Inovelli White 2-1 in a Switch Leg 3 way

Wiring the Inovelli into a 2 switch one light system. When the dumb switch in turned off the smart switch looses power. After investigating the wiring set up is in a switch leg. In the box with the smart switch. Of course all the grounds are together with a wire nut. The neutrals from the panel the light and the jumper wire from the neutral on the smart switch are together with a wire nut. The black wire from the light and the white wire from the dumb switch are together with wire nut. Dumb switch has the white on the common terminal and the red to the traveler terminal under the common and the black wire is the terminal on the other side. The smart switch has the black from the panel into line the red into load the neutral is the jumper to neutral and the other black wire is in the traveler terminal. I have set up the switch for now to be on/off and to be Multi-Way (toggle) configuration. So is there a way to get the dumb switch wired correctly to not turn off the smart switch? Would it work with and Aux switch? If I get an aux switch can I use the Invovelli in dimmer mode? Pictures are the old switches wired.




So this looks like a line and load in the same box. This box is the one in the picture below. The Inovelli goes in this box.

In the original wiring, the hot is being sent to the other box via the white on the 3-wire, which is why is it bundled to the two line black conductors. Remove the white from the bundle.

You’ll use the Inovelli wiring diagram below. Your non-load box dumb switch is wired differently, so you’ll have to adjust the colors based upon the difference between your wiring and the drawing.

This should be the wiring for the Inovelli leaving the dumb switch wiring as-is:

Line terminal: Either pigtail to the two load conductors or just use the two holes on the Inovelli.
Neutral terminal: Pigtail a white neutral

Load and traveler terminals: The black and red from the 3-wire. Doesn’t matter which is which as they are from the two non-common terminals on the other switch.

The white of the 3-wire is connected to the common terminal of the other dumb switch. In the Inovelli box, that needs to be bundled with the black from the 2-wire going to the load.

Neither of your boxes looks as if the switches were ever grounded. Pigtail bare conductors in each box and connect to the ground screws on the switches.

Yes, you can also use an Aux instead of a dumb switch. If you use an Aux, you can dim from the Aux.

Ok I tried the solution you gave and pulled the white and put it in the load spot but then lights did not come on. So the parts you have labeled I think is just opposite see the pictures. Also I did have electrician come in to put the inovelli but of course they did not understand the wiring. Here are pics of the way the inovelli is set now and what I is the correct labels.




Looked at your overlay on the pic I posted. Are the two top left 2-wire the loads as labeled? Is this going to two lights? You say the “light” did not come on, but I see two black conductors.

Does the switch power up ok? Did you configure for the 3-way dumb (confirm it’s still set)?

That looks correct to me with your corrections on my drawing.

If this is not working, we can temporarily re-wire as a 2-way in the single box to test.

Yes there are 6 can lights in the ceiling so Im guessing 3 and 3 so when I say light I should have said lights. So the two-two wires to the left I believe are the load. So to me (which I’m on steep learning curve) by pulling the white wire from the 3 wire that is bundled with the two load black lines there is nothing to complete the circuit to the lights. At this moment I can not remember if the switch powered on correctly but I believe it did but the lights just did not come on from the dumb switch or the inovelli when I put the white wire from 3 line in the load spot on the inovelli.

It’s a bit confusing, but here is how this works. (I’m not sure why it’s not working in your case.)

Any 3-way switch leg works by passing the switched hot over one of the two traveler conductors, so at any time, one of those travelers is going to be hot. Whether or not the lights turn on depend on the combination of the two switches.

Refer to the solution drawing to help this make sense. The Inovelli puts out a switched hot from either the hot or the traveler terminals. Those traveler conductors (black and red in your case) carry the switched hot over to the dumb switch. The dumb switch passes the switched hot BACK to the Inovelli over the (in your case) white. So when the lights are supposed to be on, that white will be hot. So that’s why the white is connected to the two load conductors you have identified.

So we still have to figure out why yours isn’t working.

When you have a moment, pls confirm that the Inovelli now powers up full time, with the dumb switch in both positions.

Do the lights turn on with flipping the dumb switch to either position, or by trying the Inovelli with the dumb switch in both positions?

You left the dumb switch wiring alone, right? In other words, the white conductor is still attached to the black screw on the dumb switch, correct?

Also, make sure you have programmed the Inovelli as a 3-way dumb switch:

Multi-Way (3-Way) + Dumb (Existing) Switch Mode

To have your White Series 2-1 Switch work with your existing, “dumb” switch in a multi-way (3-Way) setting, hold down on the bottom part of the paddle (off) while simultaneously tapping the configuration button five (5) times (do not let go of the paddle when finished tapping the config button). Wait for the LED Bar to flash solid violet (and then let go of the paddle) indicating the switch has enabled 3-Way + Dumb Switch Mode.