I have a basic two wire switch loop. 1 Black Wire (Live/Hot) and 1 White Wire coming from the gangbox, no ground. Our house was built in the 1950’s so I guess this was the standard then.
I would like to add some Zwave light switches to our home but I am having trouble searching for the correct one. A lot of the Zwave devices require a third wire. I think its called a neutral or load wire.
My question is what options do I have other than updating the whole electrical system?
I would recommend Aeon’s microswitch that fits in your gangbox. A lot of community members use this:
https://www.amazon.com/Aeon-Labs-DSC18103-ZWUS-White-AL001/dp/B008VWAPU4
This one does look like it can work and it has features.
I did see this product and was a little confused as to how it hooked up, so I sent aeon labs an email and they told me it has to have a third wire. Other places says it doesn’t. I’m not sure what to think.
Would it be able to work with incandescent lights for a simple on and off?
Yeah, I can see where it can be confusing. This may help (or not!):
The Fibaro is an excellent choice as @anon36505037 stated. Here’s more info on that too:
Awesome, Thanks. I will take a look
Another thing. What would be an option for the power outlets?
Thanks for this thread. I have a few switches in my house that are only 2-wire. This will be helpful.
There’s no reason why you couldn’t use the same devices recommended above in outlets. The more I read up on the Aeon, the more I keep finding the neutral requirement. I could have sworn these don’t need it. Hopefully someone in the community can point you to better info about these devices.
The aeon micro switches/dimmers do require a neutral wire. You could consider installing one in the ceiling box where your light fixture is wired (or having an electrician do it if you’re not all that familiar with home electrical wiring).
There are older model z-wave switches by both GE and Cooper that don’t require neutral wires, but they’ll only work with incandescent bulbs. And I’m not sure how easy they are to find these days.
In the ceiling for the light fixture, there is also only two wires only as well 1 black and 1 white. From what I understand / what ive read online, the power seems to be at the light fixture first and then the light switch interupts the loop.
Your saying its possible to install it in the ceiling fixture. If thats possible how can it be done with the aeon switch? I’m somewhat familar with it because I replaced outlets / switches and fixtures in the past.
As far as the outlets, I’d be plugging incandescent lamps into them and other basic electronics. Wont be using any dimming function at the time. That goes for the light fixtures on the wall too.
Quick disclaimer that I’m not an electrician, your wiring might be unusual and there is a chance my understanding of all this is 100% wrong anyway 
. But I got one to work on a 3-way fixture I have by installing in the ceiling with help from others on this forum. You need a basic understanding of home electricity and probably how to use a multimeter too. Sharing pics of your wiring helps.
If you don’t have a neutral wire in your wall switch box, then it has to be up in the fixture box. By convention it’s the white one, but you do need to check with a multimeter. The diagram below is likely what you have.
Use the diagrams in @johnconstantelo’s post to understand how to wire your hot and neutral to the aeon micro switch, you may need extra lengths of wire and wirenut them together. The two wires that were coming from your switch can be connected to the switch terminals on the aeon switch. That should take some extra wire and wirenuts too because those switch terminals only take 18G wire.
Your outlets can be controlled with either a plug-in switch device, or you can replace the receptacle with a connected outlet, there are several manufacturers that make both.
This is what the inside of the light fixture box looks like. Without the grounding wire though.
In that case I guess I can still see how the aeon switch could be wired in to the light fixture (so it could be controlled with the ST app), but I don’t really know how the wall switch controls the light at all (even without the aeon switch). Maybe others can help. @Navat604?
In your case. You have a few choices. You can use the fibaro mention above. It doesn’t use neutral and also will work with LED and fluorescent bulbs with the bypass module. They are very popular in Europe due to lack of neutral.
The second option is to find out where your power source is. Sometime it’s being tapped from one of the wall outlet or another light nearby. Once you find that source then you can use the in wall relay module I’m that location.
The first option is easier but a little more expensive. The second option is cheaper and more choices for device more pricier.
Just to be sure. I would double check the light fixture GANGBOX again to be sure it’s not there and not just checking the light fixture.
Yes, Im going to hope the Aeon switch will work somehow. I like that one better because of the price. But first I’m going to open up the wall light fixture and take some pictures tomorrow.
