Confused w exsiting wiring and installing SwitchLinc 2477D Help!

[frodiggs]

Hi, was hoping for some wiring guidance on this one as I have no clue

i have a 3 gang switch

1st = porch light
2nd = 3way upstairs hallway light. upstairs switch is using a motion sensor to turn on upstairs hallway lights. we don't touch the switch downstairs in the picture
3rd= foyer lights (with old dimmer)

Was simply trying to add the SwitchLinc to the porch light (1st leftmost in picture) to autmatically turn it on at sunset daily

As you see the 1st switch has 2 black wires only. also the 2 other switches are grounded to each other, the one red wire is connected to a black going into switch 3 and the one active white wire is going into switch 2. most of the white and black wires are capped off.

i have no idea where to begin as the new switch seem to want red and white connections.

TIA

[stusviews]

Caution! The white wire connected to the 3-way switch is NOT a neutral.

The bundle of white wires (it looks like there are 3) is the neutral. One of the black wires on the porch light switch is the line, the other black wire is the load.

You will need to measure to voltage on each wire (with the porch light bulb removed) to determine which is which.

It's also possible that you have two circuits in that switch box, so be sure that all three switch lose power when you working.

[frodiggs]

Thanks.

i need a voltmeter then. Also can you be more specific?

1.So determine line vs load on the switch i am replacing and connect line to black wire on Switchlinc?
2. use one of the capped neutral white wires and the only one red wire and connect to SwitchLync or use the load to connect to red and white?
3. ground how (recall oddly 2 of the 3 switches are grounded to each other w green it seems but i do see bare copper tucked was in the back.

[stusviews]

Any voltmeter (or multimeter) is OK, even the very least expensive meter. A voltage indicator is inadequate.

1. Once you determine which is line and which is load, then connect the line to the SwitchLinc black wire and the load to the SwitchLinc red wire.
2. Connect the SwitchLinc white wire to the bundle of white wires.
3. If accessible, then connect the SwitchLinc ground wire to the bare copper wire. If the bare copper wire is connected to the metal switch box, then you do not need the SwitchLinc ground wire at all.

To determine which wire is line and which is load, remove the bulb(s) from the porch light. Clip one voltmeter wire to the bundle of white wires and make sure the two original black wires are not touching anything. Turn on the power. Use the voltmeter probe to touch one black wire and then the other. The line wire will read about 110-120 volts. The load wire will read at or near zero volts.

[frodiggs]

Hey that went well and I learned some new stuff! I wanted to thank you for taking the time to help!

The bad news is that the Windows 8 app and Windows Phone app is not only limited in comparison to the Andriod and IOS but it simply only has the most basic on off functionality.

When adding this and 2 other devices to a scene it will come on at sunset but they will not go off at the 130a time specified in the scene. then i am forced to turn off the devices and this off state stays intact in the scene so at sunset the status stays to off.

If i try to schedule the 3 devices separately I get an error that only one device can have this schedule.

I've heard the Windows platform is due for an update but frankly to be labeled as a strategic partner with MS this is a pretty sad state of affairs.

Perhaps I'm doing something wrong?

[stusviews]

Only one device or scene can scheduled for the same time to avoid bombarding the powerline with Insteon signals. The solution is to add all the devices you want scheduled at any particular time to one scene and schedule the scene, not the individual devices.

[frodiggs]

Hi, forgive my rant. In speaking with support the past few weeks the Window apps limitations are frustrating the this user base.

I am in fact adding the devices to a scene, they come on but did not go off at the scheduled time. One of the bugs in the Win development is that the time zones location does not stick (or displays LA incorrectly after being set, thus regardless of DST setting is always one hour behind the real local time. Seems the programmers did not change the +1/-1 hour on the DST setting. They did go off last night for the first time after toggling the off time of the scene a few times.

The bigger issue is when going to bed and one wants to turn off a device in the scene (nightstand lamp) this manually initiated off state (or current state) is inheritied in the scene, so the device does not come on during the scene start time (sunset) as it's set to off (manually or the devices current state is off).

[stusviews]

The bigger issue is when going to bed and one wants to turn off a device in the scene (nightstand lamp) this manually initiated off state (or current state) is inheritied in the scene, so the device does not come on during the scene start time (sunset) as it's set to off (manually or the devices current state is off).

I'm not clear on what you are saying. Do you want to control (switch On or Off) a particular device (only the device is affected) or control the scene?

BTW, the most common cause for a load to turn on. but not off is when the load is inapprpriate for the device it's wired to.

[frodiggs]

Hi and thanks.

Let me do a bit more testing.

My point is the software bugs. Any manual activity done at the device level (turned off or dimmed via scene or room or device) this on or off state is inherited by a scene

i.e.

scene for bedroom lamp to turn on. then yoiu goto bed and mnaully turn it off. next day the device does not turn on andther scenes meember has an off state.

or

scene for bedroom lamp to turn on. then yoiu goto bed and mnaully dim to 20% next day the device turns on at 20% vs the set level when you created the scene

[frodiggs]

Not the case. i have 3 items, lamplinc, outletlinc and switchlinc. i have not dimmed the switchlinc via software or at the swtich ever (it's managing a non dimmable CFL porch light)

the Windows software 1. does not recognize DST so gives incorrect time always for my hub (-1) which affects true sunset but can be manually compensated until the fix 2. any turning on or dimming of any of the devices affects device levels for the scene. when the nighstand lamp is manually turned off for the night it stays in an off position and cannot be turned on by the scene next day.

I'll ring up technical support but i had a call on this a couple weeks back when i had just one device.

I have one more wiring question. Niot sure if i can ask here or post in another thread. I went to an electrical foruim but the ywere not familair with the device.

[stusviews]

Do you have any Insteon devices wired to control the same lighting with switches that are not Insteon devices

[frodiggs]

No, my best example was when i had just a plug in module. i would dim the night stand at bedtime and when it came on at sunset the next day it was at the last dimmed level (vs the member devices set level in the scene.)

I will test tonight. So my porch light and lamp went off last night via the scene. Today the members list shows the devices level as off (should be the prior set dimmed levels?) In the past the scene could not turn them on as the device levels are off). Again seems with Win app versions, Scenes inherit the devices status changes

[frodiggs]

Seems to be working now but the Windows app displays are off in a number of places however. Looking forward to any updates to these apps.