If I was going to buy switches all over again, I would get the Z-Wave Plus models.
Scene Controllers, Double Tap and Triple Tap built into them. 1 switch becomes many “Things”.
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Thanks for the help everyone. I’m going to pick up a pigtail and switch today and give it a try. I’ve mapped out the wires and done the replacements before (just every family house I’ve worked on was you know… not old)
I’ll post my results or if I run into any problems.
(Hah, scene control. I think that would freak the wife out. The line I’m going to get is “Do you want Skynet? Because that’s how you get Skynet”)
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You just made my day… I’ve got about 15 dimmers/switches sitting in a box because of no grounding wire. Ok. I’m off to break things (or make them even MORE awesome). Yay for holidays. LOL
Thanks @professordave and @rontalley!!!
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I might have wired in the ground also, but my metal boxes are really small and not much room for extra wires.
How do I know if I have conduit or romex? I think that I remember checking every box electrically that they were grounded.
Romex is plastic coated cable usually fed to plastic boxes. It has a bare copper wire coming out of it that serves as ground. Some installers despise plastic boxes so they actually put in metal boxed and use romex connectors. Either way, you would know because there would be something like this in the box: Either white plastic sleeve or yellow.
Remember to repair z-wave mesh every 5 switches or so.
Good Luck.
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You mean when the repair actually works, right? lol
Thank you everyone for your immense help and insight! The white was indeed neutral as @Core_Phx mentioned.
Also I did notice that the ground terminal on the switch is actually connected to the frame of the oulet (possibly what @professordave mentioned)
I was able to connect a new Leviton switch and pair it with my existing SmartThings hub. Programmed the activites and now my lights are working. Had to replace the wire nuts as the old one were older than sin and cracked. Wired up the switch after finding load/line was pretty easy. (I would say harder thing is positioning the wires in the box as it’s incredibly tiny)
Maybe when I feel more bold I’ll do the other switch, but for now I’ll call it a day and small victory. Thanks again everyone, you’ve gave me great advice and the pigtail ground worked a dream (minus having to shave off 6 inches of it)
Have a wonderful 4th!