[ajo0211]

Hi everyone, fairly new homeowner here with limited electrical experience. I would like to replace an existing dimmer switch with a WiFi dimmer switch. In the junction box, there are two switches; a dimmer switch on the left that controls the ceiling fan lights, and a switch on the right that controls the ceiling fan. There are 3 wires entering the junction box, two from the top and one from the bottom. I'm assuming the one from the bottom leads to the outlet located a few feet below the switches. I'm assuming the two wires from the top lead to the ceiling fan.

The new WiFi switch requires a ground, neutral, black, and red. But my existing dimmer switch does not have a red connected to it. There is one red wire in the junction box, but it's currently connected to the switch that controls the ceiling fan. I also am not sure which of the three neutral wires to connect to the switch.

I have tried this a few different ways and I either end up with the lights working but the outlet not, the fan working but the lights not, nothing working, etc. I'm not sure that this needs to be said but I always turn off the power at the breaker before moving any wires.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

[skiflyer]

Hi everyone, fairly new homeowner here with limited electrical experience. I would like to replace an existing dimmer switch with a WiFi dimmer switch. In the junction box, there are two switches; a dimmer switch on the left that controls the ceiling fan lights, and a switch on the right that controls the ceiling fan. There are 3 wires entering the junction box, two from the top and one from the bottom. I'm assuming the one from the bottom leads to the outlet located a few feet below the switches. I'm assuming the two wires from the top lead to the ceiling fan.



The new WiFi switch requires a ground, neutral, black, and red. But my existing dimmer switch does not have a red connected to it. There is one red wire in the junction box, but it's currently connected to the switch that controls the ceiling fan. I also am not sure which of the three neutral wires to connect to the switch.



I have tried this a few different ways and I either end up with the lights working but the outlet not, the fan working but the lights not, nothing working, etc. I'm not sure that this needs to be said but I always turn off the power at the breaker before moving any wires.



Any help would be greatly appreciated!

According to the manual for that switch the black should have constant power, and the red goes out to the light. White is neutral, green is ground.

You'll need to figure out which of your wires is powered, pigtail that to the outlet and the switches, then send the red up to the light. It's one of your black wires on your existing dimmer. If it's labelled on the existing dimmer it likely says load.


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[rjniles]

Connect the green wire to the bare ground wires, connect to the white to the bundle of 3 whites, connect the black to the 2 black wires on the upper terminal of the old switch with a wire nut, connect the red to the single black wire on the bottom terminal of the old switch.

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[seharper]

I like to mark 'em. The solitary black wire on the dimmer, that is the switched/dimmed hot going to the light. I'd re-mark it with blue electrical tape.

Once you do that, all the black wires in the box are "always-hot" and all go together.

So you have two black wires from the wall that need to be tied to the switch on the right, and the black pigtail from the new dimmer needs to be added to that. The way it's rigged now isn't going to work anymore. You should probably switch it to a wire-nut connection with a pigtail for the existing switch.

Add each of the new dimmer's wires to existing bundles. The red wire gets joined to that wire we just marked blue. Red and blue are conventional choices for switched/dimmed hot. I just switched over to blue because there's already a red.

 

[ajo0211]

Thank you all! I was so close initially. I don't know why, but I thought I had to attach the neutral from the new switch to just 1 of the neutrals from the bundle, and I wasn't sure which one. That obviously makes no sense. I have another one of these switches to do and I think it'll go a bit smoother this time!