Insteon on/off switch flashes lights

[Timmy]

I replaced a simple wall switch with an Insteon on off switch. Red wire to red. Black to black and white to white. Grounded. No other wires in box. Controls three outside lights using LED bulbs. With switch powered, lights flash and switch makes a click every five seconds or so. Will not turn lights on. Connects to hub fine. Changed to incandescent bulbs to see if problem occurs. Will not turn lights on. Replaced with switch using just white and black wires (it's what I had. I'd thrown the old three way in garbage). Lights work fine with two way switch. Why wouldn't my Insteon switch work?

[stusviews]

If the original switch was part of a 3-way configuration, then the wire colors are meaningless. When there's only three wires in the switch box, then white is not a neutral, it's either line or a traveler. Black can be line, load or a traveler. Red is nearly always a traveler.

In any case, you do not have a neutral wire in that switch box. What did you do with the other original 3-way switch?

[Timmy]

Thank you for the information. The switch was pretty nasty so I threw it away. I can replace the 3 way switch easy enough with a new three way, but I want to use my Insteon switch to control the lights. If I don't have a neutral can I still do that? If I just use two wires, the black and the white with a 2 way switch the lights work fine. I realize that I need to put a 3 way back in to make the other light switch on the line functional if I don't use the Insteon switch but how can I configure the Insteon switch to work?

[stusviews]

Insteon devices require a neutral wire. The switch box you described does not have a neutral wire. You do have enough wires at the switch box, but you'lll need to change what each wire is connected to at the other end. What you connect to what depends entirely on the other end of the 3-wire cable. A 3-way configuration requires two 3-way switches. What did you do about the other 3-way switch?

BTW, the switch you are currently using is a single-pole switch, not a 2-way switch. A 2-way switch has three positions. The 3-way switch is so called because it has three wire connections. It still has only two positions, up and down.

[Timmy]

Thanks. Right now I have a single pole single throw switch connected to two wires to turn the lights on and off. The switch at the other end is still there. I assume since I'm not using one of the wires the switch at the other end probably doesn't work correctly. I will replace the single pole single throw switch with a single pole double throw switch and I'll be back where I started.

I'll look at the other box this weekend and see what's in it. I'm not sure why these switches are configured this way. Basically there is a switch inside to control the lights and one outside but the weird thing is that if you don't have the inside one on the outside switch doesn't work. This is how it worked before I took out the outside switch.

[stusviews]

That's correct. If one of a pair of 3-way switches is replaced with a single-pole switch, then it will work when the remaining 3-way switch is in one position, but not the other.

[kenrok1]

Insteon does make a switch you can use if you don't have a neutral - but I have no experience using it:
http://www.smarthome.com/switchlinc-...-rf-white.html

However, I have set up several 3 way Insteon switches.... the nice thing about this is you find the one switch that actually controls the load and set it up as the main, then each secondary switch you just setup as a controller for the main switch (or just put them all in a scene as both controller and responder) because you aren't connecting any travelers.

Here's a good tutorial https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twEvh3Vua8U

[BLH]

The two wire SwitchLinc can't be used in a three way setup and only incandescent loads can be used.

[kenrok1]

thanks - good to know