To think I was missing such an obvious step as tying the two travelers to the same switch instead of nutting one traveler to the other black wires in the 4-way switch. This video was tremendously helpful! May you be blessed with good fortune sir.
This video was very helpful. Thank you for providing this explanation. I wanted to add several GE/Jasco/UltraPro/ Z-Wave smart switches in "4-way" switch circuits and was flummoxed by the vague and unclear instructions provided with the add-on switches. It was very helpful to learn that those are not actually switches, but rather, signaling devices that use the travelers to carry the signals back to the actual switch. The additional information provided by this video allowed me to complete the installation with no difficulties. Thanks again!
Joe, THANK YOU so much, man. I've spent two evenings trying to figure out the 4-way wiring with these switches, your schematics and explanations were spot on and helped me a ton and I was able to finally wire it after checking continuity of the wiring as per your diagram and it all worked!
This is the only video that would help with a 4 way circuit. The others just do a 3 way. It is great that you showed us all the information. And it is good to know the red wire with these switches just lets the switches communicate with each other. Hooked mine up after the video and they worked perfect.
Joe does an OUTSTANDING job at clearly describing both the rationale and the steps necessary to hook up a 4-way smart lighting circuit. I'm a teacher an an engineer and wish more people could do such an effective and efficient job at explaining complex topics. Thanks again Joe !!!
One of the best descriptions I've ever seen. You know what would be cool is if you shared that spreadsheet in the descpriton. I'm going to recreate it myself, thanks for your help.
The instructions that came with my GE smart switch lacked sorely and did not explain in detail the way you did! Kudos to you sir. This worked perfectly 👌👍
Joe, I just wanted to say thank you. I'm methodically replacing all of the light switches in my house with GE Smart Switches paired up with my SmartThings hub. Today, I was adding switches to a light that can be turned on/off from 3 different switches. I looked at all of the wires connected to the existing switches and had no idea how to make sense of it (particularly the middle switch with 2 red wires when the others only had 1). I don't know anything about electrical stuff, but that never stops me from trying to do my own work. Anyway, I bought all of the appropriate switches, but would never have figured out how to install it correctly in a million years if I hadn't watched this video. I found another video that made it easy to identify which of the 3 switches was directly connected to the breaker box and from there, your video made it easy. Thanks for sharing and saving me from a lot of cursing and teeth grinding.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to document this so well. Watched many videos that covered 3 way and read forums online and still we were scratching our heads. Can’t tell you how helpful your video was! Those diagrams and close ups were key. very thankful because of you that we could diy and not call electrician $$$
Thank you so much for your video. Now I have learned how different the regular 4-way switch vs. GE smart switch zwave 4-way setup is. The instruction that comes in the package only mentioned the 3-way setup and assumed that we knew which one was the Line and which one was the Load. Your video really helped identify those.
Was able to get this done on the first try -- seemed very complicated. Your video made it easy. People like you that put up stuff like this are awesome.
This is the best explanation of a 4-way dimmer installation on CZcams. I wanted my dimmer in a specific spot and your explanation and drawing helped me to understand how to put my control dimmer into whichever part of the circuit i desired.
Thanks so much. I was able to install my smart switches and now have automated outdoor lights! I feel so much more confident doing home electrical. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain.
This video is beyond amazing. It helped me identify which switch was which and what line was what. Honestly couldn’t have done it without this video. Now I have GE Z Wave Switches on my Hall Lights in a 4 way configuration! Righteous! YOU ROCK DUDE!
Thank you SOOO much for taking the time to make this video! I was really struggling with getting my 4-way switches up and running. Thank goodness I had taken plenty of pictures before hand so I could put the original switches back together and then diagram out all the wires. Totally worth the time and the rest was a piece of cake. Thanks again!
Nice Job Joe! Your video cleared up any confusion I had about replacing my 3 switches with their z-wave equivalent. Schematics are nice but they don't answer the how to questions. Your step by step explanations, along with the visual, was just what I needed. Thanks!!
You SIR have achieved HERO STATUS! Watching the GE/Jasco/UltraPRO install videos did NOT help me. I've installed many of these z-wave switches/dimmers/fan controllers before... but never in my hall where 3 switches control the lights. I would have either given up or hired an electrician a year from now if you hadn't posted this. Bless you!!
I'm really glad I found your video. I was looking into replacing several of my light setups with ones that can be controlled via z-wave and I had it all wrong in my head. I would have probably wasted a lot of money buying the wrong switches and been really pissed after spending hours trying to get it to work. :) This video has probably saved me tons of time and a bit of money. Thanks!
