I recently had a brand new shop built in my back yard. I have purchased 2 of the GE Z-Wave Smart Lighting Control In-Wall Smart Dimmer Toggle Switches ZW 3004 to control the inside LED lights and the outdoor LED flood lights. The shop does have neutral wire and it was hooked up to the new switches. When I flip the switches manually they will not turn on the lights. The lights turn on and work perfectly with a regular switch. I was reading the manual for the switches this morning and it says they are good for 150W of LED bulbs. If I am over 150W would this make the switch not work at all? If that would be the problem is there another switch out there that would do the job? Also what is the little slider "switch " for underneath the toggle?
Have you had a chance to read the manual that comes with that device? The little switch underneath is called the “air gap” Switch, and is used to remove the switch from control of the circuit when you’re doing various kinds of electrical work. If you don’t have the air gap button pushed all the way in, then the switch won’t work. It sounds like that may be what you’ve run into, although they also have a safety override which will turn the switch off if it’s overloaded, which sounds like you think may be a possibility as well?
Anyway, start by checking the manual for the specifications, and if the switch is safe to use in that location, then read the installation instructions, including the ones about the air gap.
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Thank you for the help!
I couldn’t find anything in the owners manual about the little switch. On the GE switch ZW3004 the little switch doesn’t look like that. It slides left and right. Is that still a air gap switch? And if so since it moves left and right does it still push in?
Do they make a switch that will carry larger loads? My 2 LED flood lights are 150W each.
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The little switch is still an air gap switch. There should be a helpline number in the manual that you can call.
That said, it does sound like you’re over spec for that particular switch. I don’t know anyone who makes a toggle switch that will go that high. Leviton does make a high load rocker Switch that can handle up to 450W in LED.
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When you say that your LED flood lights are 150W each, do you not mean 150W equivalence? An LED light that actually drew 150W would light up an airport. If we are talking about lights that produce the same number of lumens as an 150W incandescent bulb, then you should be nowhere near any limits.
In addition to the air gap switch question already posed, did the switch pair successfully? Does the LED on the switch itself (if there is one) ever light? If there is no sign of life in the switch, then are you sure line and load aren’t switched?
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Can you post a picture of how it’s hooked up?
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I cant get a picture right now. I have seen several pictures on here showing you how to hook it up and it was just like those pictures show. Power in… Power Out(load)… and the Neutral where it goes. I will try to get a picture later when I get home. I am going to test the switch on a circuit with lower Watts later to see if that might be the problem…
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Do you have any other switches in the circuit?
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Unless you have 7 or 8 150W equivalent floodlights, or have some that are actually incandescent or halogen, that test is probably going to be less fruitful than focusing on double-checking the wiring, reporting whether it paired or not, or posting a picture.
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I have these 2 lights on the switch …Lights. …It says 750W equivilant and LED rated at 150W each so 300W total . They work great on a regular Non Smart switch. The GE switch says its rated at 150W LED. I am going to try it on a smaller 20W LED light when I get the chance. I do not have any other switches in the circuit. I had to be at work all day today so I didn’t get the chance to try anything else or get a picture.
11000 lm
For one Light, so, yeah, your current Switch won’t support two of them.
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Well, I’ll be damned…150W LED lights. Note that one of the reviewers used 2 sets of 2 to light an entire soccer field for night-time practice. I sure hope that your neighbors are either a few miles away or blind because if any of my neighbors had lights this bright they wouldn’t last very long before being broken by mysterious rocks falling from the sky. 
That said…no where on the product description for your LED lights does it say that they are dimmer compatible. The GE switches say they work with all LED light bulbs but what it really should say is all DIMMABLE LED lights. Not all LEDs are dimmable and therefore will not work with your dimmer. Should use a standard switch.
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Yup, Ryan nailed it. Your lamps are not dimmable.
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Instead of a dimmer, you could use a switch version instead. These can handle a lot more load.
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There’s an echo in here.
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The dimmer and switch can handle the same load. The issue is the lamps connected are not dimmable.
BTW, if you have to break off the tabs on the side to fit in a multi-gang box, the dimmer’s max rating drops but the swtich’s rating does not.
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Confirmation or simultaneous posting, probably. Also, dimmers often have significantly less load capability than switches, especially with LEDs. The GE switch linked above is 960W of incandescent load or 1800W of resistive load. The dimmers support significantly less.
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Hmmm… Hard to find the load specs for the dimmer version on Jasco’s web site… It does state 960W for the switch version…
Found this on ZwaveProducts.com for the dimmer version
Maximum Loads: 600W, 2-gang 500W or 3-gang 400W incandescent /150W CFL/LED
Not sure what to believe. Anyone have the actual spec sheet for the dimmer version?
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I checked and I believe you are right. i was wrong regarding the load capacity of the switches.
However, I think the issue the OP is having is using non-dimmable lights on a dimmer.
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Anyway, the dimmer rating isn’t really an issue because the floodlights aren’t dimmable. Any smart switch will support 600W at least.
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