Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[bittenkitten]

Hello!
I'm pretty new at this, so beg your patience and indulgence.
I have a WS467 wall switch module, which I'm trying to connect to a wall switch that has two on/off switches, one of which controls a kitchen light, the other controls a living room light. When I unscrew the wall switch plate, there are three wires: a black wire screwed into one side of the existing switch, and a red and purple-brownish wire screwed onto the other side of the switch.
The bottom wire (and at this point I'm afraid I can't remember which color wire was hooked onto the bottom screw) has a "+" sign on it, and the letters GR etched into the metal. The other screw (to which the other wire was connected) has a "+" on the metal. The screw on the other side (to which the black wire connects) has no identifying features.
I had assumed that the GR wire was the grounding wire. I taped that off, and then connected the other two wires to the wall module wires. I could not get the lights to turn on using the manual switch.
I put the regular wall switch back on, and managed to mess up the wires somehow so that now the upper switch only is controlling BOTH kitchen and living room lights, while the bottom light switch sits there uselessly. So I'm guessing I need to recreate this on the module switch, but have no idea how.
Right now, I have the black wire hooked up to the right side of the wall switch, the red wire on the other side on the "+" screw and the purple-brownish wire on the same side as the red wire hooked onto the "+ GR" screw.
Can anyone help me figure out how to make this configuration work on my wall switch module? I'm completely lost!
Thanks in advance!

[dave w]

You might consider calling an electrician.
The WS467 replaces a simple 2-way wall switch which will only have two wires going to it.

Your description implies you have two "half size" switches in one "single" size wall box.

You said "so that now the upper switch only is controlling BOTH kitchen and living room lights, while the bottom light switch sits there uselessly".

If correct, you WOULD have three wires (probably one "hot" wire supplying power to both "half" switches, and from the other side of the switch(s) you would have a wire to the kitchen fixture from one switch, and a wire to the livingroom fixture from the second switch.

GR does sound like a ground wire, but usually ground wires are bare copper or have green insulation.

If you do have two switches, one above the other in a "single" wall box, you can't do what it sounds like you want to do:  you can not install one WS467 and get independent control of two lights (the kitchen light and livingroom light).

I suggest you bring in a professional because it is very difficult to undersatnd what you are describing. (two switches controlling two lights would have to have a minimum of three wires, none of which would be a ground). Perhaps another forum member can help more.

[bittenkitten]

Thanks so much for your response: I really appreciate it. Honestly, the way my apartment is set up, I'm fine with having the one module control both lights, the way the regular wall switch is doing now that I've managed to mess the wiring up. I was wondering if I can recreate what I've accidentally done to the wall switch using the wireless module.
I'm trying to find an X10 installer right now, but thought I'd post to the forum in the meantime.
Again, thanks for your help!