tosvus,
Glad you got it working I too want to install the GE dimmer switch but I have a question. Where I want to put the aux switch there are four wires a ground(green), Hot(black), Load(black) and a red(traveler). but the Aux has only has three wires so not exactly sure what to do with the extra Load(Black) wire? did you have the same issue?
Regards
karakawa
guys,
i’m trying to install a 3-way for one of my lights. i took the switch out of the wall and couldn’t determine which was the main. the switches were identical and each had 4 wires coming out of it. i’ve included a pic of one of the switches.
Can I run my setup past you guys to see if I did anything “dumb” (always a possibility for me)
I’ll reference the two switch locations as 1 and 2 because I switched which was master…
Switch 1:
Had red and black line going in at the bottom of the switch and one red line out. From what I can tell this was the slave switch. The red and back in the bottom were the travelers from Switch 2. The top red was the load line to the light.
Switch 2:
Hand the hot wire wired up to the bottom of the switch and a secondary black line coming into the slide in connection at the same screw. The top had red and black lines running out. All together the switch has four lines connected up. I know hot was into this swich and I believe that the secondary black line on this point was just a way to tap into the hot for some other spot, but I’m not sure. The red and black that were connected to the top of the switch and I believe these were two travelers.
('ll make a second post, the edit field is scrolling as I type…arrgh)
What I did was flip the switches, now switch 1 is the master since that’s how the GE switch wants to work.
I wired up blue to load, black to a hot line in the box, white to common, green to gnd. I wired up the yellow line to one of the existing travelers.
On swtich 2 I used the traveler to the yellow traveler, white and red to hot, and green to ground. (three wires on this part, correct?)
Once I pulled the CFLs out of the fan light sockets it worked well. Just for giggles I tried to tie the other traveler wire and things went nuts. What I saw earlier was that someone said the GE switches use voltage to signal what’s going on. I’m guessing that my splitting (and rejoining) the travelers did something to the signal? If they run parallel they’ll be and .5 voltage as it travels, but that should be restored by the time they join back up. They both run in the same “wire” so I don’t think it’s distance thing. Any suggestions why this would happen?
Also, am I doing the right thing hooking up both the master and slave to hot lines? That’s what the wiring schematic suggest, but I’m not confident with that diagram…
Thanks!
FWIW I had also done tested putting a traveler on hot, and wow, the lights were quite brite at that point! Did I restore the voltage to 240V?
[quote=“dchoe, post:62, topic:167413”]guys,
i’m trying to install a 3-way for one of my lights. i took the switch out of the wall and couldn’t determine which was the main. the switches were identical and each had 4 wires coming out of it. i’ve included a pic of one of the switches.[/quote]
I’m no expert, but it looks like you’ve got the basic single traveler setup. Hot going in on black into the first switch and on the other switch black is load (to the light). Red looks like your traveler and white is common. The only suggestion I have for you is to disconnect the blacks test which is the live one with power on (dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing) That’s how I figured out today with my setup.
The GE secondary doesn’t use common, only gnd, hot and traveler. So that will just need to be tied into the rest of the common in the outlet. I’ve just asked about the hot on the secondary since it appears that needs to be connected too.
[quote=“karakawa, post:61, topic:167413”]tosvus,
Glad you got it working I too want to install the GE dimmer switch but I have a question. Where I want to put the aux switch there are four wires a ground(green), Hot(black), Load(black) and a red(traveler). but the Aux has only has three wires so not exactly sure what to do with the extra Load(Black) wire? did you have the same issue?
Regards
karakawa[/quote]
Just my thoughts as I read this…
The master switch needs to go where the load is. Check if you’ve got a spare wire in the box that comes from the same wire group, if it’s a 4-wire cable you’re stuck. But… it seems that the GE doesn’t require a traveler, but that’s just how the docs read… If you can repurpose the traveler to carry the load that may be the way to go.
Just make sure you know which black is load. And the main and aux may both need power so you may need to look into that.
What I’ve found out, since I’ve now installed about 14 of the 3 way dimmers, and about 3 or 4 of the on/off relay switchs is, the AUX switch only needs ground, a netural to the stripped red/white wire (in the newer on/off relay based switches they suggest use a neutral only, not the hot), and of course 1 traveller between the yellow wire on the master switch, to the AUX switch.
connecting the neutral seems to work better, than using a hot on the AUX switch, and it also works on both the dimmer 3 way Main, and the on/off 3 way main as well.
It’s always best to use a “wiggy” or a voltmeter to find out how your existing switches are wired, BEFORE you start disconnecting the wiring from the switchs…
Also as an FYI, the AUX switchs that come with the Radio Shack GE 3-way dimmers also work just fine with the GE on/off relays switches as well. I’ve only been buying the 3 way dimmers, and not using the AUX switch on many of the circuits. I also needed AUX switches for some of the on/off relays switches, and the AUX that came with the dimmers works great, of course its all GE, so not surprising.
I’m working on a second switch and coming across some problems.
I believe I have all the line ID’d correctly, but what I’m running into is when the light is turned on it appears to only go to about 1/2 brightness.
The aux switch when pressed momentarily brings the light up to full (maybe beyond?) and then it drops back down to 1/2 when I release the switch.
If I disconnect the aux the main appears to be functioning normally.
I may try mitch’s suggestion of wiring to common, not hot, on the aux side, it just sounds a little odd.
I thought I may have read something about needing to reset the switches for something. Does that have anything to do with the initial install, or just for when you are using it later?
