HomeSeer HS-WS100+ Z-Wave Decora Switch installation - fixed I think

First up, apologies for not knowing where exactly to post. I need help and it’s thanksgiving day.

I am a newbie and first timer to DIY projects. Trying to install a HomeSeer HS-WS100+ z-wave switch in a 4 gang box. I connected the LINE, LOAD, NEUTRAL and GROUND wires to the switch and nada. Hopefully I have done everything right and hopefully the brand new switch is faulty. I see no reason why it shouldn’t work.

A brief explanation follows:

Toggle 1 - controls 1 interior chandelier
Toggle 2 - controls 2 exterior light fixtures
Toggle 3 - controls 2 exterior light fixtures (this is what I am replacing)
Toggle 4 - controls 1 interior wall outlet for lamps etc (this is 2 way)

These are all conventional style toggles, receptacles and boxes and do not utilize NEUTRAL wire, though it does exist.

Toggle 3 is being replaced by the HS-WS100+ Decora Switch. It had LINE, LOAD and GROUND wires connected. I removed those from the old receptacle and connected these to the HS-WS100+.

Now the tricky part, initially I thought there was no neutral but after untwisting bulk loads of wires, I found out that each of the wires coming in from the light and outlet fixtures had their NEUTRAL white wire bundled together in a twist-on wire connector.

I removed the wire connector and retrieved each of he LINE wires to the respective electric cable. The 2 exterior light fixtures that Toggle 3 is supposed to power had 2 cables coming into the wall receptacle box.

I noted down and marked which NEUTRAL wires emanate from those 2 cables and then inserted those 2 into the HS-WS100+ Switch.

Note that because the HS-WS100+ is to control 2 exterior light fixtures, I inserted both cables’ NEUTRAL wires into the 2 openings of the HS-WS100+ Switch. The manual instructs to use only one opening and doesn’t speak to much else.

Not sure if this is the problem but I can’t live with just 1 light fixture being powered. It needs to be both.

On the LOAD wires, I similarly put both LOAD wires into the 2 openings of the HS-WS100+ Switch into the LOAD part.

Naturally, there’s only 1 LINE wire going into one of the LINE connections.

Sorry for the long ass intro but wanted to cover everything.

The darn HS-WS100+ Switch doesn’t control the light fixtures its connected to and doesn’t even turn on the LED indicator.

I didn’t want to go with the Toggle version of a z-wave switch because I find them lame.

I am inclined to doing this again in a 1 toggle wall receptacle and testing if the unit is faulty but being a newbie I invested quite a lot of time to get things connected safe and right.

Edit: Someone correct me if I am wrong: I could have used any NEUTRAL wire as all of these go to the same circuit breaker in my garage. But to be precise, I did trace 2 of the 7 existing NEUTRAL wires back to the cables coming from the light fixtures I intend to control.

Any help would be appreciated.

Edit 2: fixed I think. See post below.

I wasn’t thinking clearly. When I unclogged the 7 NEUTRAL wires, one of them was technically the NEUTRAL coming from the circuit breaker, or where the underlying LINE was originating.

In my OP up there, I was connecting the NEUTRAL wires from the 2 lighting fixtures to the HS-WS100+ z-wave switch, but in the process had disconnected NEUTRAL from the origin.

I basically put all the 7 NEUTRAL wires back together and added an 8th one as a jumper to the HS-WS100+ switch.

I only did a temp wire as a fix because I do not have a 14 gauge wire lying around. Imagine my horror: heading to Walmart the night before Black Friday just for a bloody 14 gauge jumper.

Screw HomeSeer for not including one. Bad bad practice.

Thanks for the help guys :stuck_out_tongue: