Question about wiring a 3-way switch

[edokid]

It doesn't matter what it used to be.  The white needs to be neutral now, you must have a neutral for Insteon.  At every box bundle any and all whites together.  You don't have a 3 way switch anymore, you don't need to use white for anything else.  If white was not neutral before, it was simply a wire between the boxes, it is not a wire going back to the house service panel.  Once you bundle the whites (and only whites) together at every box it will be neutral everywhere. 

 

Actually that is how it is right now, all whites are bundled together, but when you go upstairs that white does not act as a neutral.  As soon as you unbundle the white from the black upstairs the light turns off.  The white and black upstairs need to be connected otherwise light is dead.

 

I think I might call it on this one and just go back to using a normal 3-way as it's getting that if I ever want to put this back I'll have no idea what I did should I not want to keep using Insteon.  Or might just swap it for a Lutron Caseta which I have a spare one for, as they don't require a neutral.

[jtara92101]

1. Get it back to a normal 3-way, with the wires properly tagged NOW. Hire an electronic if you must. "properly tagged" means nothing more than sticking a piece of "coding" tape with an appropriate color on the ends of that white wire that (allegedly) does not cary neutral. The coding tape tells an electrician "this is not really a white wire, nothing to see here, move along!"

 

Maybe this will help. See case 2.

 

http://users.wfu.edu/matthews/courses/p230/switches/3way/variations

 

Sounds like your electrician forgot to code the white wire, or else the tape long ago fell off or the homeowner (who would that be? ) thought it was an unnecessary piece of fluff and removed it!

 

By "upstairs", do you mean at the switch, or at the lamp?

 

You can always install a micro-dimmer at the lamp box, assuming you can get hot and neutral to the box. But then you don't have your fall-back to conventional 3-way when/if you remove Insteon.

[apostolakisl]

Actually that is how it is right now, all whites are bundled together, but when you go upstairs that white does not act as a neutral.  As soon as you unbundle the white from the black upstairs the light turns off.  The white and black upstairs need to be connected otherwise light is dead.

 

I think I might call it on this one and just go back to using a normal 3-way as it's getting that if I ever want to put this back I'll have no idea what I did should I not want to keep using Insteon.  Or might just swap it for a Lutron Caseta which I have a spare one for, as they don't require a neutral.

 

check the box where the actual light is.  It sounds like you are running power backwards somewhere, in on white and out on black.  

[edokid]

Downstairs is where the power is.  Trust me there were no tags on anything, the "black" wires were practically white from when they come in and basically spray paint the whole place when they build a new house.  It's like they did the electrical first and then the painters came in after, so all the wires in the boxes are covered in white spray primer.

 

I gave up and just installed a Lutron Caseta switch with Pico remote and it's working perfectly now.

[giesen]

Where does the load side go? Does the 3c from the bottom box go to the light fixture before hitting the upstairs switch? If so, you probably need some reconfiguration there as well

 

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[larryllix]

Downstairs is where the power is.  Trust me there were no tags on anything, the "black" wires were practically white from when they come in and basically spray paint the whole place when they build a new house.  It's like they did the electrical first and then the painters came in after, so all the wires in the boxes are covered in white spray primer.

 

I gave up and just installed a Lutron Caseta switch with Pico remote and it's working perfectly now.

We don't ever use Tags wires in Canada. They won't pass our safety code unless you can wrap tape continuously from one end to another. I am not sure that is legal anymore either.

[apostolakisl]

In short.

 

There is only way connecting that black wire to neutral could work.  It must be the neutral leaving the load (the light).  Anything else would have popped the circuit breaker.  The problem could likely be fixed quite easily by opening the box at the light and splicing the correct wires together.

[stusviews]

If you have one SwitchLinc connected to line, neutral and load (downstairs box) and it controls the load, then disconnect the red wire from the 3-wire cable and cap it (at both ends). Connect the white wire from the 3-wire cable to the neutral bundle, connect the black wire from the 3-wire cable to the line bundle.

 

At the upstairs box, cap the red wire from the 3-wire cable (I already said that). Connect the white wire from the 3-wire cable to the SwitchLinc white wire, connect the black wire from the 3-wire cable to the SwitchLinc black wire. Cap the SwitchLinc red wire (separately).

 

Create a scene where each SwitchLinc is a controller. That's it