I had an electrician over to install GE 3 way switches and after two hours of his work he stated couldn’t install. Needless to say that made my wife very angry as I spent money on him and he could not do anything. So after being told about no neutral in all my boxes I have purchased two CA600. I am going to attempt to tackle the installation myself this time. I have attached a drawing of what is existing. I believe it to be self explaining.
For new installation for kitchen 3 way light I will put CA600 where feed from plug is. I will use the Black wire up top as the traveler and the white as the blue that gets spliced. I plan on using single pole switch at opposite side. With Black Traveler on bottom and White on top.
For the installation of the living room 3 way light I will again put CA600 where feed from plug is. I will again use black as traveler and the with as the blue that gets spliced. I plan on using single pole switch at opposite side.
Does anyone see any problem with this installation?
For the box(es) drawn on the right, how many romex are present? Does the circle on the right represent the light?
(One might expect 3 romex: a 2-pair (black/white) as the feed, a 2-pair (black/white) going to the light, and 3-pair (black/white/red) going to the other switch. But that doesn’t appear to match your statements and drawing.)
The boxes on the right have the romex on top coming down from light with (White, Black, Red) Along with a romex from the bottom coming from a plug that is the feed. Naturally it has the black (hot) going to bottom of switch and the white that connect to the Red wire from the light feed. These two wires are connected via wire nut.
Thanks for the clarification. The circles are wire nuts in the same box.
Still, wouldn’t this suggest you have a neutral in the box: the white from the feed, connected to the red, terminating at the light, as neutral. White/black from the switch on the right are nutted together at the fixture to the white/black going to the other switch, as travelers. And the red in the romex for the switch on the left is terminated at the light, as load.
Yes, There is no doubt there is neutral in the one side of the box (right on pictures) . The issue the electrician said was the GE needed neutral in both sides. There is not neutral at both sides. Yes I agree the red from light connected to the white from plug feed is neutral.
So i am correct in saying I can use the White or Black (right side picture) as a travelers. {connect to CA600 lower right to single pole lower left)
Then on CA600 Bottom Black (right sides picture)the CA600 HOT. What is actually on the CA600 blue ?
So, if you put a GE on the right, connect it to black/white (hot/neutral) from the feed, to power the device.
Then for the romex to the light, say, designate red as ‘load’, white as ‘neutral’ and black as ‘traveler’, and connect/nut accordingly in that box.
At the light, wire the red from the romex on the right (it is now ‘load’, previously ‘neutral’) to the black on the light . Disconnect the other red on the light, coming from the switch on the left, and cap it. Tie the white from the light in with the white (neutral). So white from the light is now connected to white (neutral) and black from the light now connected to red (load).
At the switch on the left, connect the white (neutral) to the aux, and the black (traveler) to the aux. Cap the red.
I have already sold the GE 3 way and have the Intermatic CA600 Due to the Electrician saying I have no Neutrals. So I have use the CA600 now. Or sell them… purchase new again GE’s. Which will cause me a divorce at this point.
The CA600 can be used in just about any 3-way circuit, but I won’t hazard a guess based on those diagrams.
My electrician also told me that my Z-wave switches wouldn’t work with my new house wiring (that they had just screwed up on by not putting a neutral in every box as directed). Later on, I figured out how to do it. Many electricians seem to lack the knowledge to install Z-wave switches since the wiring is non-standard.
Yeah, and the different wiring is not even specific to Z-Wave; the RF is more or less an added feature on top of a ‘digital dimmer’, where there will be a primary-auxiliary relationship when used in an n-way.
You just say, “It’s too bad that the product you want installed won’t work because of your setup. Since it’s not my fault, I’ll still have to charge you for my time.” Ironically, as far as these electricians are concerned, it isn’t a lie because you don’t know what you don’t know. And since the homeowner doesn’t know either, no one is the wiser.
I sent back the CA600 and was charged 15% restocking and 7 to ship. Went to Lowes bought their 3 way switch pack. Used Red wire as Load as mentioned (In light box disconnected one red and left red going to primary box for load) and Black as traveler, and sent White to light & connected to light and to white going to other switch box. Worked just fine. With LED bulbs also. An electrician couldn’t figure out but with the help of everyone hear I was able to get working. Just lost money with buying and selling switches and 150 to electrician.
