Light switch, no neutral and LED, what are my options?

[leandroestacio]

Hello everyone. I’m new to ST and still trying to figure out ways to use ST other then be able to turn lights on and off from my phone or with a minimote. I live in a small apartment and there is no much that I can think of for now, but one thing that I would like to do is able to control the hall light with a sensor motion. All my lights are LED and I ran into a problem that the kitchen and hall switch does not have a neutral wire. I have brought some dimmers from GE/Jasco that does not require a neutral but reading up online I found out that I need at least 40w of power for them to work properly, so I ended up using them on my bathroom lights. Now buying the new ones that works with LED they do require a neutral which I do not have.

So am here asking is there any switch that works with LED lights that does not require a neutral?

Thank you.

[JDRoberts]

Since you said you tried GE switches, I’m assuming you’re in the US. So there are a couple of options depending on the specific use cases you have.

One) use smart bulbs. This is probably the easiest. There are many control options. See the following topic:

FAQ: Philips Hue and Other Smart Bulbs - What sort of light switches to use with them? (Long FAQ)

Thinking on a big move to Hue lights, the real question is - what switches to use with them? If they’re all automatable via ST and other devices, do I really want to put them all on controllable switches too? There’s the advantage that I can arrange to ensure those switches are on so that the the Hue bulbs would be too…but it also leaves open the ability for folks to just turn them off and leave them off. Hmm. Thoughts?

2. use Lutron Caseta switches and the IFTTT indirect integration. These switches do not require a neutral and work fine with LEDs.

The problem is that there can be lag. Everything generally works fine for scheduled events (assuming, of course, that the SmartThings scheduler is working). Or if you are using your phone as a presence indicator and you just want the lights to come on before you get home.

The wall switch also works fine manually, although you won’t get status updates in ST. That’s OK For some use cases, not for others.

Where it tends to fall down altogether is if you want to turn on lights with a motion sensor. Then the lag may just be too long for many people.

There will probably be more options in this device category in the future, so you could also just wait and see what’s available in a few months.

[Ryan00 (Ryan)]

I know this isn’t what exactly what your asking for but…

If I was you I would just use the new hue white ,their only 14.99 and easy to install in a apartment. You can also get a dimmer switch to pair with these bulbs. It’s really neat cause the dimmer switch works on the wall or you can also use at as a remote and take it with you. I’ll post the link below

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips-hue-a19-smart-led-light-bulb-white/4374300.p?id=1219740708206&skuId=4374300

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips-hue-dimmer-switch-white/4373904.p?id=1219740704638&skuId=4373904

Or you can get the kit. Here

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/philips-hue-white-led-starter-kit-white/4373906.p?id=1219740706036&skuId=4373906

[leandroestacio]

Thank you for you help, I know it’s a little late… hehe but I just got back to it yesterday. I got one of those now trying to connect it to ST without Hue hub,