GE zwave dimmer 3 way switch overload questions- please help!

So essentially, get a newer zwave plus dimmer that can handle LEDs and give that a go. In theory that should be able to handle 4 of the 12 watt LED
wired in series?

@Navat604 is an electrician, and he said they should be wired in parallel. Maybe he can say little more about that. I’m still concerned about why the older one burned out, that shouldn’t be just a matter of using LEDs with it instead of incandescents.

1 Like

I’d love the input.

I just put in a standard “dumb” switch in place of the smart dimmer to see if everything is wired properly and if it works in series.

Everything worked as planned… which almost makes it more confusing somehow to me…

I really appreciate all the insight btw

I can’t see you wired them in series. All the light black wires connected together and all the light white wires connected together correct? That is parallel.
Wiring them in series could definitely cause problem due to the LED light drivers drawing higher current due to lower voltage.
Can you draw out the circuit you wired them up? Possible 3 ways Config. Problem.

2 Likes

Navat604 … I actually believe I ran them in parallel. My mistake. Each light came with a rated junction box. Each box has 3 clamp connectors for line/load, neutral and ground. Each line connects to their respective clamp in the next gang box.

It looks more like the bottom part of this picture.

I will draw it out and post in a few, including my 3 way configurations diagram.

The non-plus GE dimmers are 12724, the add on is 12723. I have these on everything from one LED over a sink to 12 in my basement.

The Z-Wave Plus model (newer) should be 14294. The add on is the same model.

The Plus version can be found for around $35 right now, you can probably find the non-plus version pretty cheap if you look around.

Also I saw you put back in a dumb switch and it worked…make sure the “traveler” between the switch and “add-on” does not have power on it when you put the smart switches back in. It’s not standard 3 way wiring since the traveler is just use for communication for the most part.

1 Like

Good point!

My understanding just as a layperson is that the fastest way to burn out one of these switches is to put 120 V wire into the traveler slot, as that’s not how the switches are supposed to work.

And most of the ones I’ve seen, there’s a label on that screw saying not to put a hot wire there.

IMG_4412

Networked switches and non-networked switches do get wired in a somewhat different way, so you do need to be sure what every wire does before you connect it up. the old non-networked switch might have worked differently and you might have a hot wire there, which could explain why it works when the network switch burns out.

Have you had a chance to look at the FAQ? It might help as well.

1 Like

The kit that he installed was only designed for incandescent lighting as per the manual. That’s what I meant by not rated. The 12724 and newer models are designed for incandescent and led as per the manual.

@frankwtierney I believe you have them wired right as in blk to blk and wht to Wht. I think our version of in series meant all the lights are connected together in a row basically, not actually wired in series. @vseven does bring up a good point on the traveller, definitely double check that.

Indeed. The kit I bought also had the “NO 120V” sticker… the traveler I hooked up did not carry a load and went from its designated connector to the add on switch.

The add on switch only had two terminals. I connected the top one to the my red traveler and the neutral wire. The load coming from the main switch then bypassed add-on and when directly to the light.

This proved to work correctly and effectively when only hooking up one of the LED lights… when I then connected the second one, the switch failed.

Does my path sound right? I’m working on a diagram of my set up to perhaps see where i went wrong.

I will also review the FAQs passed along as further reference.

I’m also curious why the posts above were flagged.

People post links to product pages on amazon all the time.

3 Likes

So a few updates here:

The first time I installed the switches it was with the older version not rated for LEDs.

The second time I installed a switch, I bypassed the 3way wiring (and wired the way you’d normally wire any light switch) it seems that that switch was a newer GE Z-wave Plus (14924) that I had on hand for my dining room.

Note, both times each switch started out working properly until connected to a second light. There is nothing between light 1 & 2… just a straight connection (black to black, white to white, ground to ground.) Both times, the switches have failed.

I then installed a standard dumb paddle switch and the lights work great!

Yesterday I picked up a dumb dimmer switch and installed it with great success (no 3way wiring at this point though.) The switch had all of the same wattage ratings that the smart switches appear to have.

The only difference between the dumb dimmer switch and the smart dimmer that I can decipher is the neutral wire …which isn’t necessary to wire to a terminal on the dumb dimmer. Perhaps something is wrong there?

BUT… if there is an issue with the neutral wire and it’s wired improperly (perhaps accidentally hot somewhere down the line), wouldn’t that then cause problems for the other smart switches on the same line? This switch shares a gang box with my under-cabinet lighting, which is also a dimmer… and it’s functioning perfectly!

I’m so confused!

1 Like

I don’t have any answers for you, but I admire your process. Very thorough. :sunglasses:

Tagging @Navat604 in case he has any ideas.

I am using the original zwave switch with 2 to 6 LED fixtures on each without any problem. I doubt that to be the problem.

1 Like

I think you have the wrong 3 ways wiring Config. The reason the other circuits are working is because you smart switch burned and open up the short circuit.
Draw out your 3 ways wiring and did you wire up the switch. Here’s a reference page.

1 Like

So as far as I understand, wiring LED lights in parallel or serial will not cause load issues with the smart switches or burn them out unless you had tons if them. Everything however should be wired in parallel (if wired serially a failed bulb would cause all bulbs to fail). To burn out a smart switch, you’d either have a faulty switch or more likely wire something incorrectly.

My guess as stated above is that you wired the smart switches like regular 3-way switches. They need to be wired differently. If you wire them like your existing 3-way dumb switches, you’ll break them. There should be no power from breaker connected to your add-on paddle or into the traveler connection. The add-on traveler should be wired directly to traveler on the smart switch. Then neutral should be connected into the add-on switch. If you connect line or load, you’ll fry the switch(es).

Please read the FAQ

2 Likes

So here is my crude drawing. Please forgive how not technical it is

I only added the “under cabinet” lighting switch to show that it was sharing a gang box in case I screwed something up there somehow.

Also, please note that this 3way setup worked properly when only 1 light was wired, but when a second set was wired in… it fried the switch.

Then…I then grabbed a zwave plus dimmer (the first one was an older one apparently) and set up the same configuration but I did not !wire in the traveler, bypassing it and trying to just wire it like any normal switch. Same issue occurred… it worked until I wired in the next light.

Please see the diagram below. Thanks again for all the ideas… I appreciate problem solving with all of you… it’s driving me crazy. It’s good to know that it’s working with a dumb dimmer switch so I can at least have some functionality, but all my other switches are smart so I hope to not let this one be the exception.

1 Like

Your wiring looks good. I don’t see anything wrong so the only thing left is either bad wiring connections or faulty LED lights.
Obviously we don’t want to burn more switches but with a dumb switch installed. Maybe look at the lights and play around with the dimmer to see anything obvious. Maybe one light flickering at certain level or humming.
If you have a volt meter. Put one lead on ground and the other lead on neutral and check for voltage with a dumb dimmer. You should see no voltage while playing with the dimmer.

2 Likes

Thanks… I will certainly try that.

It’s good to know that I can still use the lights with a dumb dimmer so I didn’t waste all of that time, energy and cash… and I can try and work through the smart dimmer issue as I go.

Thanks for the insight!

You must mean parallel…