Joe, First, I wanted to thank you for a concise, clear, and well documented explanation of this common need. As you mention, the instructions in the packages are quite brief. A Resideo alternative uses the 4 way switch as the driver rather than one of the 3 ways. Works either way. Really appreciate the time and effort to put these videos together.
Thank you so much for your help - this was the perfect primer for me in my brand new house. Everything lined up exactly the way you described. Careful note to other folks that, as Joe mentioned, don't make assumptions based on the colors! I used a voltage detector to make sure the switches I expected received the line / sent to the load. From there, things were a cinch and I had the whole job done in about an hour.
Great tutorial. You explain the problem, how you figured out the solution, and finally showed the solution. I wish more people thought like you. I've wired in many 3 and 4 way normal switches but was confused on if you really needed the Jasco add on switch or if you could leave the existing hardwired switches in place. Now I know.
FANTASTIC! You took what everywhere else is SO COMPLEX and made it SIMPLE! The "sniffer" was a huge help. And the suggestion once you think you know the line and the load to connect the black wires with wire nuts on the switches in between caught an error I had made.
FANTASTIC! This was exactly what I was looking for. I know the basics but when I pulled out my switches I was like WTH! Clearly not my cup of tea. Excellent video and solved my problem 100%. Thank you!
Joe- a very good video. I had done a 3 way and moved on to a 4 way (with 4 total switches), but wanted to confirm how to handle the existing travelers. I would note that at about 4:00 minutes into the video, you describe that the circuit is completed by returning thru the red wires. The red & black wires shown in your sketch are only used to convey current to the light. Various segments will convey current based on the position of the individual switches. Between 3 way #1 & 3 way #2 either the red or the black will have voltage on them, depending on the switch positions. All return current travels thru the neutrals after going thru the light, not thru the red nor the black wires. Anyway, thanks for the help.
Great video....this is exactly what I needed to see. Nobody at smarththings was able to explain it to me the right way. Now gonna go home later and get my 4way running. Thanks!
This was the single best & outstanding video explanation on how the 4way electric wires connects and the smart switches works. In a single video, I was able to understand both traditional & smart wiring methods. Awesome video by Joe!!
Thanks for doing this video. I'd just bypassed all the four (and five) way circuits in the house when adding smart switches because I didn't understand how it might work. This gave me the confidence to go back and do it right. Now all working great, thanks!
Really appreciate this video. I spent days trying to get things working and had it going in minutes after watching this. My only issue after watching this was that one of my 3-way switches had a red wire for the traveler and also a red wire for the load to the fixture. It wasn't hard to determine which was which, though, as the line wire and the traveler wire were in the same bundle of wires from the 4-way switch. This video was a huge help!
Thank you so much for making this video, it was the perfect level of detail. My situation ended up being a bit different from yours, but by putting together a spreadsheet like yours (great idea), I was able to figure out a creative use of the traveler wires that worked perfectly for me. Thanks!
Thank you so much for making this ideo Joe Sutherland @JoeSutherland you saved me over half day of flipping breakers, very well documented and accurate. Thank You
I echo what the rest have said: Great Video. No balast, great instructions, methodically and eloquently presented! I was able to get my 4-way switches working on the first attempt. Thank you!
Thank you so much for your video. This is why you tube is so great. People like you, that take the time to help others. It does take a fair amount of time to make a good video. You did a great job. It definitely gave me the confidence to approach the same task. The video made my job easy. Thanks again.
Amazing video. Thank you so much 🙏💯💯🙏 After this I was able to finish my whole house install with surprising ease. Even used the left over wires to run neutrals to the boxes that needed it. I appreciate you🙏⚡👊
This tutorial was definitely helpful but I did find another easier/quicker way to locate the primary hot wire. 1. Locate switch with 2 traveler (red) wires and place in off position. 2. Turned breaker switch off. 3. Leaving the switch with two traveler wires wired in and in the off position, I removed the other two switches. 4. I turned the breaker switch back on. 5. I checked the un-wired locations to find the hot wire. My guess if both un-wired locations are still hot, then try flipping the switch of the wired switch and retest to find the only hot location. Bam! That easy! Couldn't have done it without some of your tips though. Thanks and I hope this helps someone else.
Glad it was helpful. I don't use this exhaustive method myself anymore, either, but it is a nice safety net for not having to disconnect any wires if you are concerned about not wanting to break the existing setup.
