Thanks for your reply, I tried the same switch on a different light and it was turning completely off. (same LED bulbs). It was not a 3 way though. Dont know if this has anything to do with 3 way wiring. Especially all the Neutral wires
It could very well be the LED light itself ā¦ it seems this is the conclusion from the experiment you ran ā¦ thoughts ?
Hello JB_63
Can you please post the diagram for option #4
3-way (2 locations), with 1 smart Feit switch + 1 regular (single pole) switch - can adjust dimming from one location only
Thanks
RS
Hello Raj,
The diagram you need is in the instructions that came with the switch. There are three options there, and you should use option #2. Also, on Feitās website, there are photo instructions if you prefer those. I recommend labeling the wires correctly before you disconnect them from your older switches. It makes for an easy installation. In the package for the switch, Feit includes pre-printed labels already.
https://help.feit.com/en_us/how-do-i-install-the-smart-dimmer-as-a-3-way-dimmer--r1QtISsfU
Hey yāall! Anyone run into this problem along with everything else above? I have looked all over for this one in particular but cannot find it.
I have a 4 way switch with two 3 ways. I installed the Feit dimmer on the 3 way closest to the light. It works great!! The Alexa works well for it, it manually turns off and on great as well. My issue is with the other 2 switches. Whenever I toggle either on them, the lights that they control just flicker. Troubleshooting with Feit, Iāve checked all the wiring, and played around with the dimmer adjustment through the app. Cannot figure it out. Any help would be appreciatedā¦Happy Turkey Day!!
Hi,
This is a very helpful threadā¦ Thank you all for contributing!
Iām trying to install the Feit dimmer as a 3-way on the line side (i have a neutral in this location). Can someone post the wiring for the dimmer?
Thank you!
R
Hi,
Iām having the same symptom as you described here. I doubled and triple checked the wiring and it does match the wiring diagram that came with the switches. What am I missing? Any help would be appreciated.
Do you know if the same concept can work with a non-smart dimmer 1-way switch instead of the non-smart single pole 1-way switch?
Hi all. I guess Iāl throw my question into the mix too. I tried to install one of these switches in my bathroom on a circuit that is supplied power from a GFCI outlet. As soon as I complete the connection it trips the outlet. Iām guessing since these are technically always drawing power to operate, itās confusing the GFCI.
Anyone have any ideas of how I can make them work?
I was thinking of trying to use these to control lights in an existing 4-way setup, but after reading all of these comments, itās not worth it to me at this time:
Iād have to buy two switches, confirm that a neutral wire has power, and confirm I have two travelers into the 4-way.
If it fails, there is no quick fix - you canāt easily trouble shoot these, and at least at this time you canāt easily buy a replacement.
And then, I want beige colored fixtures to match the 3 existing ones (itās shared with another switch in two of the locations) and there seems to be only one choice for that, driving the price a bit higher.
What do you think of this as a solution? What if you repurposed the travelers to be the hot and the neutral as needed. The goal would be to wire the last smart switch as a single pole and use two other smart switches to just have power (Hot and Neutral wiring only). Then create automations in the Feit App to keep them in sync. By doing it this way, it does not matter which of the 3 gang box contain the hot or a neutral. The only thing that would matter is that at least one gang box contains a neutral.
Sorry guys, been busy and have not visited in a long time. The switches can be used and do work (I tried that on my desk, with actual wires) in multiple configurations. I now have 14Ć installed throughout the house. The switches can be used in the following configurations:
- Single switch - obvious
- 3-Way (2 switches) - Single dimmer (must be near light/load) + 1 regular 1-Way switch
- 3-Way (2 switches) - Two dimmers, one at each end of the 2 travelers
- 4-Way and above (3 or more switches) - Possible, but you need 3 travelers, because all switches need to be connected to the SAME YL/RD, the SAME Neutral (should be ok in all houses), and the SAME HOT (This is not always the case as neighboring circuits/breakers are fed from different legs of the power cables into the house.
