Wiring help (single Pole)

Switches Wiring Discussion
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1

Hello I’ll try to make this post as clear as possible.

I have a single pole light switch that turns on a switch in my kitchen.

I’ve identified (I think) which wire is hot

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(as seen here)

There is a bundle of white which I assume to be neutral:

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If I connect Hot and load (which I labeled down

The lights come on.

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So doing some simple voltage testing:

So when I test voltage between wires (multimeter)
120v from “Hot” to “White bundle”
120v from “Hot” to “Down”
0v from “Down” to “White bundle”

So where I’m really confused is when I wire in my switch:

If I put Hot into Line the switch doesn’t power on
If I put Hot into Load the switch turns on

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Does this mean there is something funky going on here?

My assumption was I need the switch to power on via the Line/Hot with my Hot

When wired “correctly” no lights show up:

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2

The only thing that hits me as remotely strange is the fact that you have 120VAC between the black hot and the black load. But I’ve never tested between those two conductors. You’re bridging the connection to the light so 120 VAC may be normal.

I can’t see into your box to get a better sense of your connections, but from what you described this should be the proper wiring. Pigtail a white conductor to the white bundle and connect that to the neutral terminal. Black hot to line terminal. Black load to load terminal.

3

The issue I’m having is the inovelli only turns if I do Black Hot to LOAD (not LINE???)

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Like so… then the dimer turns on … that shouldn’t be possible should it?

4

I’d say that’s not normal.

Do one more test please. Test between the black load and the white bundle using a meter. If that is really the load then you should have 0 VAC.

5

Already did:

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I think I might have a bad red dimmer → I could never get it working correctly in the past and kids were out of town so I gave it a 2nd go. I just tried a different circuit in the house and it only powers on the load as well again.

6

Got it. Sorry, missed that. Do you have another switch to swap in?

At this point I couldn’t hurt the factory reset it as you were considering before. Long press of the config button until it turns red.

7

I’m still struggling to understand the why of it powering the device on when only neutral and load are connected …

8

I don’t see a ground wire there. I’m pretty sure the switch must be grounded for it to turn on.

9

No ground needed. It will power up just fine with a hot and a neutral.

2 Likes
10

But with line and neural. Not load and neutral right?

11

Correct. Did you factory reset it?

12

I did. I ended up powering it via load/neutral off a separate circuit with no light and I’m using it as a remote switch. Still very confusing. Looks like I had it kicking around for 2 years so not eligible for warranty but still can function in some manner as a 3rd switch for my kitchen lights