Your video helped me a lot today on installing my GE smart switches. I made the same spreadsheet and easily could tell the line and load wire/switch, but wasn't sure which wires to connect together at the middle and load switch. I took a chance and capped the black wires together, red were travelers, and that worked! My house was built in 2003 not sure if that matters. Thanks again.
4rachnid Glad to help! Home being built in 2003 (mine, too!) makes this wiring scheme more likely but is no guarantee given different municipal codes and different electricians' preferences. Assuming you have this wiring scheme, once you identify which box is the power source and which one is the last in line before the fixture, you could use either of the wires between the other boxes as travelers and/or conductors. I think using the red ones for travelers and the black ones for conductors (like you did) is more intuitive.
Thanks for the excellent video. It helped made the 4-way switch installation a pleasant experience. GE/Jasco documentation for 4-way installation is lacking. That Excel mapping light/switch state is cool.
Wow. Awesome video. You should apply to GE to write the instruction manuals for them. The only thing I would have added is a link to download the excel spreadsheet that you made to figure out the circuit. Thanks for the video.
Download link is a good idea. I guess right now I'm being the teacher who says "I want you to work this out by hand." :-) I'll see if I still have that and can post it up somewhere. Glad you liked the video.
Joe Sutherland I’m not really sure on that spreadsheet tho tbh. We were able to figure out the line from the switch box just by testing with voltage tester. Maybe we did it wrong but it was the only live black wire with power on when switches all off? We may have been lucky though and also able to hypothesize based on geography of our box, the switches and lights. for us the electrician did that logically based on location of those.
Be SO careful with wire colors - had a three switch system that turns a specific JACK on/off. Just happens to be in the living room and in this case, they used a RED wire as the LOAD to the JACK - long story short, the BLACK and RED wires are connected behind my switch 3. Works, but what a witch trying to figure out what was wrong! Your video helped convince me what to check and why.
Brilliant video. I was having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around what to do with that 4 way switch box. I believe you're the only one who's done a vid on that config. NICE!
I'm having trouble fidgeting mine out. My primary switch had power and appears to be wired correctly, as it shows the blue LED. I also believe my traveler wires are wired properly as the 2 add-on switches successfully trigger the primary switches blue LED. The only problem.... The room light does not turn on, any ideas??
Wow that is strange because the blue LED system is super reliable in my installs. Did you try a different bulb? Sounds stupid I know but hey - gotta ask! Can you test for current at the add on switches?
One more thing - make sure that you are connecting to the proper neutral bundle in all your boxes! If there’s only one bundle it’s not an issue but sometimes if it’s a two gang or more box you might have others.
The Cudder the dimmer's led functioning tells you at least that you have a voltage difference between the wire plugged into "line" and the neutral. The slave switches' ability to turn the dimmer on/off tells you that there is a wire going between traveler terminals on dummy and dimmer. Neither of those things necessarily tells you that you have identified constant power for line terminal of dimmer not that you have the load pathway from load terminal of dimmer all the way to light wired properly. Do you have voltage sniffer? If not, you should get one. They are cheap and will not only help you solve this problem but also keep you safe doing this type of work. Use your voltage sniffer to see if the wire going into your line terminal on dimmer is constant hot (regardless of switch position). Assuming that is true, next check the wire you have plugged into load on your dimmer is hot when switch is on and not hot when switch is off. This confirms the dimmer is functioning properly. If that checks out, check your two slave switch locations. There should be no voltage when switch is off and voltage when switch is on. If some of that doesn't check out, you need to revisit the section of the video on finding which wire is which. Good luck!
Thank you so much for this video. You made it extremely clear and I was totally lost when I started. The people that thumbed this video down are idiots.
Very helpful. FWIW, you could have saved yourself some time with the spreadsheet. All you needed to do is trip the breaker and then disconnect all wires from both 3-way switches. Make sure none of them are touching any other wires. Go flip your breaker. Only one of those wires will be live, and that’s where your smart switch goes.
absolutely. When I do this today, that is what I do. When I made this video, I was not at all confident in my ability to pull off what I was trying. Thus, my primary mission was "do no harm." :-) I wanted to make sure that I could put back the existing switches and have the lights in the house still work so that I could remain married. :-) I worried about the potential of disconnecting all the wires and then not being able to get the old solution working again.