As to whether the unit works with a GFCI, I canāt tell as I have not tried such configuration.
Any other questions ?
Trying to figure this out and this thread seem to be the one with the most answers but not really applicable to meā¦hereās my issue.
Simple set up on my installation with one switch to control my recess lighting. Found the ground, hot and load wires. Existing switch does not use the neutral wires. Itās bundled, capped and tugged away in the back. It has 3 neutral wires, 2 wires seems to be coming from the same side and 1 is from the other side.
I know I need a neutral wire connect to the smarts switch for it to work. Sorry for my long winded way to my questions.
Can I unbundle the 3 neutral wires and connect the single neutral wire to the switch and cap the remaining 2 neutral wires and call it a day?
Or connect the single neutral wire and pig tail the 2 bundles neutral wires and also connect it to the switch (since it has 2 āholesā for each wire type)
Any other configurations that might work in my case?
Any help and guidance is much appreciated and TIA!
Very easy question (hopefully) and very common situation. All Neutrals in your house must be all connected together at all times. What this means, is that if you have a bundled set of neutral wires in the back (typically white), you canāt just borrow one of them and rebundle the remaining ones. What you need instead is the following:
A. If there are only 2 bundled neutrals, you can add both of them to the back of the switch.
B. If there are 3 or more bundled wires, you need to uncap, add another wire to the bundle, and the other end of that additioinal wire should go to the neutral port on the back of the switch.
I have done both in my house, depending on how many wires were bundled in the back. Sometimes youād notice that the bundle gets bigger and you might not be able to put the cap back on. In such case, you remove one wire from the bundle, connect it to the back of your switch, and then you add the āadditionalā wire, and connect it to both the bundle and the back of the switch. In such case, the bundle still has the same number of wires, and you can re-cap it easily.
One very important point: The extra wire, you can buy that from Home Depot / Lowes / Menards ā¦ make sure you get the same gauge (14 or 16) as the other wires.
Also, whenever your open a switch or an outlet and you see capped wires in the back ā¦ that does not mean those neutral wires are āuselessā. Typically neutral wires are routed together along the hot and travelers (and sometimes ground) throughout the house, and every switch/receptacle/outlet uses only the specific wires needed for that location. For example, in my laundry room, I have a box with 3 switches (2x 3-ways and 1x 4-ways). and I have a total of 7 neutral wires in the box (+9 others for hot/travelers), some of those wires go the basement, some are wired to the back of the switches, and some travel to the upstairs bedrooms as all my bedrooms are wired on the same circuits.
Hope this helps, otherwise, let us know.
Thanks for the quick response. It sounds like youāre saying I need to pig tail this, adding a 4th neutral wire, connect one end to the existing bundle
(become a 4 wire bundle) and the other end to the switch.
Not really sure what you mean by this? Does it matter which white wire to unbundle and connect to the switch? I know there are two ports on the switch, are you saying use one port for the unbundled wire and use the 2nd port for the new pig tailed wire?
Iām not sure what gauge my existing wires are, how can I find out, did a quick google and seems to use the amp figure on the circuit breaker panel to help with thisā¦ 15amp=14 gauge and 20amp=12 gauge.
Another way is to use the thickness of the dime (14 gauge) or nickel (12 gauge)ā¦
Thanks!
If what I wrote above does not make sense, Iād be concerned that maybe you need to hire a pro. Disclaimer: playing with electrical wires is dangerous. If somehow you make the wrong connection (or disconnect/modify the neutrals), you might end up with non-functioning circuits and worse yet a fire.
Not to scare you off, but I suggest you learn as much as you can before playing with wires. When redoing my house, I accidentally disconnected one of the neutral wires in the laundry room, and lost power/light to several areas on my first floor. What I am trying to say is: Those 3 bundled neutral wires in the back, they serve not only the specific light connected to your switch, but likely other areas of the house. Should you, by mistake, do something wrong there ā¦ you could create a bigger problem. So, proceed with care. Better yet, label the wires and take the pictures just in case something wrong, and you need to revert to the initial connections.
