Switch and lighting problems

Switches Wiring Discussion
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#1

I am trying to setup a red series dimmer switch in my bedroom, unfortunately due to the age of the house, there is no netrual in the box. This a powering 7 led spot lights with king-gu10-t6 7w 3000k bulbs.

Heres the situation,
I wired up the switch w/ line, load and ground. The switch powered up and i was able to connect it to my zwave hub. The problem I have is, when the dimmer is off I still have illumination from all 7 spots and when i ramp up to on i get a flickering and the switch becomes non responsive. I tried setting the maximum level to 55 which is the lowest it will go, however it didn’t change the outcome.

Anyone experienced this before or have a possible solution?

Thanks.

#2

Welcome :slight_smile:

A couple of things:

Wiring:
From your description I’ll assume you have a metal box with power coming in on a black and white wire.
If wired properly the Black wire is the Line and the White wire is the Neutral
Safety Ground is accomplished by connecting the dimer to the metal box (via the mounting screws). Please reply if this is not what you have.

Wiring Terminology

Flicker:
There are several reasons, before we go off on a tangent can you tell us if the above white wire is connected to the dimmer Neutral?
And the parameters 21 and 22 should be:

21 = 1 for Neutral installation (as opposed to no neutral)
22 = 0 for single pole installation (as opposed to a 3-Way)

John

#3

So I think this is a non-neutral configuration, so your parameter 21 should by 0.

#4

Yes, i have configured parameters 21 to non-neutral, and 22 is load only

#5

So one thing to try is at the switch, change the parameters 21 and 22 away from where they are supposed to be and then put them back. There have been some issues with the parameters not sticking.

So you have just one 2-wire Romex coming into your box, right? Which conductor is connected to the line and which to the load? How did you determine which to connect to which?

#6

I have tried that already, but I can reset the switch and try changing it again.

Yes, the main power is fed to the lights and a run is sent to the switch, the white is my load wire and the black my line, I tested the wires with the switch out to see which had power running to it, placed that one in the line spot and the other to the load.

#7

I understand your configuration now :slight_smile:

What Hub are you using?

#8

Sounds right to me. About the only thing I have left is to try a bypass if you can get at the lights. I know it’s supposedly only required <25W but it’s been known to fix problems.

Let’s see what @JohnRob thinks.

#9

I agree 100%. That was the first thought that came into my head but I wanted to be sure everything else was optimized.

When I read:

unfortunately due to the age of the house

I didn’t know the age the OP was referring to.

#10

Home assistant with aeotec gen 5 zwave stick

#11

Do I need to bypass all the lights? Or just 1?

#12

You only need to bypass one light, and at any light. The bypass acts as sort of another bulb adding someplace else for the small current that is dimly lighting you lights.

Does Home Assistant have the capability to read the dimmer’s parameters, hopefully to verify they are as planned?

John

#13

I do have a bypass, so I will try to wire it in tomorrow.

Yes home assistant can read the parameters and i have confirmed that they are as setup as required.

#14

Great, Good luck.

Let us know how you make out.

John