@@joesuffceren2 Haha - I feel you. My dad was an electrical engineer, so one thing he taught me was home electrical. But, our house didn’t have any 4-way switches and only one or two 3-way. So never really knew about 4 way wiring. I just bought a house with SEVERAL 4 way switches and was scratching my head at the prospect of installing smart switches. Your video was immensely helpful in understanding it and how the smart switches operate with it. AND with how to go about it in case I ever come across a 5-way, etc. So, thank you very much for that! Anytime I’m opening a new switch, the VERY first thing I do is label each wire I’ll be working with and taking a picture of where it’s located on the installed switch. Last thing I want is to screw it all up by not being able to get it back together if it doesn’t go how I wanted it to!
Good job at getting it done right, I wanted to actually see the switches in action light the fixture but Im sure it worked well, I just wish they would settle on one way to wire the different brands the same way, I also wonder is it a way to not use 3 smart switches for a 4 way and still keep a dumb toggle with 2 smart switches.
With these switches, you can't use a traditional switch for the remote switches because the communication between the accessory switches and the primary switch is low voltage that the accessory switches send instructions over. At least the accessory switches are cheaper, but still way more expensive than a dumb switch.
I ran into an issue, on my 4 way there is a master switch with 2 reds and 2 blacks, a regular switch with two blacks and a red and then another regular switch with 3 blacks and 1 red with 2 of the blacks tied into the same terminal ( one is a push in and one on the screw) any advice?
Great video. Clear and straightforward in showing the difference in installing 4-way smart switches from the standard wiring theory. I am installing the same GE switches and my wiring lined up with your video example, so that simplified matters. I'm having a problem though with the middle switch. The primary switch and the last switch work the lights perfectly, but the middle 4-way switch does not work the lights at all. It was easy for me to identify the line in where I installed the primary switch and the load out to the light where the last slave switch is located. The 4-way box was also apparent. It was the one with the two traveler wires. I find it odd that the two end switches work, but the middle switch does not. I swapped the middle switch to confirm it was not the switch itself and did a few other troubleshooting, but could not fix it. Any ideas on what could be the issue and solution? Thanks for you time!
Michael Pompay thanks for watching. This is going to sound like a school teacher checking homework, but did you actually follow the instructions to make the chart of which wires were hot when all switch combinations were thrown? I ask because your symptoms sound the same as Gregory Yourek (read my discussion with him in this thread). His issue ended up being that his wiring was the "power to the light" variant which has constant power and load wires in the same box.
After doing this, I'm able to turn the add on that is in the 4 way position on but it doesn't turn off from that switch. All other switches works as expected, any ideas?
To think I was missing such an obvious step as tying the two travelers to the same switch instead of nutting one traveler to the other black wires in the 4-way switch. This video was tremendously helpful! May you be blessed with good fortune sir.
This video was very helpful. Thank you for providing this explanation. I wanted to add several GE/Jasco/UltraPro/ Z-Wave smart switches in "4-way" switch circuits and was flummoxed by the vague and unclear instructions provided with the add-on switches. It was very helpful to learn that those are not actually switches, but rather, signaling devices that use the travelers to carry the signals back to the actual switch. The additional information provided by this video allowed me to complete the installation with no difficulties. Thanks again!
Thank you for this! Really simplified my 4-way circuit replacement with smart switch and add-ons switches.
Joe, THANK YOU so much, man. I've spent two evenings trying to figure out the 4-way wiring with these switches, your schematics and explanations were spot on and helped me a ton and I was able to finally wire it after checking continuity of the wiring as per your diagram and it all worked!
This is the only video that would help with a 4 way circuit. The others just do a 3 way. It is great that you showed us all the information. And it is good to know the red wire with these switches just lets the switches communicate with each other. Hooked mine up after the video and they worked perfect.
Joe does an OUTSTANDING job at clearly describing both the rationale and the steps necessary to hook up a 4-way smart lighting circuit. I'm a teacher an an engineer and wish more people could do such an effective and efficient job at explaining complex topics.
Thanks again Joe !!!
One of the best descriptions I've ever seen. You know what would be cool is if you shared that spreadsheet in the descpriton. I'm going to recreate it myself, thanks for your help.
The instructions that came with my GE smart switch lacked sorely and did not explain in detail the way you did! Kudos to you sir. This worked perfectly 👌👍
Joe is a truly gifted teacher as well as a smart, logical thinker!
Nice job, very thorough.
