Help with GE Smart switch issue

New poster so I’m sorry if this has been addressed before but I couldn’t find anything.

I installed GE smart switches about a year ago and they had been functioning really well.

I have a 4 way switch set up for one of the lights on the second floor. For about 2 weeks there have been issues. First, none of the 3 dummy switches would turn the light on. Sometimes they could turn it off. The main switch can turn it off and on but the light will immediately turn back on after I turn it off (and you can hear the switch click when I turn it off and then a second click when it turns on immediately after). Eventually after 4 or 5 times, it stays off but will randomly turn on without anyone hitting a switch. Further, if I use my cell phone or alexa to turn the light off, the same immediate turning back on happens.

I went around and checked the wire connection to each switch and redid the connections. I also swapped out the main switch (which didn’t fix it). Then I went and swapped out the dummy switches one-by-one (assuming that if the one I swapped out was ok if replacing it didn’t solve the issue I used that one to replace the next one). None of this worked.

I also deleted all my automations just in case there was some weird error in one of them (just flailing with that approach but worth a shot I guess).

Any ideas or suggestions? Its all very frustrating. Thanks in advanced for the help.

Sounds frustrating.

Here are some things to try:

  1. Check the device events (“recently” tab in classic app) to see if any automaton or smartapp is turning the device off.
  2. Try resetting the switch by pulling the air gap (or resetting circuit breaker)
  3. Try restarting the ST hub

Thanks much for the suggestions. There is no automation controlling it. I did turn the breaker off and restarted the hub and no change. I also had an extra switch laying around so I did a hardware replace and it still is doing the same thing.

However, what I just did was interesting. I detached the traveler wire from the main switch and tried it. Obviously, the dummy switches don’t work but the main switch works like a charm. No problems turning off and on and it stays off. So, am I correct in assuming that there must be a short or bad connection in one of the dummy switches? It just seems there is some faulty feedback loop turning the light back on.

That’s what I was going to ask when I saw your first post to see if you could try removing the traveler, especially since you replaced the main switch.

It sounds like something on that traveler wire isn’t right. You could try reconnecting the traveler from the main switch and then removing it from each dummy switch until you narrow down the problem area. This could be a PITA depending upon how your 4-way is wired up, but it’s worth a shot. Eventually an electrician may need to get called if you have to replace any faulty wiring.

Agree with John. The master switch will work in its own so I suggest removing the traveler wire from the master and see if the switch works. If yes then something is up with the aux wiring or the aux switches.

Thanks, everyone. I’m going to try to tackle troubleshooting the traveler over the next few days. Will report back any success or lack thereof.

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