I have a switch in my closet and a switch by my door. Both non-neutral.
First Switch: The switch by the door has has the white wire hot and black with no voltage until I turn on the switch. The switch is currently connected to the fan which we operate by remote. I know the switch cannot be used to turn the fan on or off but I wanted to know if there was a way to just leave power running to the fan at all times then just use the switch as a smart switch to turn our bedside lamps on and off. More like a scene controller I guess?
Second Switch: The second switch is located in my closet and controls the closet light. It seems to not have any voltage running to it until I flip it on. I hold a voltage tester to it and I get no audible tones. Flip the switch and then both have voltage running to them. How is that possible and how am I supposed to hook up a smart switch to it?
If anyone has ideas on either switch I’d love to hear. I thought the single poles would be easiest of them all, lol!
Yes, re-wire at the fan box. Connect the incoming hot and neutral to the hot and neutral conductors on the fan. Then, connect the black on the 2-wire coming from the switch to the hot and the white of the 2-wire coming from the switch to the neutral. That’s probably going to amount to connecting all three blacks together, all three whites together. Also bond all the grounds together.
This will give you a hot and a neutral at the switch. Connect them to the two bottom terminals on the switch and you have the scene controller you are looking for.
It’s not, unless the switch is wired incorrectly… Remove the two conductors from the switch and test with them disconnected.
If you are not getting voltage on either conductor, then I would suspect you are switching the neutral, which would be really bad. That would mean it’s wired incorrectly at the lightbox. Fixable, though.