Wiring LRM-AS Dimmer - Blue wire connection?

Devices & Integrations
1

I’m replacing a dimmer with the LRM-AS dimmer. My current dimmer has a green ground, white neutral and a black hot wire connected to the same colored 3 wires at the wall. The LRM-AS dimmer has an additional blue wire that is supposed to connect to a load wire that runs to the light. Since I only have a green, white and black wire at the outlet, do I connect the blue wire, and, if so, to which-- the white or black? Thanks.

2

On closer examination, my original dimmer only has two black wires and a ground: One black wire that attaches to the hot and the other to the load. There is no neutral. Will I not be able to use the LRM-AS dimmer?

3

Nearly all Zigbee and Z-wave switches require neutral. There are a very limited few older ones that do not.

Are there any neutrals in the box at all? Sometimes in the back of the gang box there’s two or more white wires all screwed together. If so, you can tap into that for neutral.

Here’s a good guide for wiring basics:

4

Thanks for the reply. No, I now understand what I have. I do not have a neutral. The hot wire going to the lights comes first to the gang box and then leaves via a white wire, allowing the person who wired it to switch the hot wire with a common 3-wire electrical wire. The white wires were not marked, so I initially thought they were neutral. Once I examined the switch, I identified that it was a two wire plus ground type. I don’t have neutral at the gang box, so I guess I’m SOL for this LRM-AS dimmer. There is no easy way of getting a neutral to the gang box.

5

That’s always the biggest hurdle for using Smart Switches. Way too often wiring in older homes is lacking the necessary pieces. I’ve been very luck in that even though my home is pretty hold (1940s) most locations have had a bundle of neutrals in the back that I could tap into. Of the three places I didn’t have a neutral I was able to use one of the older dimmers that didn’t need neutral in two of 'em, and I was able to fish a neutral wire to the third without too much difficultly (just had to drop a line down through the attic).