I have been having issues with my VZW31-SN Red Series 2-1 Switches when using without neutral wire, so I am feeding in neutrals to see if they will stop going “Unavailable” periodically.
With the first one, after I connected a Neutral, the config parameter 21 Power Type changed to “Neutral”, but on another switch, after I connected the Netural, it is still showing as “Non-Neutral” in the config.
Is there a way to reset this config parameter without excluding and re-including? (I have several groups set up that I’d rather not redo if there’s an easier way to get the switch to recognize it now has a neutral).
Of course, it would be even nicer if there was an easy way to make the non-neutral 2-1 switches stop going “Unavailable” so often. I have 5 of these 2-1 switches and the one that always had a neutral never goes “Unavailable” but the 4 that didn’t have a neutral go “Unavailable” usually a few times a day (doesn’t happen at all with my Jasco non-neutral dimmer).
That is a read-only parameter based upon what the switch detects. Since the first one properly changed its status, that suggests that the switch with which you are having a problem does not think it has a neutral. Is the neutral that you connected to it from the proper branch circuit? In other words, is it from the same breaker that the line for that switch is connected to.
Are you certain it’s a neutral wire? Not every white wire is a neutral, especially in switch boxes.
If confirmed to be a neutral, is the neutral bundle fully intact? Anytime several wires are all under the same nut, it’s pretty easy for one of them to inadvertently get pushed out and mess up the overall integrity.
I double-checked and opened the box up and confirmed the neutral (yes, to the same breaker) was securely attached (it was).
So I then excluded the device and did a manual factory reset.
I re-included it and now it shows up correctly as Neutral Power Type and is reporting power usage.
So in the end, it turned out I just need to factory-reset to get it to see the neutral wire.
Unfortunately for my other 2 switches, bringing in a neutral will probably be too difficult. It would be nice if these switches were more reliable in non-neutral situations (which was the main reason I bought them).
Try adding a bypass if you haven’t yet. Most of the unreliability with them in non neutrals has to do with the load not being sufficiently large enough and the bypass fixes that.
Thanks, I do use bypasses. They prevent the lights from flickering, but the switches still go “Unavailable” frequently. Now that I’ve got neutrals on 2 that didn’t have them before, I’ll be able to collect better data and confirm my theory that the “Unavailable” issue was due to non-neutral.