New to dealing with 3 ways and I’m having some trouble with wiring on one of my lights. I was able to identify which wire has 120 when the circuit is off, but I keep struggling with the switch losing power when I turn off the dumb switch.
This box has 120 at the wire on the right.
This box had the black wire on the left hooked up to the common screw. Whichever permutation I have these wired in seems to result in the smart switch only getting power when the dumb switch is in a single position.
Here are the before pictures for completeness.
Below is the box where I think the smart switch should go.
This is the dumb switch location. Everything is working with the current setup.
It looks to me as if you have identified the boxes correctly. The single-gang box is the Line box. It’s a little tough to see into the box, but I think you have two 2-wires and a 3-wire. One 2-wire is the incoming hot and the other 2-wire is sending the hot downstream. The 3-wire goes to the other box.
The double-gang box is the Load box, with the 3-wire coming from the other switch and a 2-wire going to the light.
When you say the Inovelli is losing power when you toggle the dumb switch (there is no on/off on a dumb 3-way, just two positions), is the LED bar on the Inovelli going out?
If I understand you correctly, with both switches removed, in the single-gang box, you can meter between the black pigtail on the right and the white pigtail lower left and get 120VAC. If that is the case, try this:
Provision the double-gang box with the dumb switch as if you are about to wire the Inovelli in the other box. The red and black from the 3-wire go to the brass screws and the black from the 2-wire goes to the black (common) screw. Now go back to the single-gang box and using a meter, test between the black and white pigtails again. Test with the dumb switch in both positions. You should have 120VAC regardless of the dumb switch position.
The purpose of this test is to determine if you are really dropping voltage to the smart switch or if what appears to be that is something going on within the switch.
Thanks for the fast response!
I performed the test that you requested and I am getting 120V regardless of the position of the dumb switch. But, when the smart switch is wired in, the led light is off with the dumb switch in one of the two positions. When in the other position, the light functions properly.
I have also configured the switch as a 3 way in home assistant.
Okay, so disregarding the LED bar for a second. Just confirming that The end of LA works properly to turn the light on and off with the dump switch in one position but not in the other?
How confident are you that you have the switch set properly in HA? It should be said to three-way toggle, not three-way momentary. I can’t tell you the values as I write this, but it’s worth double checking. Also, try setting to an incorrect parameter like two-way and then putting it back.
You can also try setting from the switch’s paddle.
Do you have another switch you can try, by chance? It appears that you have it wired correctly, so it is either a settings issue or a faulty switch.
This sent me down the right path. The switch seems to be setup correctly in home assistant and was still having trouble with it powering off. I was able to test with a different switch and everything is working now as expected! Thanks for all your help. The troubleshooting steps will be helpful in other installs as well.
Thanks again
