Question

Question.  lighting 1 light > two switches > no neutral.Question. lighting 1 light > two switches > no neutral. Do you have to buy two of the same switches in order for them to work? Like luetron or ge switches. Is the neutral mainly to allow for dimming? Or more effective bulbs or switches?  

Answer 1

The neutral is needed by most smart switches in order for the switch to work at all. I think you're talking about 2 way switching (like a landing light often has a switch at both the top and the bottom), you'd have to read the documentation for the switch to see if it's even a supported configuration, many won't be.  

Answer 2

You can do a variety of things. 1. Buy a smart switch that's supports no neutral (like inovellis new dimmers) and keep the dumb switch in place. You'll be a ble to dim but only from the smart switch side or via autimations 2. Buy the same smart switch dimmer and then get an add on switch from GE for the second switch so that you can maintain functionality of dimming on both switches physically. This switch configuration is considered a three way switch setup

Comments

@goren91494 GE doesn't work in a no neutral scenario.  

---

@anatolia7046/activity" class="qa-user-link">anatolia7046 It does when paired with an Inovelli Red Series Dimmer. @anatolia7046/activity" class="qa-user-link">anatolia7046 CSO | Inovelli

---

@anatolia7046 Harte you mean a GE/Jasco Add On. Ok Ill give you that, But in your case the Innovelli Red is actually doing the work. ;) I was talking about the base switch. On a side note if I didn't already have a house full id probably go Innovelli, they look like great devices.  

---

@goren91494 an Inovelli paired with a GE add on is what I'm using for this exact scenario and it works wonderfully! The Red Series is awesome with it's scenes and notifications. Just an FYI, with an LED light (if you have one) and no neutral, you would likely need to install a bypass, but it's a simple addition.  

---

@anatolia7046 Gotcha! Glad you like what you have though. Next round of upgrades, you know where to go. Nathan

---

@ceyx8967 Kucala definitely like my inovellis switches. I have a GE add on with a red series on/off switch. Haven't tried the dimmer /GE combo but thought I remembered hearing it would work. Glad to know I was right. I've replaced most of my main use switches with red series dimmer/onoff ones and have been fairly happy with them. As for the LED aspect of the dimmer you are right. I had to hunt down some e12 LED bulbs that had a high enough wattage to help me not have to deal with the flicker/slightly on issue, took a but of trial and error but I found some. Was much easier for traditional A19 bulbs.  

Answer 3

I have read the documentation and it talks about having a. Switch a remote switch but not just a basic toggle on off z wave or zigbee switch. There are more older homes with no neutral at all unles you use and is supported a neutral bypass

Answer 4

The neutral and the line provide useable power to the switch to operate the internal electronics

Answer 5

All I need is just a simple on off toggle z wave or zigbee switch with out having to buy two

Answer 6

2 way switching is more trouble than its worth in my opinion. You'll probably end up rewiring the entire light circuit to make it work

Answer 7

Well when you don’t have a neutral you don’t have a choice

Answer 8

Uk or us ? have a look at fibaro dimmer 2 manual, shows a 2 wire , and also the 2 way module has to go at the start of the 2 way , tbh i just pulled in a new 3 core , i think everspring might work used that on a 2 wire

Answer 9

US outlets

Answer 10

Don’t need dimmer just want on off controls so o can hook up to motion detector.  

Comments

@ceyx8967 inovellis red dimmers can function like a traditional on/off switch you just adjust the on/off ramp rate to be instant. So a Inovellis red dimmer with a few add-on switch will work for your needs of a no neutral capable install.  

Answer 11

Especially at night dad had herniated disc surgery don’t want to have him think about lights and same with Danes want lights to come on if they go out side.  

Answer 12

Saw some Jasco haven’t checked out compatibility uet

Answer 13

Two way lighting is a pain. My approach is to buy a ZigBee/z-wave switch for one end, and modify a contact sensor for the other end by connecting the switch across the reed. (connecting the live mains permanently in the backing box). In this way you can emulate two way switching by having the hub send the signals to the light switch.  

Answer 14

I think I saw a device handler that allows you to use a lutron pico remote for other brand switches. You could convert the switch to a single pole using a switch that doesn't need neutral then get the lutron wall plate and mount the pico in the box where you removed the switch. You could also replace the bulbs in the fixture and use a different solution such as Hue bulbs with the Lutron Aurora dimmer switch that mounts over the switch and locks it up or down.  

Answer 15

The easiest way, and the way i first achieved this prior to using home assistant was using philips hue remotes and socket facias on both switches to control a hue hub compatible bulb connected to the philips hue hub. But there are lots of other ways to achieve this, one of the ways i do this now is to put a shelly relay behind the light fitting running tasmota, grab a couple of xiaomi wireless light switches connected to smartthings and use home assistant to listen out for the switch command and using an automation control the shelly relay. The light switches would be bypassed to be always on and the xiaomi light switches would be used to cover the original switches.  

Answer 16

Pull a new wire. Well worth it in the long run!