Hi, I recently bought a Gen2 dimmer switch and was trying to wire it for my 4-way installation. It looks like my setup is a little bit different than the examples in the wiring diagrams and what I can see in other posts so I was hoping I could get some help. It looks like my two dumb switches are wired straight to the main switch instead of daisy chained like the examples. Would love some help on how I should wire the LZW31-SN. Sorry, I’m a total novice when it comes to electrical so I just want to make sure I’m doing it correctly and I hope my drawing is accurate based on what I can see behind the existing switches. Thanks!!
At first blush I think you can get it going with one Smart Dimmer and 2 dumb 3-Way.
The best option is to put the smart switch in the left hand box. There may be other options but this is the most likely. If that location is OK I’ll take a closer look.
Well, I though I had an way to use the dumb 3-Ways but no go. However you can use 2 Aux switches. The good thing is the Aux switches also give you dimming capability at every switch.
It might help to think of the Aux switch as a remote control for the toggle on the main dimmer. There is no lag like you would get if you went through the hub.
Let me know if you have any questions.
UPDATE Almost forgot. Be sure to cap (wire nut) both ends of the unused wires.
Thanks. I’ll look into getting a couple Aux switches.
These switches control my rear porch light which is always “on” with a motion sensor to actually activate the light at night. My kids are always playing with the switches so sometimes they leave it in the off position. Would I be able to disable local control with this setup? I’d hate to buy two more switches to find out that it won’t work. Thanks again!!
I don’t know if the Aux switches will be disabled if you disable local control.
I’m not 100% sure what your optimum configuration would be. It sounds like you want all the switch paddles disabled under normal conditions. You might also create a rule that will turn your porch light back on if turned off by the device. You can also limit the TOD this will happen.
@EricM_Inovelli Might be able to help regarding the disable local situation.
The aux switch will not control the load when local protection is enabled so you will be ok there. The problem is they won’t be able to do anything while local protection is enabled. You could set something up with additional Inovelli switches at those locations, but if you want the circuit to always be on maybe don’t worry about it?
Yes, I generally want the circuit to always be on since the light is controlled by motion anyways so it sounds like Disable Local Control will work for me in this situation.
One more question: I replaced a couple of Gen1 NZW31 switches with the new LZW31. Will I be able to use the old NZW31 switches instead of buying new Aux switches? I guess I’ll try it out first. Thanks!
No. The Aux switch is special design who’s sole function is to “communicate” with the host switch. It doesn’t even have a power switch capability.
You could, in theory do this via Z-Wave Association, but it will depend on your hub and you’ll have to do some fancy rewiring. What hub are you using?
Ok, cool – then this should be possible. Granted, if, for some reason Z-Wave stops working, the switch will not work physically as it’s going to be wired as a remote, so keep that in mind.
Here’s how you would wire up the switches (DISCLAIMER: I’m not an electrician and am assuming the diagram you sent is correct) – also @JohnRob and/or @Bry should check this lol:
I got the Z-wave association to partially work. I can turn the light off from the Aux switch, but I can’t turn it back on from the same switch. I have to go back to the LZW31 to turn it back on. I tried following the troubleshooting guide for non-neutral + AUX, but it didn’t seem to help. Is it different since I’m using a NZW31 instead of an aux switch? Any suggestions? Thanks.
Hi Eric, sorry for screwing up my terms. Yes, I’m using a LZW31 + 2x NZW31s. Technically, right now, I only have one NZW31 connected to test this out. I terminated the second NZW31 switch location with wire nuts. I figured that it was okay since the two NZW31 switch locations are running in parallel.
After doing the wiring, I did the Z-wave association and the LZW31 works fine, but the NZW31 only turns the light off. It won’t turn the light back on. I remembered reading the troubleshooting guide for my other 3-way setup so I thought that might be the problem, but now that I’m thinking about it, the association is a virtual 3-way and I should not have used the 3-way troubleshooting guide?? Anyways, what I did was use the troubleshooting guide for non-neutral + AUX, because I didn’t see a guide for non-neutral + Inovelli switch.
Hopefully I explained everything correctly now. So that’s where I’m at. I assume I can leave the change to non-neutral from the troubleshooting guide. Do I need to undo the change to aux switch? Did I screw something up in my z-wave association? Thanks!
– you have a unique setup.