Finally managed to get my 3-way flourescent setup working, but I can't seem to get the LED on the slave switch to light. I've tried connecting it to the nuetral and the ground without luck. Both switches work without problems (so far). Any insight would be appreciated.

Thanks
Bill

Which switches are you using?

The PCS slave switch's light should work if you connect the grey wire to either ground or neutral.

Guess that would be important info to know :-)

Yes I'm using the PCS switches. The light is on, but it's so dim that I can hardly see it, even in a dark room. I tried both the nuetral and the ground.

Any ideas?

Thanks
Bill

Mine are just as bright as on the master.

My only guess would be a bad ground/nuetral?

Maybe Bill E. has another idea?

Bill,

My slave switches are a bit dimmer than my masters, but certainly can be seen well in a dark room. The LED gets its power from the Neutral and Black. The Black has to be line voltage. Can you measure the voltage between the black and the ground, is it 120V?
I will give PCS a call tomorrow and see what roll the Triacs and yellow signal wire play in the mix. If the switches are functioning properly it doesn’t sound like an emergency where I need to rush out a replacement?

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

The switches seem to be working fine. This is the first 3-way install that I have done. Is it possible to mess part of the install up and still have correctly working switches? I'm not embaressed to say that I was a bit overwhelmed with the install.

I'll pull the switch out and double check the connections and measure the voltage between the black and the ground. Is there a prefered connction for the gray wire?

Bill - Don't worry about sending out a replacement yet. I want to make sure it's a problem with the switch first.

Thanks for the help
Bill

Have you looked at the installation schematics at [Link: ourworld.compuserve.com] ?

Larry - Yes I used your schematic along with one of Bill's detailed explanations that I found in the forum. Both of them were a great help.

I'm 80% sure that I have everything right, but I had a hard time figuring out how my original 3-way wiring was done. I spent about 3 hours trying to get the switches to work, and then I decided to swap the master and slave locations and everything worked the first try.

I've not had a chance to program the switches yet so I'm not sure that they'll respond to the X-10 commands, but I'm not very worried about that part.

I didn't get a chance to test the voltage on them yet. I should be able to play with that tomorrow evening. I'm not looking forward to trying to get all of those wires back in the box when I'm done :-)

Thanks again
Bill

Well, there's the possibility that there's something wrong with the slave but at least it's not a critical failure. I'd go ahead and check the voltages, as Bill E. recommended, as the next step.

It would be nice if you had another SSR slave to swap out to see what would happen.

I recently put in 2 3-way and 1 4-way setups using PCS switches, and I've also noticed that the LEDs are dimmer in the slave switches. Its especially noticeable where there is a master and a slave in the same plate.

I have the grey wire going to neutral, it all works fine, and all 4 slave LEDs run at the same dimness so I really didn't think twice about it.

-Kaz

I guess you're right. The LED on the slave is dimmer, I'd just never noticed it before.

Okay, I measured the voltage between the hot and the ground on the switch and I have 120V there.

As far as the LED being dimmer, it's not just a little dimmer. I can't even see any light from it in a completely dark room unless I get down to the same level as the light and look into it. I would say that it is less than 10% of the intenisity of the other switches I put in.

Bill,

That does not sound right, mine are maybe 50% of the master but still totally viewable even in a fairly bright room. I was traveling today so did not have a chance to get with PCS. I will put it on my list to do for Tuesday, and get back with you tomorrow.

Bill
www.homeautomationnet.com

OK, let's see if this helps:

I took a couple of pictures of the adjacent master and slave switches in my house. I took several different versions and took two where the difference in brightness is evident:

They don't look different at first glance, but if you look carefully, you can see the switches themselves in one.




-Kaz

I'll take a couple pictures of mine and post them tonight. Maybe That's the way they are supposed to be.

Bill