this is my first post and i’ve started to foray in home automation. I recently bought the hub along with the “GE12722 Z-Wave Wireless Lighting Control On/Off Switch” to be installed in a brand new home and would like a sanity check as the switch is DoA as no LEDs came on and could not manually control the light.
As I open the switch panel, I see the bare neutral and 2 black wires. The black wire on top of the old switch goes straight into the wall and the black on the bottom is capped with a few other black wires. I am hoping that the top wire is direct to the single light bulb (aka load) and the bottom one if live (aka hot)…is that correct, based on the description?
I was so excited to get my first switch before I start adding more, but disheartened that it didnt work. Amazon is shipping me a new one, but want to be sure that I have my wiring correct. BTW, what would happen is I swap load and live wires when connecting to the smart switch?
Yes, I would also guess that the top wire is going to the light, and the one in the bundle is the live. The bare is the ground, not the neutral. There should be a bundle of white wires in the box that would be the natural. You’ll need to pigtail another white wire into that bundle and to your switch. If you’re not sure, definitely consult an electrician (which I am not).
The newer GE in-wall switches (now repackaged to include SmartThings on the compatibility label) that Lowes sells for their Wink system now includes a pig tail with the switches in the box. That was a nice surprise the in the last few I ordered.
I did a dozen of these…and always needed to make a pigtail to connect to neutral. Once I recognized that all was good; except to that one 4-gang that got really crowded adding in and connecting the new wires…some choice words used during that conversion.
If you end up doing the 3-way switches, do know you need the companion aux switch to make it all go properly.
In my case we had one series of switches that was silly…4 switches all controlling the same lights. That gave me fits.
I’ve got two of these switches installed side by side. The snag is that the blue lights are reversed between the two of them–one has the blue light on when the switch is on and the other has the blue light on when the switch is off. This is annoying and confusing to say the least.
Can anyone advise me as to how I can reverse this? I found some instruction online for fixing this in vera but I obviously need some ST help. Here’s what I found for vera if anyone can adapt it for me:
In the Vera UI, click the Wrench icon for your light switch.
Click the Device Options tab.
Under the Configuration Settings section, click the “Add configuration settings” button.
In the Variable text box, enter: 3
In the Data Size dropdown list, select: 1 byte dec
In the Desired Value text box, enter: 1
Click the X in the upper right corner (next to the trash can icon) to close the window.
Click the red “Save” button in the upper right corner.
Wait about 30-60 seconds for the Vera Lite to update/save the settings and you should now see the blue LED status light has been reversed.
Here’s a shorter explanation I found:
Log into veras website,
Select the device (from devices tab) the switch you want to reverse the blue light
Click device options.
Under configuration you want 3, 1hex, 1 as your values.
I am capable of logging into my smartthings home page and finding the devices but I don’t know how to edit their code/function. Any help would be GREATLY appreciated!!
@emmaus33, you can change how the LED behaves via ST’s phone app. Tap the little gear in the upper right hand corner of the device tile to bring up the device details like Refresh, SmartApps, Prerefences, Activities, and most importantly - Indicator Light. Tap on that until you see Lit When Off (or what ever your options for the LED may be)
