I totally bombed with getting this flood light rewired with a GE smart switch. After researching, I think the power might be wired at the light box. Do I have any options here that don’t involve getting something wired into the light box?
Need a little help understanding your diagram:
I'm assuming green is safety ground. Its not clear what the other wires are connected to.
John
Hi John, thanks for replying.
Not the finest art, but the colored squares are just the screws. Each switch is connected to one romex.
Ok,
3 Way switches are pretty simple. I'm on my way out but will post again later this afternoon.
Do you have a meter or indicator light to test for power?
There are inexpensive ones that will tell you if there is power or not Homedepot has them. They are only a few bucks.
I do, in the process of disconnecting everything it seemed the inside switch black line was the hot.
You said one of the switches is a GE switch, what is the other switch? GE switches require a special add-on switch for 3 way instillation. You cannot use standard switches in tandem with GE smart switches. Also, your drawing has a brown wire on one side but no brown wire on the other side? This is very confusing.
If you are trying to eliminate the 3 way switch, and just have the GE switch, the easiest way to do that is to remove the traveler and cap it at both ends and at the switch that is being removed, cross the hot and load. This should then allow you to have just hot and load connected to your 3 way switch you will replace with the GE. You would then have to connect the Hot and load in addition to the Neutral.
One thing to keep in mind, the colors in your existing wiring might be completely meaningless. Since 3 conductor Romex is White, Black and Red, white might not mean "neutral".
Did you consider taking a picture of the existing wiring at both locations and uploading that?
I have some quick pics that I took before disconnecting things - i didn't intend on them being posted so they are not perfect.
So for the "other switch" I left it as-is. The reason being, and please correct if this is not valid, is that I do not use the garage switch for this light. In fact, I have it taped down to avoid confusion. Eliminating the 3 way functionality is fine for me actually.
It looks as if the garage switch wiring is original 70's and the inside is newer, perhaps explains the difference in colors.
Have you looked at this FAQ over in the ST Forum? Seems to have multiple wiring examples described.
You cannot leave the other switch connected. If you are not going to use an add-on switch with your GE, the first order of business is to get the switch into a standard SPST configuration.
Your drawing makes even less sense now as I only see 3 wires on each switch, which is understandable. Is your drawing what you have already done or what you found when you opened it up?
Drawing is what was there. Ok - maybe thats my first problem, that I was using the other switch as-is.
Edit: Step 0.5 is actually find what breaker kills power to the service 
Step 1 on old wiring is to figure out what the wires are - hot (line and load sides), neutral, ground, and traveller
Step 2 on old wiring is always figure out where the wires go / what they are connected to.
If they jumped the old wiring and the new wiring together in some weird way in the fixture or in a junction box in the wall/ceiling, you may be SOL on this.
You won't know, though, until you 100% know what each wire is and specifically where it goes... Is pretty easy to do with a volt meter...
As Jason.Joel said, we need to figure out the wiring to be able to make a suggestion. And Ryan780 may be correct in the need for a GE "add on" switch. I looked at a GE installation sheet and they don't give much information regarding the traveler specifics. I know other brands have different options for the traveler wire but I don't know about GE.
I'm going to suggest
- the Inside switch Romex is a dedicated switch runner with no other connections.
- Power is coming from the garage box (as it has a plug right there)
- The light comes into the garage box.
Can you look at all the wires coming into the garage box with the goal of finding which goes where? For the most part it would be good to identify the inside switch cable and the light cable.
The trick will be where the load wire is.
If it is in the garage, then you either have to put the master switch there (and then a GE add-on switch at the other location) or jumper the appropriate wires together to get the load wire over to the other box and abandon the garage switch altogether.
If that's your wiring then your neutral is at the light fixture box. Go with Lutron switch with Lutron pro bridge or one of the relay module.
Good eye, there is an outlet at the garage box, however, nothing from that wiring comes over to the switch. The switch romex exits the box and goes up and out of the garage but it’s not possible to tell if it’s headed upstairs to the inside switch or to the flood light. However, the wires at each switch is different.. the inside switch has fresh looking wires, the black wire is solid black. In the garage it’s more of a brown color. I suspect this means the two arent connected and something else is it play. Does any of this help determine next steps?
OK.....
I think the next step is to look at the wires in the garage light box. Is it easy to get to?
PS Don't feel too bad, I'm familiar with wiring and circuits but when I do something like this I have to go through the same process.
When you say garage light box, are you referring to the actual fixture? In my case it is a flood light at the roofline which... if you tell me I have to mess around up there this mini project is OVER!
I understand.
There is however a piece missing. Without seeing the installation, I find it hard to believe the electrician would run power to the light on a roofline then run two switch wires to two different boxes. However stranger things have happened.
Is the general area of the garage flood light box seeable from the interior of the garage?
How much do you want to play with the wires to get the Smart switch working?
Do you have a multimeter or just a voltage tester?
John
Easier thing to do is turn off the circuit breaker and see if both the light and outlet are off. Otherwise you guys still missing a neutral.
The fixture box is visible from the exterior of the house; the wire runs up the garage corner, but at the opposite end of where the flood light is. I.e., the path is not clearly visible, the wires hide in the walls once they leave the garage.
I have a multimeter as well as non contact meter and am willing to do a little more experimentation if there’s any chance this is doable without getting to the fixture.
