ZWave Light Switch installation help needed

Top black wire goes to LINE

Bottom 2 black wires to LOAD.. you'll use both holes by it

You'll need another short wire to connect the NEUTRAL. One end into your zwave switch, other end added to the pig tail.. Just open screw and add it. You may need a bigger wire cap but generally I can get it on there. Just make sure the cap is tight and yank on the wire to make sure it doesn't come out.

Nothing goes into TRAVELLER

ETA make double sure your power is off before doing any of this. I bought a long purple wire at home Depot that I cut small wires to use for this exact situation and so it's obvious this isn't line or load.

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Top black wire goes to LINE

Bottom 2 black wires to LOAD.. you'll use both holes by it

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It's possible, maybe even likely, that the 2 on the bottom is are the line, in and out to another part of the circuit. The op didn't seem to mention (I'm old and could have missed it) whether the switch might be powering multiple lights, that would be the only way I would expect there to be two load wires.

The way to check would be to turn the switch off and see which side has voltage, that will be the line side. If this is not something you a comfortable doing, don't.

Top black went to load

The two blacks connected went to line

Guess I just had to figure out which had voltage

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Top black went to load

The two blacks connected went to line

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Figured I'd get it backwards. I should have also pointed out to swap them like you did if it doesn't work.

I end up doing that half the time.

Glad you got it sorted!

I posted the following question in a post a few days ago, but haven’t received an answer yet.

I want to be able to control my outdoor flood lights remotely ( I am currently using a Phillips hue light system with a 2nd gen hub for all of the 20 or so Hue lights inside and outside of my house). Is there a smart light switch that I can use to replace the existing on/off light switch that is currently controlling my outdoor flood lights? I want to be able to set them to turn on at dusk and off at dawn. Is the OP’s pictured item what I need to meet my goal?


Eta: the flood lights are standard outdoor flood lights, not smart lights.

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TigerDaddy30

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didnt mean to ignore your request.

but yes, you'll likely need some type of hub. a hue hub won't cut it.

99% of smart switches are zwave but I know WEMO makes one thats an actual WiFi switch that might suit your needs and that god-awful switchmate which you do NOT want to buy.

You'll need to set it up with a separate app than hue but if you're putting it on a schedule you may end up in some complicated area because more than likely you don't want it to come on right at dusk. A local 'sunset offset' option (built into wink app for instance) will allow you to turn the floods on 30 minutes before dusk or 30 minutes before dawn (or whatever offset works best in your situation) which is really what you're going to want; rigid 'sunest' and 'sunrise' options kind of suck.

for the long term, you're better off with zwave switches and a hub that can communicate with them. much more flexible and you have plenty of options.

You generally have 2 types of switches in your house: single and 3-way. 3-way are the switches that have another switch that turns the same light on.. Like a switch at the top and bottom of your stairs.

The miracle of 20th century mechanical engineering accomplishes this by having a wire that runs between the 2 switches.

If you install a so-called smart switch that uses a fancy neutral to maintain power all the time that breaks the good old 20th century mechanical switch at the other end of your room.

What then happens is you flip it and it dutifully cuts the power to your smart switch rendering your fancy $50 switch useless.

So the fine folks at GE came up with a slave switch that pairs with your smart switch for this application so both work.

But CAD say that if your switch is smart you don't need the other one and so in those cases I simply use a $2 cover from home Depot that connects over the other switch preventing anyone from using it.

Plus I'm a cheap bastard

A. Your light goes off automatically after being triggered in the middle of the night after 3 minutes of no motion.

B. "Alexa turn off the light in my mom's basement"

Mom would hate that set up

Not as smart as a Zwave and hub but Honeywell does make a programmable switch that also automatically adjusts to DST. ~$35-40ish IIRC.