Wiring LRM-AS to Light on a Fan

Devices & Integrations
1

I’ve done very basic wiring before (replacing switches and outlets), but never a dimmer and never with a Z-wave one.

I am trying to install the Evolve LRM-AS dimmer to the lights in a bedroom. The lights are on a fan, and there are two light switches in the room (one for lights, one for fan). I am keeping the fan on a switch and just using the dimmer for the lights.

The Z-wave dimmer I have has four wires coming out the back of it:

  • White
  • Black
  • Ground
  • Blue

In the junction box all the white wires are tied together and all the grounds are tied together (no ground going to the two switches).

The light switch has red coming into the top and black going out of the bottom.

The fan switch has black on both top and bottom. All the black wires are capped together.

the dimmer wiring diagram says the blue wire goes to the Load. I tied the white and ground with their respective colors, tied black into all the other black ones and connected blue to red because I thought red was the load. However this didn’t work. I ended up putting everything back the way I found it and thought I’d come see if anyone here had any ideas into what I was missing.

Thanks!

2

that sounds right.

Fetch your self one of these guys, or the like.

You just don’t want to guess with mains voltage.

With one of these you can check where power’s comming and going to with the switches connected, but pulled out of the box.

3

I second Mike’s recommendation. To identify the load:

  1. Pull the existing switch out of the box but leave it wired in.
  2. Make sure the breaker is on.
  3. Make sure the switch is off.
  4. Place the detector on the candidate wires. One will be hot while one wont’. The one that is hot is the line and the one that isn’t is the load. Of course if you turn the switch on then both will be hot and you won’t be able to tell.
4

Thank you both for your responses. I kept reading advise online like “use a [multi-meter/voltage tool/etc.] to find the load and the line.”, but I wasn’t sure exactly how to go about doing so. I’ll check this out when I get home.

5

Red usually indicates a traveler… is this a three-way switch?

6

No, it is not a three way switch.

7

Fan light combos in my house are wired with xx-3 (white/black/red) as well, they use the red as an additional switch leg when both end points within a single device are controlled by separate switches.