JeffD, use the Neutral to the AUX switchs white/red strip lead, I had the same issue when I used the “hot” (black) lead. The neutral works better, and is also compatible with the on/off only switches as well (which also support 3 way operation with the same AUX remote)
Thanks Mitch, that did fix the problem. Then I spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out why the lights wouldn’t come back on when turned on. Only to find out that I had dimmed them all the way, so “on” was almost off… I messed around with that WAY too long.
[quote=“Jeff D, post:65, topic:167413”][quote=“dchoe, post:62, topic:167413”]guys,
i’m trying to install a 3-way for one of my lights. i took the switch out of the wall and couldn’t determine which was the main. the switches were identical and each had 4 wires coming out of it. i’ve included a pic of one of the switches.[/quote]
I’m no expert, but it looks like you’ve got the basic single traveler setup. Hot going in on black into the first switch and on the other switch black is load (to the light). Red looks like your traveler and white is common. The only suggestion I have for you is to disconnect the blacks test which is the live one with power on (dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing) That’s how I figured out today with my setup.
The GE secondary doesn’t use common, only gnd, hot and traveler. So that will just need to be tied into the rest of the common in the outlet. I’ve just asked about the hot on the secondary since it appears that needs to be connected too.[/quote]
looks like the switch shown in the pic is the master. so do i not use the blue (load) wire on the ge master switch? and on the slave, i just cap off the common since it’s not used?
thanks
(Fair warning, I’ve got limited experience with these things, but… your setup looks pretty simple to me.)
IF both switches have the indentical number of wires it looks pretty simple. The trick is figuring out which switch has black as hot and which has black as the load.
Couple of ways to do that… meter or other tester disconnect the switchES. One switch the black will be hot and will read 120V if using an AC meter between that black and common. The the black on the other switch will then be the load (the light). What I did was less suggested, again everything was disconnected so that here is only one hot line. From there I tapped my suspected load line to the gang of hots in the box. If the light comes on that’s load, otherwise that’s another hot. There can be sparks and hell can break loose, so only do it if you’re comfortable with what you’re doing. Easy way, use a meter or any other tester.
As for the setup, the thing is that you’ll need a hot and the load in the same box for the GE switches. Hopefully you have a gang of black wire all in a bunch that you can wire into.
Yes, the aux common could be tied into any other common in that box and capped. Although as Mitch has pointed out, the common may be better to connect the aux to. This worked better for me! In that case make sure the black in that box is properly terminated.
Your red lines are most likely the travelers (connect to yellows on the GE switches). The blue NEEDS to go to the load (the light). Don’t leave that disconnected because that’s carrying the electricty from the switches to the light.
The pictures in the manual suck, but they should give a good idea what’s needed.
Trying to hook up a 3 way as a 2 way. My box has 4 total switches. The one I’m trying to replace has 2 black wires, a white wire thats connected together with a group of white wires, and the ground. The zwave switch has the black wire, blue wire, white, yellow, and green. I’ve tried to hook up the black and blue with the black wires in the box, the white with white, and the green with ground. I’m getting nothing. The light on the zwire switch doesn’t even come on. I’ve swapped the blue and black with the two blacks to see if that made a difference…nothing. What now?
It’s likely you can’t do what you are trying to do, since it was a 3-way switch to start with, the “line” (power) lead may be in 1 switch box location, while the “load” lead (to the light), could be in the other switch box location.
You will need to get the line & load leads in the same box, to get it to work properly. I suggest you get a small meter or 120V simple tester, to find the hot, that will be the clue, then examine the wiring carefully, and determin which are the 2 “travellers” (they are the wires that go from box A to box B), you can use 1 of the travellers to get the “load” wire to the same box as the “line” wire, once you do that, you should be able to hookup the switch to get it to work. Look at the diagrams /schematics that come with the switches, they have example of the wiring, but you have to figure out what wires are what, and from the sound of it so far, you don’t have a “hot” (line) wire yet…
Think it depends on the size of the radio shack on if they would carry them at all. (Found this out yesterday)
Best to call around first. Also, if you do find one that has them, they can call around to other shacks in the greater area and have them shipped to that store. I’m being told that finding them is for the moment, still not a problem. I just cleaned out another store and the manager asked if I wanted more. He stated he can still get them if I need more. Doesn’t hurt to ask.
The switch you are trying to replace is a standard switch or not? I’m just looking for clarifications as to what you’re calling a 2-way switch. Are you calling a standard switch a 2-way switch? If so this should be able to work for you. If not, I’d need a better understanding of what exactly you’re trying to do. If you’re replacing a normal switch on of the blacks carries the load the other is hot, the switch open has no light, closed light on. In that case the blue goes to the load line and the black goes to the hot line. The switch should work then. But, this switch isn’t the best option for that setup because of the extra wiring. I’d goe withthe standard z-wave switch for that use.
Need all of your expert advice. I have this setup: How To Install a 3-way Switch Option #3 :: Home Improvement Web
I have the master switch working but the slave does absolutely nothing. Any ideas?
Yenner, the trick is understanding exactly what the wires are doing. Do you have one or two travelers? If you have two make sure you use one to handle the communication. I had attempted to wire both my travelers together and use the two as one wire, but that did not work at all. So, I’d suggest staying away from doing that.
The important thing on the secondary switch is that the traveler needs to be wired correctly. Also wire ground (green), and hot (red and white) wire to common (white) in the box, the GE directions say to wire this to hot(black), but as mitch suggested it may be better to use the common in the secondary box. I have spoke with Jasco and they confirmed what mitch said. The traveler needs to be wired correctly so that the two switches can communicate. Unlike the system diagram you showed there are fewer wires.
JeffD,
So instead of redwhite to hot, red white to netural? I’ll try that.
Yeah, check back a few posts, it was mitch who suggested it. Given that everything else was wired correctly that fixed a problem for me.
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