when I first opened it up so I went back to it.

I couldn’t post a separate picture with the dumb switch (normal basic light switch), but the configuration is exactly the same minus the neutral, and this controls the lights and fan perfectly, so I’m confused as to why setting up the smart switch the same way plus the neutral wouldn’t work.

Let me know if I missed any key pieces of information that would be important to figuring out what I’m doing wrong. I would appreciate any advise/input that you guys may have. Thank you!

Smart Switch
Smart Switch.jpg3024×4032 2.47 MB

2

So I’ll start with what sounds like a stupid question, but my electrician asked me this before installing GE smart switches for my bathroom fans. You are using a switch and not a dimmer, correct?

3

I am a little confused with your neutral situation there. Did you confirm that your white wire going to the new smart switch is in fact a neutral? That picture looks like a neutral is tied to black wires? After that I would confirm your hot is 120 volt.

That whole white wire tied in with black wires is of concern to me. I have an add on switch to a 3 way where indeed I had to pair a white (traveler) to the light load wire but that is a different situation.

I think you are going to need to disconnect everything from both switches, verify what wires do what and reconnect properly. I think the wiring in the other box is screwing things up

4

It doesn’t look like you have a neutral in the box.

Just because you have a white wire does not mean it is a neutral - it is only a white wire and can either be a neutral or line / load depending on how it is marked.

If your electrician did it correctly then the colored wire nut “could” indicate that the wire was used as a line / load - there may have also been a mark on the wire itself (tape, pen, sharpie, etc). If it was a true neutral I would have expected to see a white nut.

My guess is that your source power is coming in at the device, 14/3 cable was used to run to both switches in which case the white would be used to transport the line voltage down to the box where it would connect into a wire nut, and then on to each line screw on the switches with a black wire. That would leave a red and a black left out of the 14/3 run down to the box. The black would go to the load of one device switch (fan or light), and the red would be connected with a wire nut to another black wire that goes to the load of the other (fan or light) switch.

2 switch one lite lite one for fan
2 switch one lite lite one for fan.jpg799×589 52.9 KB

The only difference in this drawing is that in your setup a black wire would connect to the load screw then connect to a wire nut with the red…

EDIT: I didn’t draw / make this :slight_smile:

5

Yessir. That’s correct.