Joe, I just wanted to say thank you. I'm methodically replacing all of the light switches in my house with GE Smart Switches paired up with my SmartThings hub. Today, I was adding switches to a light that can be turned on/off from 3 different switches. I looked at all of the wires connected to the existing switches and had no idea how to make sense of it (particularly the middle switch with 2 red wires when the others only had 1). I don't know anything about electrical stuff, but that never stops me from trying to do my own work. Anyway, I bought all of the appropriate switches, but would never have figured out how to install it correctly in a million years if I hadn't watched this video. I found another video that made it easy to identify which of the 3 switches was directly connected to the breaker box and from there, your video made it easy. Thanks for sharing and saving me from a lot of cursing and teeth grinding.
Thank you so very much for taking the time to document this so well. Watched many videos that covered 3 way and read forums online and still we were scratching our heads. Can’t tell you how helpful your video was! Those diagrams and close ups were key. very thankful because of you that we could diy and not call electrician $$$
That was the single best explanation of how to wire up these GE switches I have ever seen. I’m ready to tackle my own project finally! Thank you!
Thank you so much for your video. Now I have learned how different the regular 4-way switch vs. GE smart switch zwave 4-way setup is. The instruction that comes in the package only mentioned the 3-way setup and assumed that we knew which one was the Line and which one was the Load. Your video really helped identify those.
Was able to get this done on the first try -- seemed very complicated. Your video made it easy. People like you that put up stuff like this are awesome.
This is the best explanation of a 4-way dimmer installation on CZcams. I wanted my dimmer in a specific spot and your explanation and drawing helped me to understand how to put my control dimmer into whichever part of the circuit i desired.
Thanks so much. I was able to install my smart switches and now have automated outdoor lights! I feel so much more confident doing home electrical. Thanks so much for taking the time to explain.
This video is beyond amazing. It helped me identify which switch was which and what line was what. Honestly couldn’t have done it without this video. Now I have GE Z Wave Switches on my Hall Lights in a 4 way configuration! Righteous! YOU ROCK DUDE!
Thank you SOOO much for taking the time to make this video! I was really struggling with getting my 4-way switches up and running. Thank goodness I had taken plenty of pictures before hand so I could put the original switches back together and then diagram out all the wires. Totally worth the time and the rest was a piece of cake. Thanks again!
You might not be an electrician, but your vide, explanation, logics and everything else ROCKS!!! Very well done!
Nice Job Joe! Your video cleared up any confusion I had about replacing my 3 switches with their z-wave equivalent. Schematics are nice but they don't answer the how to questions. Your step by step explanations, along with the visual, was just what I needed. Thanks!!
Dave Smith thanks for commenting. Glad it was helpful!
You SIR have achieved HERO STATUS! Watching the GE/Jasco/UltraPRO install videos did NOT help me. I've installed many of these z-wave switches/dimmers/fan controllers before... but never in my hall where 3 switches control the lights. I would have either given up or hired an electrician a year from now if you hadn't posted this. Bless you!!
Thank you. The first video I could find that actually explained how how these types of switches work.
I'm really glad I found your video. I was looking into replacing several of my light setups with ones that can be controlled via z-wave and I had it all wrong in my head. I would have probably wasted a lot of money buying the wrong switches and been really pissed after spending hours trying to get it to work. :) This video has probably saved me tons of time and a bit of money. Thanks!
Joe,
First, I wanted to thank you for a concise, clear, and well documented explanation of this common need. As you mention, the instructions in the packages are quite brief. A Resideo alternative uses the 4 way switch as the driver rather than one of the 3 ways. Works either way.
Really appreciate the time and effort to put these videos together.
Thank you so much for your help - this was the perfect primer for me in my brand new house. Everything lined up exactly the way you described. Careful note to other folks that, as Joe mentioned, don't make assumptions based on the colors! I used a voltage detector to make sure the switches I expected received the line / sent to the load. From there, things were a cinch and I had the whole job done in about an hour.
Very helpful video. I was only seeing 3-way switch instructions. I'm going to install mine and feel comfortable doing so now.
Thank you for this video. It captured the approach perfectly where its not clearly defined elsewhere.
I sure would like to have a copy of that spread sheet!
Great tutorial. You explain the problem, how you figured out the solution, and finally showed the solution. I wish more people thought like you. I've wired in many 3 and 4 way normal switches but was confused on if you really needed the Jasco add on switch or if you could leave the existing hardwired switches in place. Now I know.
FANTASTIC! You took what everywhere else is SO COMPLEX and made it SIMPLE! The "sniffer" was a huge help. And the suggestion once you think you know the line and the load to connect the black wires with wire nuts on the switches in between caught an error I had made.