So, the trick with neutrals is ā¦ go back to your basement and open the main switch panel. Youāll see that all the neutrals (typically white) are connected TOGETHER to the same neutral bar in the back. They are not connected to the breakers. Whatever you do, you must always keep all neutrals connected together.
Now, here is another go at the explanation:
You have 3 neutrals bundled together then capped. You need to add one short wire (4-5 inches) to that bundle, and connect the other end of that wire to the back of your switch. The problem here is that when you add a 4th wire to the bundle, you increase the size of that bundle by 30% (3 to 4 wires). In doing so, you might no be able to put the cap back on, unless you get a bigger cap. Here, you have to be careful with those caps, as they need to be very tight/secure.
One thing you can do however is to remove ONE cable from such bundle, and connect it to the back of your switch, but that is not all. You also need to add a 4-5 inches wire, and connect one end to the back of you switch, and the other end to the bundle. So, in essence, what you have done is connected your switch to the neutral, and by the same token, you have NOT increased the size of the bundle.
I can do some diagrams if that helps, but again, you have to promise you know what youāre doing. I do not want a mis-hap on my conscience. Iām an engineer, and have done a lot similar work my entire life.
As to the wire gauge, typically light switches require no more than 15 Amps wire. The 20 Amps are reserved for outlets, where people typically plug in vacuums, ACs, hair dryers, clothes irons, kettles, microwaves, ā¦ as those draw high currents and require the thicker wire. Because, the thicker the wire, the less it heats up, and wires do heat up when you draw high current through them.
I get what you are trying to say and the importance of the bundled wires in the back and adding one more wire to the bundle method.
What I donāt get is the alternative method of taking 1 wire out of the original 3 wire bundle. My question on this method is, does it matter which of the 3 original wires to unbundle and connect to the switch.
Iām going to use first method, add another wire and make it a 4 wire bundle and get a bigger cap and then connect the other end of the new wire to the switch.
Thanks for your help, advice and concerns. I will report back and provide an update after itās done!
No it does not matter (which of the 3 bundled wires you take). Remember, as long as you keep all 3+1 wires connected to one another, then it does not matter which is at the back of the switch, and which is bundled in the back. That is why I emphasized several times that all white/neutrals need to be connected to one another. You can bundle those 3+1 wires whichever way you want: all 4 together, 2 and 2 bundled separately, then a short wire bundled with each of the 2 and 2 ā¦ it matters not, as long as everything is firmly connected.
Plus, I have no way of specifying/telling which of the 3 wires you need to take, as there is no way for me (or you) where each of the wires connects to at the other end.
If you want to use method 1, then make sure when you cap everything, that the cap is solidly tight, and no wires are exposed, that could touch anything inside the gang.
Okay, got the dimmer set up and can turn on the light without the house going up in flames! 
What I thought would be the easiest part of the setup is giving me a hard time. I canāt seem to get the dimmer to be recognized in my network. Disabled my 5GHz connection and my phone is connected to the 2.4ghz connection. Tried both the default and AP method with no success. Canāt seem to get the light to blink slowly in the AP mode.
Any pointers?
Thanks!
Congratulations, welcome to the world of HA ā¦ where progress is made small steps at a time.
Now, those switches (and many other HA devices) work only on the 2.4 GHz network ā¦ not 5.0 GHz
The steps are as follows:
- Install the Feit App (just making sure youāve done that)
- Press and hold the dimmer until the light on the dimmer starts to blink
- Once it does, go to your phoneās WIFI, and connect your phone to the switchās network. I do not recall the name, but should be fairly obvious
- The App will then ask you to select a network (your 2.4 GHz network) and a password
- After that, youāll get a progress bar/donut ā¦
ā¦ and you should be done in a couple of minutes.
Let me know.
And once everything works fine ā¦ youāll be heading back to Costco to buy more switches. Careful though, they work ok for 1-way and 3-way applications ā¦ if you have 4-way, that may or may not work, depending on your houseās specific wiring.