D life blog

Here are some of the things I found to consider when looking at purchasing Z-wave Smart Switches. What it ships with : Check what the switch comes with.  Some come with different color face plates, but more importantly, some do NOT come with a bit of wire to connect to your neutral. Protocol : Some are Z-wave, and some are Z-wave Plus.  Z-wave plus seems to mean that the switch is faster, has longer range for connectivity and usually has more features such as central scene control (means you can program double/triple tap behavior. )  Look and feel : Some look like a normal paddle switch, while others have LED lights to tell you their setting level.   Normal looking paddle switch in white with only an on/off indicator LED Paddle switch in light almond with LED dimmer level indicator LEDs Things to note :  Some switches don't support LED lights.  Check the description to avoid these.   Note the supported wattage of the switch - they...

I replaced some old dumb light switches with new smart light switches.  Note 1 :Before I go through the steps, here is a little bit of important information to know.  There may be several wires required to make the new switch connect - here is the definition of what you should see available in the housing for the switch. Smart light Switch = In my case, this is a wall light switch that has a radio that can be connected ted to a Hub for remote control or for programming on/off/dimmer based upon triggers. The protocol of the radio is z-wave in my case. Line = always hot wire - this is the source of current to the switch. Load =wire that goes to light out the other side of the switch and is only hot when the switch is turned on. Neutral =  White wire (in my house) that carries a current back to the source for the unbalanced portion of the load Ground wire = the wire that grounds the circuit. Note 2: I've only installed z-wave switches with a neutral ...