Wiring Help - Aeotec G2....again

Devices & Integrations Connected Things
1

I’ve got another light I’m trying to wire a G2 relay into. Apparently this one is a bit different than the one you awesome forum folks helped me with earlier this month.

I thought I could follow that previous setup with this one as they look almost the same but apparently not, I believe I fried the fist G2 dimmer I tried on this one as the G2 Wall Switch terminal has a nice burn mark on it… :frowning:

So here’s the setup with this light and switches.
At the top of the stairs is the light I want to wire. The power comes in at the light fixture, like nearly all of my lights in this house wired in 1970. There are 2 switches that control this light upstairs (one 4 way and one 3way) and 1 at the bottom of the stairs (3way).

Here’s what is in the light fixture and what I think they are:

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Here’s is what I think is the 4way upstairs, notice the black wire tied to another black going somewhere. I thought maybe this was the switch loop going through all the switches like [in my other thread] (Wiring Help - Aeotec G2) but I’m not so sure. Come to think of it in that setup the LINE went through all the switches…so I don’t know what I’ve got here:

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Here’s the other upstairs switch:

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Here’s the downstairs switch (ignore the other switch in the box):

So here’s how I wired the G2 dimmer into the fixture wiring (and probably fried it):

  1. connected Line bundle (green wire nut in 1st pic) to AC Power L on the G2
  2. disconnected neutral from light from the Neutral bundle & connected Neutral bundle to AC Power N on the G2
  3. connected Load N to the white wire from the light fixture (was previously tied into Neutral bundle in step 2)
  4. disconnected black wire tied into black wire from light fixture & connected Load L to the 1 black wire from the light fixture
  5. connected black wire (previously wired with the black wire from the light fixture in step 4) to Wall Switch terminal (furthest from 3V terminal) on the G2

Since I had to run to the basement to flip the breaker back on I didn’t see/hear what happened. When I looked at the G2 after turning the breaker back on I did not see the red light so I’m assuming that means it did not have power. After removing the G2 from the circuit and inspecting it I found the burn marks near the Wall Switch terminal so I suspect it got fried.

So what did I do wrong? What’s different with this light/switches from my other thread is that the travelers appear to join in the fixture box instead of daisy chaining from switch to switch. Not sure that it matters for this though.
Also, I’m not sure what the black wire tied to the black wire is in the first switch box pictured above. I don’t think it’s LINE going to the switches but was thinking it was the switch loop wire that ties into the black wire to the light fixture in the box at the fixture…

Any ideas what I’m doing wrong on this one???

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DON’T LISTEN TO ME, HIRE AN ELECTRICIAN!!!

Okay. I’m trying to follow what you did but am having trouble.

so, let me just ramble a bit and see if this helps. :slight_smile:

You have a classic switch loop just like before. I’m confused by the red and white wires in the light box. Do the red and white wires that are tied together both go to a bundle together with a black wire? In other words, you have two 3 conductor wires coming into that box. each with one red, one white and one black. So, I can tell for certain that the two red wires, one goes to each of those wires. What I CAN’T tell is which of the black and white wires are associated with them. You have a classic switch loop, I think.

So, what I suspect is that one of the black wires that is tied to the green wire nuts goes to one of the R/W/B wires. The black wire that goes to the light goes to the other R/W/B wires. That is your switch loop. Black wire out and black wire back. If that is true, then those two wires should connect to the low-voltage side of the Aeon module. (Switch loop)

Then all you should need to do is add a black wire to go from the green wire nut to the line hot side of the Aeon and a white wire to go to the line neutral side of the Aeon and then hook the light fixture to the load side of the Aeon.

Okay, now that I have this down, let’s look at what you did:

  1. connected Line bundle (green wire nut in 1st pic) to AC Power L on the G2 This is unclear. Did you add a black wire and connect one end to Aeon and wire the other end into the green wire nut?
  2. disconnected neutral from light from the Neutral bundle & connected Neutral bundle to AC Power N on the G2 The white wire going to the light would be load, wouldn’t it? I don’t think this really matters, but it feels backward to me.
  3. connected Load N to the white wire from the light fixture (was previously tied into Neutral bundle in step 2) I can’t tell the difference between this and the last step.
  4. disconnected black wire tied into black wire from light fixture & connected Load L to the 1 black wire from the light fixture Too many references to light fixture. I cannot tell what this means
  5. connected black wire (previously wired with the black wire from the light fixture in step 4) to Wall Switch terminal (furthest from 3V terminal) on the G2 What did you connect to the other side of the low-voltage side?

Guess that didn’t really help. Sorry, I cannot tell what you actually did. :slight_smile:

Let me know if you have an other questions.

-Todd

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[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
You have a classic switch loop just like before. I’m confused by the red and white wires in the light box. Do the red and white wires that are tied together both go to a bundle together with a black wire? In other words, you have two 3 conductor wires coming into that box. each with one red, one white and one black. So, I can tell for certain that the two red wires, one goes to each of those wires. What I CAN’T tell is which of the black and white wires are associated with them. You have a classic switch loop, I think. [/quote]
Yes, the red and white wires have a black wire in their bundle (3 pair). I’m betting you’re right on the classic switch loop.

