quick question(i’m a newbie with my unit in the mail)
can the auxiliary switch be used as a regular z-wave switch?
Radio shack has the kit for $20 and thats a great price for a single switch
No. The aux switch does not contain a Z-Wave module.
JOD.
also should note that the 3-way switch requires a neutral wire. none of my switches have them (older house) so i didn’t buy any
You want the GE 45606 Z-Wave Wireless Lighting Control Dimmer Switch 
That’s true if you’re going to use the auxiliary dimmer switch that comes with it. However, if you want/need to use the 3-way switch just as a $19.95 2-way switch (if your Radio Shack is out of stock on 2-ways for example) then just wire it up with the two hot leads (black and blue) only and don’t bother with the neutral, ground, or traveler wire and just throw away the aux dimmer box if you like.
The 3-way dimmer only needs to use the two hot leads (black, blue) if used as a 2-way dimmer.
[quote=“bdevaux, post:1, topic:167413”]quick question(i’m a newbie with my unit in the mail)
can the auxiliary switch be used as a regular z-wave switch?
Radio shack has the kit for $20 and thats a great price for a single switch[/quote]
I just installed 14 of these dimmers, some 3-ways and most 2-ways (and some 2-ways using the 3-way dimmer, and just tossing the aux switch in the trash).
The aux switch doesn’t carry a load or actually control a light directly - it is simply a remote control for the primary dimmer switch which does carry the load and controls the light. So you can’t use it independently of the primary. You can use the primary without the aux however, and it’ll operate just like the 2-way version (with a few extra unused wires hanging out). Also as pointed out in this thread, the aux doesn’t contain a zwave radio so it must be hard wired to the primary (via the traveler/yellow wire), and thus it is also not a zwave repeater. It’s simply a hard wired remote for the primary dimmer.
So, if your Radio Shack is out of 2-way dimmers, the 3-way’s work fine as 2-ways and you’ll just have extra dummy aux switches that aren’t really good for anything.
I just bought 20 2-wire and 25 3-way from the radio shack site. I was afraid they would tell me the item was not avail but I just got a tracking number. 
I have never had any issues with the GE switches. Once you figure out that a 3-way GE switch is not wired like a 3-way light switch everything falls into place.
Be careful with these 3-ways. You will find a lot of people (me included) have had issues with them.
The master unit in the 45613 must have power all the time and must be wired so that it “directly” controls the current to the load. the Auxiliary Switch is actually a voltage divider circuit. It has a few electronic components inside which divide the voltage in such a way so it will send a specific voltage range back to the master unit - depending on whether you pressed the top (“On”) or bottom (“Off”) button.The maximum number of Auxliary Switch per master is two (2). 8)
Since this thread seems to have some 3-way switch experts, I thought I’d ask a couple of related questions
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Is it possible for anyone to say if they believe my wiring is ok to use these switches? I have a house built in 1995. The existing 3-way switch has 4 wires on the master, and 3 on the slave. I have noticed that the people who wired it originally seem to consistently not have used ground in switch outlets, so I expect that I would have to wire that to the metal-box itself. I guess my main concern is how to figure out whether I have a neutral wire or not…
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If I do run into problem setting this up as a regular 3-way switch, is it possible to use it an outlet like that as a 2-way switch? (That way, worst case I could set up a panel that goes through z-wave to control from the secondary location). (I suspect this would work?)
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More general question for GE dimmer’s. I’ve been trying a couple of different dimmable cfl’s, and it is still acting somewhat flaky when dimmed too much. Any recommendations on cfl/led bulbs that are not flaky at all, or is there a way to disable the dimming portion of the switch, and use it as on/off only?
Thanks!
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Hard to say without looking at wiring, but in general I would say yes; Primary is Load, POwer, Neutral and Carrier, Slave is Power, Carrier, Neutral. Post a Pic to be sure. Generally if you have white wiring in the box (In the US) it has a neutral.
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Yes. Just need to get the wiring right, but should in general work, but beware as there are about 6 different ways to wire a 3-way switch setup, so be sure you know what you are doing.
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No, some might post they have had good experiences, but in general they are all overpriced and unreliable in dimming applications.