FANTASTIC! This was exactly what I was looking for. I know the basics but when I pulled out my switches I was like WTH! Clearly not my cup of tea. Excellent video and solved my problem 100%. Thank you!
Just what I needed, excellent job explaining the difference in the original wiring and wiring for the GE Smart switches!
Joe- a very good video. I had done a 3 way and moved on to a 4 way (with 4 total switches), but wanted to confirm how to handle the existing travelers. I would note that at about 4:00 minutes into the video, you describe that the circuit is completed by returning thru the red wires. The red & black wires shown in your sketch are only used to convey current to the light. Various segments will convey current based on the position of the individual switches. Between 3 way #1 & 3 way #2 either the red or the black will have voltage on them, depending on the switch positions. All return current travels thru the neutrals after going thru the light, not thru the red nor the black wires. Anyway, thanks for the help.
This was really helpful! Especially the combination of the circuit diagram and an explanation of what's happening in each box.
Great video....this is exactly what I needed to see. Nobody at smarththings was able to explain it to me the right way. Now gonna go home later and get my 4way running. Thanks!
This was the single best & outstanding video explanation on how the 4way electric wires connects and the smart switches works. In a single video, I was able to understand both traditional & smart wiring methods. Awesome video by Joe!!
Thanks for doing this video. I'd just bypassed all the four (and five) way circuits in the house when adding smart switches because I didn't understand how it might work. This gave me the confidence to go back and do it right. Now all working great, thanks!
Really appreciate this video. I spent days trying to get things working and had it going in minutes after watching this.
My only issue after watching this was that one of my 3-way switches had a red wire for the traveler and also a red wire for the load to the fixture. It wasn't hard to determine which was which, though, as the line wire and the traveler wire were in the same bundle of wires from the 4-way switch.
This video was a huge help!
Thank you for the great video. The 4-way switch was throwing me for a loop. This video helped immensely as did making the spreadsheet.
Thank you so much for making this video, it was the perfect level of detail. My situation ended up being a bit different from yours, but by putting together a spreadsheet like yours (great idea), I was able to figure out a creative use of the traveler wires that worked perfectly for me. Thanks!
You spoke my language with this tutorial. Followed the steps and was able to make sense of my wiring config.
Thanks, was looking for a 4-way video with the exact switches you used. Nice clear description. Great video/help.
Thanks for the awesome vid. This is perfect as I'm prepping to get into the smart light scene.
Thank you so much for making this ideo Joe Sutherland @JoeSutherland you saved me over half day of flipping breakers, very well documented and accurate. Thank You
Great video, exactly what I was looking for. Even as an electrical engineer, I found your video informative and helpful. Thanks!!!
Thanks so much, I wired everything up and it worked the first time with the help of your video! You're the man!
I echo what the rest have said: Great Video. No balast, great instructions, methodically and eloquently presented! I was able to get my 4-way switches working on the first attempt. Thank you!
Thanks a ton, Joe. Installed perfectly using your tutorial.
thank you! the only video that made sense for wiring a 4 way switch!
Thank you so much for your video. This is why you tube is so great. People like you, that take the time to help others. It does take a fair amount of time to make a good video. You did a great job. It definitely gave me the confidence to approach the same task. The video made my job easy. Thanks again.
Great job walking through everything with diagrams and spreadsheets, thanks!
Amazing video. Thank you so much 🙏💯💯🙏 After this I was able to finish my whole house install with surprising ease. Even used the left over wires to run neutrals to the boxes that needed it.
I appreciate you🙏⚡👊
Thank you, a lifesaver on the 4-way which the manuals don't cover.
Thanks, man! People like you change the world for better. :-) Great video!
Thanks, Joe. You helped me immensely with this video!
I am able to add one master and four slaves using your video. I can't believe that I did it in first attempt. Thank you.
thank you for posting this. this is an indispensable video to setup smart switches on a 4way ckt.
This tutorial was definitely helpful but I did find another easier/quicker way to locate the primary hot wire.
1. Locate switch with 2 traveler (red) wires and place in off position.
2. Turned breaker switch off.
3. Leaving the switch with two traveler wires wired in and in the off position, I removed the other two switches.
4. I turned the breaker switch back on.
5. I checked the un-wired locations to find the hot wire. My guess if both un-wired locations are still hot, then try flipping the switch of the wired switch and retest to find the only hot location.
Bam! That easy! Couldn't have done it without some of your tips though. Thanks and I hope this helps someone else.
Glad it was helpful. I don't use this exhaustive method myself anymore, either, but it is a nice safety net for not having to disconnect any wires if you are concerned about not wanting to break the existing setup.
