I have a GE Z Wave Dimmer switch (#45606). I have installed six of these in my house no problem. This one, however, doesn’t seem to work correctly (or something is different with my wiring, so that is why I’m asking for help). Here is the sitation;
I have our nightstand lights both on individual plug in dimmers. The original light switch in the bedroom controls the outlet on the opposite side of the room (nothing plugged into it). I went to replace the switch, like I did all over the house already, and the blue light wouldn’t come on. I have a 60 year old house (knob & tube) so I don’t have a ground, just two black wires. On the other switches I simply connected each black wire off the z wave switch to one of the wires and it worked perfect. This one, no go.
I can get the blue light to turn on (and the dimmer switch work) only if I plug a light into the outlet the switch controls. I had a little night light I was using. The funny thing is that the nightlight still lit (very very slightly) even when the switch said it was off (blue light was on).
What am I missing?
BTW, the reason I want to install the z wave switch where this current switch is I want to use it as an event trigger for a scene (which will be just to turn on/off the two night stand lights), since currently the nightstands are not hooked up to a physical switch.
Yes, actually it is the way the 45606 GE switch along with other switches that don’t require a neutral are designed. The way they work is by always passing a small current along the load to power the switch. If there is nothing plugged into that outlet, then it is an open circuit and the switch will not power on. Most light bulbs will not power on with the low amount of current required to power the switch, but something small like a night light, which doesn’t require much power to light may actually turn on really dim.
No, if you do that, you’ll cause a short. You need some sort of load. You could possibly build something, but it would be far simpler to plug in a floor lamp or something.
What if wired in a resistor between the line and load wires? Would this cause a excessive heat problem? the resister would be inside the box with the wiring do it would be out of sight.
That’s what I was thinking - something that looked nice on the eye as well. It is on a big open clean wall, which is why I’m trying to avoid a lamp or an extension cord.
You do not want to put a dimmer switch on a receptacle - receptacles do not dim - they are an On / Off device whether controlled or not controlled. If you want to control the receptacle from the switch you need to use a relay switch: http://www.smarthome-products.com/s-30-fluorescent-appliance.aspx
It really shouldn’t matter if you use a dimmer on a receptacle, you just have to have a dimmable load plugged into it. There’s nothing I can think of on a receptacle that would make it inherently an on/off only device.
Yes it might work fine but you will shorten the life of the dimmer and don’t plug anything with a motor in it as they are not meant to work on partial current.
Curious, how does it reduce the life of the dimmer? Anything with a motor I get, but the dimmer? The dimmer doesnt know whether it is pushing power to a wall outlet or a light fixture right? So what’s te difference? Thanks - I just want to understand.
For a purely restive load (e.g. an incandescent bulb), the current and voltage are always in sync. When the voltage is high, the current is also high and vice versa. This makes everything predictable.
For an inductive load or a capacitive load, this is not true (some motors, low voltage electronic or magnetic ballasts, etc.). This causes issues with dimmers / speed controls. If you have enough of this stuff, it also causes issues with the power company (they get upset if residential customer’s power factor is off). Commercial customers have to pay extra for non-resitive loads.
Non-resitive loads can cause premature dimmer failure. The currents and voltages are higher than anticipated. They can also cause dimmers to malfunction. Most dimmers work by turning the power on and off quickly instead of just lowering the overall voltage. This is even more difficult to model and results in the load seeing a “strange”, non-sinusoidal waveform. This can cause the load and/or dimmer to malfunction, operate intermittently, fail prematurely, etc.
If you use a plain outlet and always have a restive load plugged in, there is no issue. GFCI outlets probably won’t provide the proper protection. Even with plain outlets, the occupant can change what’s plugged in at any time and this is probably why folks are saying that wiring a dimmer to a receptacle is a bad idea. I suspect it’s against code but I’m not sure.
Dimmers that don’t have a neutral need a minimum load to work properly. If you connect them to a lamp and then turn the lamp off (using the switch at the lamp), the dimmer stops working and stops responding to the Z-wave network. You remove the outlet and install in the box a resistor that represents the minimum load. This would would work as long as the resistor can handle the associated current and can dissipate the heat so you don’t get a fire.