My wiring is about the same vintage and I had the same 4/3 combination with the old dimmers. Using the GE 3-way in a 3-way configuration worked fine using my old wiring provided that the traveler (yellow on the switch and usually Red in the cable bundle) and neutral and clean and no shorts etc. I had one run that would not work, in that case the traveler wire measured some voltage when unhooked up on both ends, so it clearly has a short somewhere in the wiring - I just punted on that one and wired up the 3-way switch as a 2-way and dumped the aux switch altogether.
Yes, I’m doing this both in place of one 3-way which I mentioned above didn’t have a clean traveler - and I’m also using 3-ways as 2-ways in several locations simply because that’s what Radio Shack had a lot of stock in. In those cases I just clip and cap the extra wires and throw away the aux switch. Works just like a 2-way.
I just bought some Home Depot “Eco” branded dimmable CFLs and plan to install them this weekend. I’ll let you know how they work for me with the GE zwave dimmers.
BTW - My only complaint so far with the GE dimmers is that I’ve found a few of them to buzz in the dimmer. This isn’t unheard of with dimmers, but I had a few that were louder than I’d like and I’m going to replace them - hoping that’ll solve. If anyone has any other suggestions on how to quiet a loud dimmer buzz, I’d love to hear.
Santakrooz and Chimpware, thanks for your responses! Yes, I’m a novice at wiring, so I’ll post some pictures as well.
I picked up a LED bulb at homedepot during lunch and will see if that works better than the cfl’s I tried so far. The bulbs are getting to cost as much as my dimmers at this point (radioshack sale)
I’ll post back this evening.
EDIT:
Tested so far:
Philips 20-Watt R40 Compact Fluorescent Flood Light, Dimmable (E)*, Model # 150425 - should have read the reviews. Hopefully it works better in my house… Problem so far is when I go too low, the light starts blinking on and off (not flickering). It seems to confuse the switch (led on switch starts turning on and off). I did manage to turn it off finally, and get it up to full brightness when put it back on (which works fine). That reminds me; any way to program the dimmers to always go back to full when you turn them on? Annoying that they stay on the level you turned them off last time, especially due to the cfl issue.
GE Energy Smart 15 Watt Dimmable General Purpose Light - exhibits same issue as the Philips, though once I had to unscrew the bulb, put a regular one in, to “reset” the dimmer. Maybe I just didn’t try enough things, but that is certainly very inconvenient if that is a common occurance. The Philips seems to dim lower without issue as well.
thanks all for the info, cant wait for my unit to come
No manufacturer supports the use of CFL’s with Z-Wave dimmers as you will get the behavior described above - if you want to run CFL’s I would suggest Z-Wave Relay switches: http://smarthome-products.com/s-30-fluorescent-appliance.aspx
I’m not expecting the dimming to be perfect, but hope to find a bulb that at least doesn’t go off and on every 0.3 seconds (approx). I already bought about 20 dimmers, so this is what I’m working with.
The good news is that I picked up a LED EcoSmart 40w (equivalent) model A19 at HomeDepot today, and it works PERFECTLY. Sure, the dimming has a limited number of “steps” to it rather than a smooth dimming, but it dims quite low, and no weird behavior. About $18/bulb though so the initial investment is a bit steep, but will test it. If it is long-lasting, it may be what I’m looking for.
Now I just have to figure out how to set up the 3-way dimmers properly
How is the light output of the bulb?
- Garrett
I would say at least as strong as a 40w bulb, but with a little bit less range (I.e. the light doesn’t spread quite as much out to corners etc)
hmmm…I suspect I’m getting in over my head on the 3-way dimmer install… if anyone can take a look at the attached pictures and tell me how to wire, I would greatly appreciate it!
Edit:
To add some information; It seems to me that:
- the orange wire on each master goes to the lighting fixture(s) (I verified this on the top light)
- the brown ones travel between master and aux switch (presumably…does it also somehow get power from somewhere?)
- the blue wire on each aux goes somewhere else (guessing power panel?)
- yellow on master dimmer goes ???
just as a first step trying to identify where the wires go - the second problem is even then, how is the 3-way GE one going to be wired in a proper manner (since it apparently differs from others)