[christopherama]

Hello, i recently purchased the Feit smart wifi dimmer from costco and i noticed the instructions show a single pole installation should have 4 wires in the wall. LINE (hot) black wire ) NEUTRAL white wire . , GROUND (green), AND LOAD(red) i don’t have ground or load. i connected just the two i have to the proper screws, and it won’t dim my fan. i have the dimmable bulbs. wifi is fully set up with the dimmer
if someone can tell me what i’m doing wrong i would be very appreciative!
thanks


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[Kevin_Essiambre]

Are there a total of 2 wires in the box? (1 white and 1 black)

If so, this device will not work where you are trying to install it.

You mentioned no ground... can you take a photo of the wires inside the box?

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[christopherama]

Are there a total of 2 wires in the box? (1 white and 1 black)

If so, this device will not work where you are trying to install it.

You mentioned no ground... can you take a photo of the wires inside the box?

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

Yes only white and black.

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[Kevin_Essiambre]

So that's what we (at least, me... I was taught this and it stuck with me) call a switch leg in the trade. The power comes to the switch on the white wire, and returns to the fixture on the black.

It appears that it is fed with armoured cable. Older armoured cable was used as a ground/bond conductor.

Unfortunately, the smart device you bought will not work here. You either need a smart device that does not use a neutral wire, or to do some wiring to be able to use it (such as but not limited to: changing the wire between the switch and fixture, or getting power from something else such as a receptacle and changing some wire connections in the light).

Getting a different smart device is the best way to go in my opinion, as well as being the easiest.

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[christopherama]

So that's what we (at least, me... I was taught this and it stuck with me) call a switch leg in the trade. The power comes to the switch on the white wire, and returns to the fixture on the black.

It appears that it is fed with armoured cable. Older armoured cable was used as a ground/bond conductor.

Unfortunately, the smart device you bought will not work here. You either need a smart device that does not use a neutral wire, or to do some wiring to be able to use it.

Getting a different smart device is the best way to go in my opinion, as well as being the easiest.

Sent from my new phone. Autocorrect may have changed stuff.

okay thank you i will exchange it for one that doesn’t require a neutral wire


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[christopherama]

one more question . do you know if i can connect the smart dimmer without using the smart function as a regular dimmer?


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[Kevin_Essiambre]

one more question . do you know if i can connect the smart dimmer without using the smart function as a regular dimmer?


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So use it like a dumb/normal dimmer? I'm not sure, as I am not familiar with that brand. It might be possible, as with some you can.

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[seharper]

Yeah, wires are not color coded (much at all). Grounds are green or bare is about all you can be sure about. IF neutral is present it'll be on white, but neutral is often not present.

And if neutral is not present and always-hot is, that must be on white lol. (to make it easier to detect that white is not neutral since it'll always light up a detector).

Your white wire was supposed to be re-marked with tape or paint, but that got "forgotted". Happens all the time.

one more question . do you know if i can connect the smart dimmer without using the smart function as a regular dimmer?

Probably, but you'd still need neutral. One that needs neutral won't work at all without it.

Keep in mind non-neutral-supporting dimmers don't support LEDs as well.

Also make sure the switch does not operate a receptacle socket. It's very important not to dim those. If you really, really, really want to dim a lamp plugged into a recep, they make special receps for that.