Hello, I’m trying to install a blue smart dimmer and an aux switch into an existing 3 way setup.
Looking through some other posts, I did find Help - 3-Way Power to Light In Between Switches Wiring which has exactly my setup, but unfortunately the post simply ends stating it is possible, not how to go about it. The main problem I see comparing my setup to most of the diagrams from the help documentation is that the dimmer switch in most configurations wants 4 conductors (line, load, neutral, traveler) but due to my setup both switch boxes have at most a 3 conductors due to being wired with just a single 14-3 wire.
Yes, that’s doable with a single 3-wire going to each box from the light, with the power originating at the light. Can you confirm that you have the topology below?
Correct, sorry for not re-linking the image directly in this post. I linked that old post because it was the only one that I found that seemingly had a diagram of the topology that I already had.
Take a look at this drawing to see if it makes sense. In essence, you are going to wire as a non-neutral. The Aux has to go in the box where power is first routed. The Aux gets that power (hot because it’s a non-neutral) and the white sends the hot to the dimmer box.
The red is used to connect the two travelers. The black in the dimmer box goes up to the light.
Double-check to confirm your wire colors match, or adjust accordingly.
I’m pretty confident in my wiring skills, and I triple checked the connections to match the diagram you sent.
Once hooked up, the blue switch worked, powered on, paired to my hub successfully and responded generally to local and remote on/offs. However whenever it was on, it made a quiet but concerning buzzing. Totally silent when off. I’ll note that I double checked my connections were secure, I don’t believe this was a loose wire arcing or anything. There was also some flickering in some of my lights.
I set the blue switch to aux mode 3 way and on/off mode via paddle commands (so I could confirm via the LED bar that it worked) to no effect.
After the above, I went to try the aux switch, and oddly it worked intermittently. I used it to turn the lights off, then on, then off again, but then it didn’t seem to respond to further inputs. It was at this point the flickering in the lights made me concerned for their longevity and I breakered the circuit back off and replaced the old switches.
The lights here are ~200W of LED shop lights (the ones made to mimic the look of CFL tubes).
Im curious if you have any known advice here. If not, the alternative to all of this is that while not at all easy, I am in a position where I could convert the circuit into a more traditional 3 way with a neutral in the box the blue switch would go in, but I’d like that to be the fallback option here.
Thanks for your initial help and here to hoping you might have some further advice for me.
So the first thing that hits me when I hear buzzing at the switch is at there is a loose conductor. However, you already checked your connections and said they are secure.
What are your lights and how many are you using? There could be a compatibility issue or the power draw is higher than you think and approaching the 300 watt limit. Well you may be under the limit, if my memory serves me correctly, someone else here had an issue with shop type lights with a fairly high power draw.
Are the lights dimmable?
Are the lights ballasted?
I know the wiring topology in the drawing I posted is solid, as I have personally wired using that topology and have no issues. (Gen 2 switches)
One thing to try is to temporarily test it as a 2-way. Just pull the traveler conductor from the Inovelli and factory reset it. It will default to 2-way switch configuration. See if you still get the buzzing.
Yep, tried the installation again this morning from scratch to gather more data and was greeted by the same problems, further solidifying that this likely isn’t a loose conductor.
Attached are a photo of the spec sheet for the lights. They claim they are 55W each and I have 4 of them. They are not dimmable, and I don’t believe they are ballasted (I’ve never seen an LED light with a ballast, and the design certainly doesn’t look like it has room for one).
I didn’t have time to test the two way configuration, but I will after work. I figured I’d just provide as much data as possible as early as possible.
Attached is also a video of the light flickering (only one of them seems to do it despite them theoretically all being the same make/model).
I asked about the ballast, as it’s possible to retrofit fluorescent fixtures with LED tubes, leaving the ballasts in place, but that’s not the case here.
A couple of things to try:
Put the switch in the on/off mode if it’s not already
Temporarily put the switch in the Smart Bulb Mode. This ensures 100% output. It should be the same as in the on/off mode, but I’m curious to see if it’s any different.
I’m leaning toward the conclusion that you are using a dimmer with a non-dimmable fixture, which is generally not advised. The Blue dimmer still uses dimmer circuitry, even in the on/off mode. If you look at LED Supply’s Dimming Guide, they specifically mention that improperly using a dimmer with non-dimmable lights will cause flickering and potentially damage the bulbs.
To change this to a switch, you need the Blue On/Off, presently available for pre-order. Unfortunately, I think that will require a neutral installation, so you may have to re-wire.
After going over your last message, I think I agree that the mixture of dimmer/non-dimmable fixture isn’t ideal.
Tell me what you think of the following alternative plan I came up with this morning:
Re-wire the blue and aux to be constantly powered with neutral and no load output
Re-wire the light (really an outlet because these are plug-in lights) to be constantly powered
Use the blue switch and zigbee binding to control a smart plug plugged into the now always on outlet.
Its not my ideal outcome, I’d love the switch to be directly in control of the lights such that the switch still works even if the zigbee network has problems, but this gets me up and going today and maybe in the future I could replace this setup with the on/off blue.
Attached is a diagram of my proposed rewiring (with blue as neutral because I can’t write with a white marker)