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
So, what I suspect is that one of the black wires that is tied to the green wire nuts goes to one of the R/W/B wires. The black wire that goes to the light goes to the other R/W/B wires. That is your switch loop. Black wire out and black wire back. If that is true, then those two wires should connect to the low-voltage side of the Aeon module. (Switch loop)[/quote]
Ok, I’m following you there. I need to separate out the black wire that belongs to the other red/white pair and connect him to one of the wall switch terminals on the G2. The other black wire that is currently tied into the black wires from the light fixture would go into the other wall switch terminal on the G2? And nothing should be tied into the 3V Out terminal on the G2 correct?

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
Then all you should need to do is add a black wire to go from the green wire nut to the line hot side of the Aeon and a white wire to go to the line neutral side of the Aeon and then hook the light fixture to the load side of the Aeon.[/quote]
10-4, that all makes sense.

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
Okay, now that I have this down, let’s look at what you did:

connected Line bundle (green wire nut in 1st pic) to AC Power L on the G2 This is unclear. Did you add a black wire and connect one end to Aeon and wire the other end into the green wire nut?[/quote]
Yes

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
disconnected neutral from light from the Neutral bundle & connected Neutral bundle to AC Power N on the G2 The white wire going to the light would be load, wouldn’t it? I don’t think this really matters, but it feels backward to me.
[/quote]I guess it would be load, not surprising that I mixed the terminology. But all the neutrals (white wires other than those two white wires marked traveller) were connected originally so what I was trying to convey here is that 1. the neutral from the breaker was separated from the white wire from the light fixture and
2. that I connected the neutral from the breaker to the AC Power N terminal on the G2

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
connected Load N to the white wire from the light fixture (was previously tied into Neutral bundle in step 2) I can’t tell the difference between this and the last step.
[/quote]I see what you mean, but this step was just conveying that the white wire from the light fixture was connected to the Load N terminal on the G2

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
disconnected black wire tied into black wire from light fixture & connected Load L to the 1 black wire from the light fixture Too many references to light fixture. I cannot tell what this means
[/quote]By light fixture I mean the actual wires from the lights (2 bulbs in this light/fixture). The 2 black from each bulb are tied together and so are the 2 white wires from the bulbs. So in this step I took the black wires from the bulbs and tied it to the Load L terminal on the G2

[quote=“Todd_Whitehead, post:2, topic:61260”]
connected black wire (previously wired with the black wire from the light fixture in step 4) to Wall Switch terminal (furthest from 3V terminal) on the G2 What did you connect to the other side of the low-voltage side?
[/quote]By the other side of the low-voltage do you mean the one Wall Switch terminal left on the G2? If so, nothing.
I’m assuming this is where I would connect the black wire (that must be connected in the bundle w/ the LINE-green wire nut) that corresponds to the other red/white pair you mentioned above, which should complete the switch loop if I’m understanding you correctly.

And THANK YOU for taking time to reply and help me out!

4

It’s been a while since I wired one of these. Those two black wires that are in the R/W/B bundles should be your switch loop. Wire it like you did your other one on the low voltage (small terminals) side of the module. (You can leave those off initially and put some small wires on those terminals on the module to test connecting them and disconnecting them to make sure it toggles the light.)

So, to start:

  1. Completely disconnect and ignore the black wires that go the the R/W/B bundles
  2. Wire line black and white (should be coming into the box on the same physical wire bundle) to the line side of the module
  3. Wire the light fixture to the load side of the module.

In all cases, this is the first thing you should do. Identify line voltage and identify the load. Wire those in and see if you can pair it with smartthings and control it.

Then use short wires on the other side to toggle it, then figure out how to get those short wires connected to the switch loop.

Once you identify the switch loop wires, they should be completely isolated from other wires in the circuit. Do not run any line power on those wires.

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God bless you @Todd_Whitehead , you’ve done it again!
I separated all the black wires that were in the LINE bundle, marked the LINE wire, and connected each remaining black wire separately until I found the one that belongs to this switch loop. The remaining black wires must power other switches/outlets out of this box.

Once I separated out the black wire that belonged to this circuit I hooked him up to the remaining Wall Switch terminal, with the other Wall Switch terminal belonging to the other black wire, which was previously tied in to the black wires from the light. With all the other wires hooked to their respective terminals on the G2 I powered it up and instantly got the blinking Red light, and no pops or sizzles!
She paired up fine and now I’ve got another dimmable SmartThings light!

This one was just slightly different than the other light you helped me with.
I really need to disconnect all the wires tied into the LINE bundles for these and identify the wire that belongs to the light I’m working with. It seems in my house they ran power to other lights/switches from the light fixtures and that makes the black wire bundles large in my light fixture boxes.

Now, let’s see if I can cram this all back in the box in the ceiling!

Thanks so much @Todd_Whitehead!