GE On/Off Switch Wiring

Community Playground General Discussions
1

Quick question, I bought a couple of GE On/Off switches to wire my ceiling fans and the switch requires 3 wires; Hot, Load and Neutral. My current switch has 2 wires going to it; I am assuming Hot and Load. Can I just run a jumper from a neutral line in the box to the switch?

I think this is right, but just thought it would be smarter to check before making a mistake.

2

Which model did you get?
I thought the standard 2 way wouldn’t need that.

I’ll take a look at one of my 2 ways in case I got it wrong…

3

Model #45609. 2 way wiring shows 3 connections in manual; Load, Hot and Neutral. I am going to just run a pigtail to the neutral in the box I think.

If you don’t mind checking yours mario23 that would be great, thanks.

4

My GE On Offs (cant remember the part number now) do also require a Neutral.

5

Same here…

6

The GE switch requires a hot and neutral wire to run the ZWave radio, and the Load wire to power the light/fan/whatever. Most regular switches only need hot and load, since the switch itself does not require any power.

Modern electrical codes generally run the neutral wires through the switch electrical box. However, older homes often do not. You do need to find the proper neutral wire to connect to (and it must be on the same circuit as the hot wire).

If you have any doubt on what your are doing, consult a licensed electrician!

7

@Chimpware

As others have stated in here, the GE on/off switch, as well as all other “relay” based (read: full on/off) z-wave switches that I have seen require Hot, Load, and Neutral (Ground isn’t essential for them to work, but you should ground them).

In most cases when you replace a standard toggle switch, the neutral wire (if your house has them) will just be in a bundle at the back of the box. As you have already assumed, you’ll want to just pigtail off the the neutral wires that are in your box, and count yourself fortunate that you have them. :slight_smile: My house has neutral wires as well as the electrical was all redone in the 1980s, but I have heard from a few folks with older homes that don’t have them at all.

8

Guys, thanks for the help. Just pigtailed off neutral in the same box (which is the same breaker/circuit) and it worked fine.

9

Good to hear…this is good info for everyone to know…

10

Ahhh yes, now the trouble with Vera begins…

Now the node will not configure, seems to work OK and I can control the fan, but I get the red cog, and the configuration date of 31-DEC-1969…

I purposely have not updated the firmware in a while as everything was working and stable, guess that’s out the window again.

11

Rebuilt Zwave network and all is well again ;D

12

so you to what…exclude everything then start over again?

13

Nope, just “Repaired the Network”. Sorry for the misleading language.

14

Thanks…