Hope someone can give me some help on installing the subject in conjunction with a hue bulb in the attached ceiling fixture.
So, I would like to be able to have the wt00z1 communicate with the hub which then turns the hue light off. (Not actual load control by physical wiring but load control through the virtual connection between the hub, the wt00z1, and the hue bulb that is in the fixture.
This is not in a 3 way scenario. It is only a single switch controlling a single hue bulb in a ceiling fixture.
So how do I make this scenario work the way I described above? Do I need any special device type handlers?
Thank you all in advance for your expert guidance!!
I don’t have the Linear WT-00Z1, but I have used a GE Z-Wave switch to do just that. You can simply use the Smart Lighting smart app. “When switch turns on, turn on bulb. Check the box to have it turn it off too”
So could you help explain how you did your wiring behind the switch with the GE switch. Honestly, I would rather use one of my GE toggle switches. Were you using a GE “Add on” or a regular stand alone GE switch? Thank you for helping me with this.
It will work just fine, nothing special will be needed.
Install the Linear auxiliary switch Per the instructions. Since this is not a load controlling switch, there’s no danger of damaging the hue bulb by cutting the current too often.
Then you can just use the official smart lighting feature. Have the bulb turn on and off when the switch turns on and off and you’re done.
GE add on switches do not have a radio inside and are invisible to the smart things hub, so they cannot be used for this purpose. They work by communicating with a physical traveler wire to a GE master switch.
Thank you JD!!! I was wondering if I had to do anything special. It sounds like I can install just as the instructions say. Thank you so much for your response!!
@JDRoberts beat me to it @Wtstreetglow. GE add-on switch has no radio in it. I used a normal GE switch because that’s what I had, there is just no load attached to it.
So I could use a regular GE switch and just cap the load off from the fixture in the wall behind the switch with some electrical tape? And it would work appropriately? Sorry, I’m confused.
Now I’m confused a little bit too. The electrical box that I have my z-wave switch in only has one set of wires in it (line, neutral, ground) in it. There are no wires running to the light fixture. It’s an old house and that is why I installed the GE switch and a smart bulb.
If you are trying to replace an old school switch that has a load going out to your light fixture, then you’d want to keep the light fixture powered all the time. You would run line and neutral to your GE switch, then also run line and neutral to your light fixture. That way both are powered all the time.
Does that load run out to your light fixture that you want to keep powered? If yes, then you’d want to have your Line in split to your Z-wave switch, and to the load. If there isn’t anything else on the other end of the load line that you want to keep powered then you could cap it off.
You want to put a Hue bulb in the fixture, and the WT-00Z1 in the switch box?
If yes, then you’d need some short length of wires. Remove the old switch. Now you have neutral that runs through, line that comes in, load that goes out. At the end you’ll need to connect the line coming in to the load going out, but also jump to the line in on the WT-00Z1. You’ll then need to jump the neutral to the WT-00Z1 as well. Just use short wire and wire nuts like this:
You’ll then have line in and neutral going to both the WT-00Z1 and the hue bulb. Your bulb will no longer be on a switch other than the breaker.
Then you would use Smart Lighting to have the bulb turn on and off when the switch is turned on and off.
I did have a licensed electrician in the house when I did mine. He’s a friend of mine and didn’t tell me I was doing anything stupid. I don’t see why it would be a problem. It’s actually very similar to the instructions that GE gives you when you install their add-on switches. Bypass the add-on switch and connect the line right to the load.
So yeah, I definitely see what your explaining now. You’re splitting the line from the breaker box to the load that is running to the fixture so that there is always power at the fixture?
Not a problem. That’s why I got help with the first one. I now have this sort of setup a few places in the house. I have bed rooms that had an old school switch that only controlled the top half of an outlet. So now I have z-wave switches with no load control smart bulbs via the hub.
In most areas in the US it still to code to bypass a light switch if it’s just a light. There are some areas which require an attic light to have a physical switch. But lighting in other parts of the home can be entirely automated, no physical switch, which means you can bypass the switch as well.
However, there are a few jurisdictions which require that there be a switch because they have this idea that someone is going to turn off the light at the switch and then try to remove the whole fixture and not realize it’s still hot. But most places figure you’ll know enough to turn off the power at the breaker if you’re replacing a fixture.
