Wireless 3 way Dimmable switches

Hey

I got a 3 way switch one one of my rooms that currently controls one outlet.

I want to hardwire that outlet to be a normal outlet and install Z wave outlets in the room and let the two switches control them…wirelessly.

Ideally I’d be able to set different brightness levels remotely via app and then just on/off and master dim from the wall switches.

How would one recommend I go about this? Seems like I should be able to just power the switches with no load and do it all via smart things assignments but want to confirm…

If I read your post correctly, you want to have a dimmer switch controlling an outlet, presumably so you can control the brightness of a lamp plugged into it.

You should not wire a dimmer switch to a receptacle. The 2014 NEC was modified to prohibit this, as it makes for a dangerous situation if some other non-lamp device were to be plugged into the outlet.

I’d look at using a plug-in dimmer module with a standard receptacle and going from there.

so what I’m actually looking to do is more along the lines of…

remove switches that are there now-- and wire them to “hot only” to the outlets they control.

Then I want to tap power off of that “hot only” connection to power a switch (that isn’t connected to anything). I will just use the z-wave to create a virtual switch to control the outlets.

I have two of these switches I want to utilize as a virtual 3 way switch (without actually controlling anything directly by wire).

I’ll control dimness via the app instead of via the wall switch…

Sure, lots of people do something similar to control smart bulbs when they don’t want the wall switch to cut the power to the bulb. Instead the switch sends a message to the hub and the hub send a message to the bulb. Your use case would be similar. The switch sends a message to the hub, the hub sends a message to the outlet. So look at those threads, they should give you ideas.

Start with the following FAQ (this is a clickable link)

would kind of delay would we expect in a virtual 3 way environment through the hub? is there a Device handler that does this? Can it be configured in a 3 way setting?

I can’t speak to the delay, as that may be dependent on the app you use. I think you’d have to make use of a “toggle” setting to simulate the three-way environment. In other words, when either switch is pressed, turn the light bulb to the opposite state.

You don’t need a special device handler. It’s done through automations. The official smart lighting feature has a “mirror” option which causes One switch to follow another. That’s all you need for a virtual three-way. You have one mirror Automation so A follows B and another mirror automation so B follows A.

As far as lag, it just depends on your local network. It’s the same generally as using a battery operated button. As long as you have enough repeating devices, it shouldn’t really be noticeable.