Blue Series with switch that previously powered outlet

Switches Wiring Discussion
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I bought a house and the homeowner replaced all the outlets shortly before the sale. One room has a switch that previously controlled an outlet but the homeowner forgot that cause the switch now controls nothing.

I want to install an Inovelli Blue Series in place of that switch but the problem is there’s no neutral. It’s just a hot (black) and load (white). I just want to bind the switch to a hue bulb (the bulb wouldn’t be powered by the switch). Would that still work without a neutral? Would I need a bypass?

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So if I understand you correctly, you have a dumb switch that used to control an outlet but no longer does because the PO replaced the outlet.

I’m guessing that what happened is that the PO forgot to split the tabs on the outlet, effectively killing any switching. So if by chance you would prefer the dumb switch to control the outlet, then pull the outlet and see if the tabs that bind the two receptacles together have been split. If not, break them.

However, it sounds like you want to keep the outlet wired hot and replace the dumb switch with an Inovelli to be a scene controller with no load. Your present configuration is probably a switch loop, where the outlet has constant power. A 2-wire is run to the switch. One conductor sends a constant hot to the switch and the other returns a switched hot to the outlet. At the outlet, that switched hot controls one of the two receptacles (if the tabs have been broken).

So what you will need to do is rewire at the outlet. Find the 2-wire coming from the switch in the outlet box and wire it so that the black is connected to the hot and the white is connected to the neutral (colors presuming you’re using Romex or fabric covered wire). You can probably use the 2nd set of screws on the outlet if this is on the end of the run or if not, bundle the blacks and whites separately. This will provide you a hot and neutral at the switch box to wire an Inovelli with no load.

This is based on your description above and IAW how outlets are typically wired on switch loops. If you have something different, then you’ll have to post back and explain.

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