This helped tremendously dude! You're a champ!
Thank you for making this video. This is extremely well explained and very useful.
THANK YOU SO SO SO MUCH!!!
I love the Excel sheet, totally something I would do.
Your video helped me a lot today on installing my GE smart switches. I made the same spreadsheet and easily could tell the line and load wire/switch, but wasn't sure which wires to connect together at the middle and load switch. I took a chance and capped the black wires together, red were travelers, and that worked! My house was built in 2003 not sure if that matters. Thanks again.
4rachnid Glad to help! Home being built in 2003 (mine, too!) makes this wiring scheme more likely but is no guarantee given different municipal codes and different electricians' preferences.
Assuming you have this wiring scheme, once you identify which box is the power source and which one is the last in line before the fixture, you could use either of the wires between the other boxes as travelers and/or conductors. I think using the red ones for travelers and the black ones for conductors (like you did) is more intuitive.
Brilliant. Kudos to you and thanks so much for taking the time to do this. It was very helpful. You're the man.
Nice video - pretty informative and not overly technical. Practical training Thx
Excellent video and very well researched! Thank you for providing assistance. Just completed mine!
Very helpful video! I was stuck with my 4 way switch too and this helped me resolve my issue
You saved me a lot of time and grief. Thanks for this video.
Thank you for making a great video on how to install a 4way switch. Again thanks.
Thanks for the excellent video. It helped made the 4-way switch installation a pleasant experience. GE/Jasco documentation for 4-way installation is lacking. That Excel mapping light/switch state is cool.
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing this and making it so clear 👍
Thank you very much - helped me solve my smart switch wiring problem. Well done!
Well Done Sir! Very good explanation of the circuit.
Perfect! I got it on the first try thanks to you!
Very helpful. Thanks for taking the time.
Wow. Awesome video. You should apply to GE to write the instruction manuals for them. The only thing I would have added is a link to download the excel spreadsheet that you made to figure out the circuit. Thanks for the video.
Download link is a good idea. I guess right now I'm being the teacher who says "I want you to work this out by hand." :-) I'll see if I still have that and can post it up somewhere. Glad you liked the video.
Joe Sutherland I’m not really sure on that spreadsheet tho tbh. We were able to figure out the line from the switch box just by testing with voltage tester. Maybe we did it wrong but it was the only live black wire with power on when switches all off? We may have been lucky though and also able to hypothesize based on geography of our box, the switches and lights. for us the electrician did that logically based on location of those.
Great job, helps a LOT!
Be SO careful with wire colors - had a three switch system that turns a specific JACK on/off. Just happens to be in the living room and in this case, they used a RED wire as the LOAD to the JACK - long story short, the BLACK and RED wires are connected behind my switch 3. Works, but what a witch trying to figure out what was wrong! Your video helped convince me what to check and why.
Awesome! I even made the spreadsheet (fellow nerd). Thanks for the great walkthrough!
bradjensmith 15k views, and you're the first one actually to make the spreadsheet instead of making color assumptions. :-) glad to help!
Huge help - Thanks a million!
This is awesome! Very helpful. Thanks!
Thanks so much for this video, so helpful!
Thanks a lot for this video. Very detailed.
Brilliant video. I was having a bit of a hard time wrapping my head around what to do with that 4 way switch box. I believe you're the only one who's done a vid on that config. NICE!
LSZ1318 thanks for the comment! Glad it was helpful! It took some time for me to wrap my mind around as well, so I thought I'd document. :-)
I'm having trouble fidgeting mine out. My primary switch had power and appears to be wired correctly, as it shows the blue LED. I also believe my traveler wires are wired properly as the 2 add-on switches successfully trigger the primary switches blue LED. The only problem.... The room light does not turn on, any ideas??
Wow that is strange because the blue LED system is super reliable in my installs. Did you try a different bulb? Sounds stupid I know but hey - gotta ask! Can you test for current at the add on switches?
One more thing - make sure that you are connecting to the proper neutral bundle in all your boxes! If there’s only one bundle it’s not an issue but sometimes if it’s a two gang or more box you might have others.
The Cudder the dimmer's led functioning tells you at least that you have a voltage difference between the wire plugged into "line" and the neutral. The slave switches' ability to turn the dimmer on/off tells you that there is a wire going between traveler terminals on dummy and dimmer.
Neither of those things necessarily tells you that you have identified constant power for line terminal of dimmer not that you have the load pathway from load terminal of dimmer all the way to light wired properly.
