I have two Blue 2-1 Smart Switches one at the bottom of the stairs then another at the top. the fixture has Philips hue bulbs in it. I am having a very hard time getting this wired up correctly.
can someone point me in the right direction? I tried to wire it according to the instructions all I get is flickering and I seem to be missing a black wire in either of the diagrams as well. thought maybe the red was just wrong color (old remodeled house) but no luck there either
According to your picture labels, your configuration is a line and load in the bottom box. The simplest way to approach this is to do it in several stages.
1 - Start by wiring this as a 2-way. The controlling Inovelli goes in the bottom 3-gang box. Wire the hot, neutral and load conductors to the switch. Cap off the red conductor, as it won’t be used.
2 - Add the switch to your hub and set it up as a 2-way. Put the switch in the Smart Bulb Mode, since you are using Hue bulbs. Manipulate the bulbs from your hub to make sure things are working ok. (i.e. turn them on and off, dim, etc) Since you are using smart bulbs, you won’t be able to control the bulbs from the paddles yet.
When you tested, did you do so with all of the conductors removed from the other switch? The best approach is to remove all conductors from BOTH switches. If you don’t, voltage can feed from the other box, which will provide a false line.
Yes, I capped off all the wires at the top of the stairs. Removed the switch completely, and only connected the bottom switch, line load (or what I thought was load) and neutral.
The bottom switch powered up just fine. Nothing else got any power.
Okay, so it sounds like the switch is powering up okay, but you are not convinced that the other Black conductor is the load conductor. That sound about right?
The first thing to do is to use a meter to test between the black and the white presently connected to line and neutral on the switch. Just want to make sure that that is a true 120 VAC. That black should be coming from either a two wire or a black bundle, probably the same thing that’s powering that other switch in that box.
If that’s good, wire nut (breaker off) or touch the black line connector to the other black conductor. That other black conductor should be coming from a 3-wire Romex. Does the light turn on?
If the light does not turn on, go to the other box and test the three disconnected conductors to see if you have a hot on one of them. Non-contact for that test.
I can confirm that this setup above the switch powers up 100% and I can confirm with the meter I am getting a solid 120VAC. Yes the black wire that is connect is coming from a bundle that is powering the other two switches etc.
I connected to two black wires at the bottom of the stairs with a wire nut. The light did not come on. white / red wires were not connected to anything
Ok, that makes perfect sense. You have a 3-way with the light(s) between the switches. Your hot originates in the lower box. The 3-wire that leaves that box goes to the light box first (or the first light box if there are multiple lights). At that first light box, the 3-wire goes to the upper single-gang box.
The reason your white is hot in the upper box is because in this configuration, the hot is typically passed to the far box by connecting the lower black and upper white on the 3-wires together at the light box. Take a look at this drawing and it will make sense. Note the black ↔ white connection at the light box. I had you temporarily join the two blacks at the lower just to figure out where the hot wound up on the other end.
So if this wiring configuration seems to conform to what you have, we can figure out how to get the Inovelli’s wired. I don’t think there is a stock wiring diagram for this one.
So I think you’re in the same boat as @mac77bear in terms of wiring configuration. I’ll post that thread below.
So right now you have a hot and neutral in the lower box. We need to get a hot and neutral to the upper box to power the other Inovelli. You have two conductors passing through the light that you can use to do that, the red and the black/white.
The upper box is really the load box (the black in that box goes to the light), so that box will have the Inovelli controlling the load.
At the lower box, put the line and neutral back into the Inovelli and unbundle what I had you temporarily do. Using the 2nd line and neutral holes, connect the red to the line and the black to the neutral. This will send the line and load to the upper box. This switch will not have a load. The white from that 3-wire should already be pigtailed to the neutral bundle in that box.
In the upper box, red to line and white to neutral. Black to the load.
So now the upper switch will control the load as a 2-way. You’ll have to use binding or automations for the lower switch.
