I currently have a 4 way switch with a red series on/off switch and 2 dumb switches. It works fine. I want to put in a red series smart switch in place of one of the dumb switches and change the smart bulb mode to on/off and then disable local control.
Would this allow me to use this smart switch for scene control for my Sonos while keeping the light in the 4 way switch functional? I don’t need or want to control the light at this spot so I don’t care about being able to turn it on and off. As long as the 4 way switch still functions at the other spots I am ok with that.
Hard to say without a bit more information. I’d have to see it drawn out to be sure. I’m not sure you will be able to do exactly what you are wanting but with some changes I think its doable.
What hits me right off from what you are seeking is that to add a 2nd Inovelli, you would need a constant hot and neutral to that position. Typically, you won’t have that with a 4-way wiring configuration. And I’m not sure that even if you could get there, it would blend with the existing 4-way configuration.
One thing you could consider would be to swap out the two dumb switches with Inovellis. This would make it easy to get a hot and neutral to each. The downside here is that you then have to associate the switches, as the wiring between them would no longer be used for signalling.
The other possibility, and I’m not sure where this stands, is if Aux switches get to the point where they can induce the Inovelli to send scene commands, that might work. IIRC, there was some mention of this but that’s about all I recall presently.
The short answer is that if you have enough conductors to configure it how you want then yes you could do that.
You’d only have to change the mode or disable local control if you were powering the smart bulbs from this dimmer. If not, then just use the dimmer as is to control the smart bulbs. Basically, the level of the dimmer is used to set the level of the bulbs.
Not sure if I wasn’t being clear but there are no smart bulbs in this set up. This is a 4 way switch with normal dumb LEDs. I have one Inovelli switch and two dumb switches that are currently working fine as a 4 way switch. What I want to do, basically, is to replace one of the dumb switches to another Inovelli switch to control something completely unrelated (Sonos). I still want the other 2 switches to work as a multi way switch.
Thank you. Forgive me I am a newbie with all this stuff but can you please clarify some things for me.
I did some reading on 3 way switches using multiple smart switches…it seems like this would work. For the non load switches it basically just needs a line and neutral, that’s it right? Is the idea to use the traveler wire in this box and connect it to line and then trace that wire out to the next box and connect that one to line? And then use another traveler wire to trace out to the last box and connect them to line in the 2nd and 3rd box?
Yep, that’s one of the alternatives I mentioned previously.
I would stick with convention and route the hot over the black and the neutral over the white. The red isn’t used.
Bear in mind that the crucial part of this is that you now have to link the switches using Zwave association, so your hub must support that. Simply connecting a hot and a neutral to the non-load switches will not allow them to switch the load connected to the primary switch.
This article provides further information. There are also articles specific to SmartThings and Hubitat hubs.
I’m not following exactly what you want to do. The paddle will control your Sonos music in some manner, right? You don’t want to use the dimmer hardware to switch or power anything, right? So, just a line and neutral to power up the switch would allow you to use it as a controller.