Do you have voltage sniffer? If not, you should get one. They are cheap and will not only help you solve this problem but also keep you safe doing this type of work.
Use your voltage sniffer to see if the wire going into your line terminal on dimmer is constant hot (regardless of switch position).
Assuming that is true, next check the wire you have plugged into load on your dimmer is hot when switch is on and not hot when switch is off. This confirms the dimmer is functioning properly.
If that checks out, check your two slave switch locations. There should be no voltage when switch is off and voltage when switch is on.
If some of that doesn't check out, you need to revisit the section of the video on finding which wire is which.
Good luck!
Thank you, this helped tremendously!
This was well done. Thanks!
I swear that I've seen you on Star Trek great video
Thank you so much for this video. You made it extremely clear and I was totally lost when I started. The people that thumbed this video down are idiots.
Very helpful, thanks!
Very helpful. FWIW, you could have saved yourself some time with the spreadsheet. All you needed to do is trip the breaker and then disconnect all wires from both 3-way switches. Make sure none of them are touching any other wires. Go flip your breaker. Only one of those wires will be live, and that’s where your smart switch goes.
absolutely. When I do this today, that is what I do. When I made this video, I was not at all confident in my ability to pull off what I was trying. Thus, my primary mission was "do no harm." :-) I wanted to make sure that I could put back the existing switches and have the lights in the house still work so that I could remain married. :-) I worried about the potential of disconnecting all the wires and then not being able to get the old solution working again.
@@joesuffceren2 Haha - I feel you. My dad was an electrical engineer, so one thing he taught me was home electrical. But, our house didn’t have any 4-way switches and only one or two 3-way. So never really knew about 4 way wiring. I just bought a house with SEVERAL 4 way switches and was scratching my head at the prospect of installing smart switches. Your video was immensely helpful in understanding it and how the smart switches operate with it. AND with how to go about it in case I ever come across a 5-way, etc. So, thank you very much for that!
Anytime I’m opening a new switch, the VERY first thing I do is label each wire I’ll be working with and taking a picture of where it’s located on the installed switch. Last thing I want is to screw it all up by not being able to get it back together if it doesn’t go how I wanted it to!
Good job at getting it done right, I wanted to actually see the switches in action light the fixture but Im sure it worked well, I just wish they would settle on one way to wire the different brands the same way, I also wonder is it a way to not use 3 smart switches for a 4 way and still keep a dumb toggle with 2 smart switches.
With these switches, you can't use a traditional switch for the remote switches because the communication between the accessory switches and the primary switch is low voltage that the accessory switches send instructions over. At least the accessory switches are cheaper, but still way more expensive than a dumb switch.
Thank you soooooo much!!!
Thanks for this. Wish you had better lighting at the end but I think I got it.
Sorry about that! Videographer I am not. :-) Happy to try to answer any questions you may have.
@@joesuffceren2 I just got everything squared away since amazon dropped off the add on switches I needed. Thanks.
Very helpful thank you
super helpful!
I ran into an issue, on my 4 way there is a master switch with 2 reds and 2 blacks, a regular switch with two blacks and a red and then another regular switch with 3 blacks and 1 red with 2 of the blacks tied into the same terminal ( one is a push in and one on the screw) any advice?
great vid
Thanks dude!
Great video. Clear and straightforward in showing the difference in installing 4-way smart switches from the standard wiring theory. I am installing the same GE switches and my wiring lined up with your video example, so that simplified matters. I'm having a problem though with the middle switch. The primary switch and the last switch work the lights perfectly, but the middle 4-way switch does not work the lights at all. It was easy for me to identify the line in where I installed the primary switch and the load out to the light where the last slave switch is located. The 4-way box was also apparent. It was the one with the two traveler wires. I find it odd that the two end switches work, but the middle switch does not. I swapped the middle switch to confirm it was not the switch itself and did a few other troubleshooting, but could not fix it. Any ideas on what could be the issue and solution? Thanks for you time!
Michael Pompay thanks for watching. This is going to sound like a school teacher checking homework, but did you actually follow the instructions to make the chart of which wires were hot when all switch combinations were thrown? I ask because your symptoms sound the same as Gregory Yourek (read my discussion with him in this thread). His issue ended up being that his wiring was the "power to the light" variant which has constant power and load wires in the same box.
After doing this, I'm able to turn the add on that is in the 4 way position on but it doesn't turn off from that switch. All other switches works as expected, any ideas?
Thanks man.
Thank you so much