Need help wiring new wifi switch

[hoki]

Theres two switches side by side in the same box by the entry door and the switch on the right switches on and off the porch light and the switch on the left will turn on the hallway lights and also works with another switch at the end of the hallway to turn on and off the same lights so that must be a two-way switch and the one for the porch light is just a regular one I guess and I want to change the porch light switch to a wifi enables paddle switch so I hooked it up the way I thought it would should go and something is wrong because whenever I turn off the hallway light the switch will turn on for the porch but if I turn on the hallway light the porch switch will turn off. The way it was wired before was the hallway light switch had two wires going in on top and the one wire on the side on the bottom was hooked up to it with the screw and it also ran to the porch light switch to the bottoms screw so I'm wondering what is that wire that runs to both switches in line with each other. Also I was reading something I'm about switches earlier that talked about joining two wires together and plugging in a pigtail from them is that something I would have to do here?

 

[buzzlightyear]

hi Hoki ,welcome to the forum it would be advisable to get a electrical
contractor with a licence in the good old USA .to help sort your electrical problem out .having you put in a WI FI switch.

 

[The Ghost]

Hello Hoki and welcome. You seem like a very charming person. However in electrical work we just cannot get by on charm alone. I ditto the above. You have wired the switch returns incorrectly and are punching above your weight it would seem. Please do not go any further with this project.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Can you send picture of what it was before and now?
It would help us solve this but in al honesty from your answer so far i would suggest calling an electrician out, shouldn't take too long to put right.
Edit
Just saw you are in good old US of A, in which case call a state or county approved electrician as some US states are known for being very strict on people doing things without the permit... Also would not want to give wrong advice. SO call an electrician as the others have said also.

 

[hoki]

I have been replacing light switches ever since I was little but these WiFi switches seem a little more complicated I think the main complication is a fact that it's not a standalone switch like I'm used to there's a two-way switch right next to it and some weird wire that connects both the switches together is that the live? Maybe the Live Wire is as bridged between the two?

 

[hoki]

I have to take a picture tonight because I'm not there I'm at work right now but I actually just put it back the way it was before already because I couldn't figure out so I thought I just put it back so at least it works until I can figure out the wiring so there's these set of wires that are behind the switches with a screw on nut cap connecting them together and one is like two or three white wires and the other is a black and a red wire I think and they're not connected to anything just Twisted together and I need to be able to connect the wifi switch to a neutral so with the neutral be the wires that are all white connected together or the wire that is red and black connected together? Before I had the neutral connected to the red and black one and that was when it was having that issue when I would flick the switch for the hallway light the Porsche light switch would not work but I if I turn the switch the other way the porch light would work I wonder if that was because it was connected to that red and black wire? For the neutral

 

[buzzlightyear]

I would not like to give you a bad information and make it worse then it is. it is not like we are around the corner .
please get professional help to get it sorted out .

 

[hoki]

here in the US it's not necessary to call an electrician if you can do it yourself. I turn off the main power before I work on it anyway so I'm not gonna get hurt. I just want some ideas please.

 

[DavidSpark]

If you can post a picture of your existing switch set up and the new switch when possible, people will be able to advise further.

 

[hoki]

since i'm not home til late tonight i'll try to give you a mental picture of it. The 2 way hallway light switch has two wires going in the top 2 holes in the back, one is a red one on the left and a black one on the right then there is a black wire that connects to the bottom wide screwy thing that also connects to the regualar porch light switch on the bottom screwy thing on the side so it's like bridging the two switches together and at the top of the porch light switch is one black wire plugged in the back hole and behind the two switches in the box there is like 3 white wires capped together and a red wire and a black wire capped together. So for the wifi switch I need to connect the L and the OUT and a Neutral.

 

[buzzlightyear]

If you can post a picture of your existing switch set up and the new switch when possible, people will be able to advise further.

is ok he will wait up for you till you get home .

 

[buzzlightyear]

I have been replacing light switches ever since I was little

The 2 way hallway light switch has two wires going in the top 2 holes in the back, one is a red one on the left and a black one on the right then there is a black wire that connects to the bottom wide screwy thing that also connects to the regualar porch light switch on the bottom screwy thing on the side so it's like bridging the two switches together and at the top of the porch light switch

hoki you might be biting of more then you can shewing .

 

[buzzlightyear]

I have been replacing light switches ever since I was little

The 2 way hallway light switch has two wires going in the top 2 holes in the back, one is a red one on the left and a black one on the right then there is a black wire that connects to the bottom wide screwy thing that also connects to the regualar porch light switch on the bottom screwy thing on the side so it's like bridging the two switches together and at the top of the porch light switch

hoki you might be biting more then you can shew .

 

[hoki]

it's not rocket science people, just some wires and since i didn't do the wiring myself and don't have proper testing equipment I donno wut wire goes where and what is the live wire and all that so I was wondering if someone experienced could tell me what they think the live wire is and where I should connect the neutral to and all that. I'm taking off the regualar porch switch that has one black on top and the other black thats also connect to the 2way switch off so I gotta plug those into the new switch somewhere right?

 

[Bob Geldoff1234]

My guess is that you don't have a neutral at the switch.If that's the case then you won't be able connect it up yourself.You would need an electrician to run a new cable in down to the switch.

 

[buzzlightyear]

America wiring colours .

 

[GeorgeCooke]

In the US white is neutral, black is live, red is usually the other phase live. Don't what colour is used for a switched wire.

 

[buzzlightyear]

Electrical wiring - Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_wiring

 

[hoki]

so the 3 white wires that are capped together in the back is what I need to connect the neutral from the wifi switch to then? before I had it connected to the red/back wires in the back, could that be why it was turning off when the 2way switch would turn on?

 

[123]

Do electrical forums not exist in the US?

 

[buzzlightyear]

 

[buzzlightyear]

 

[hoki]

so if I had to neutral wire coming out of the wifi switch connected to the red traveler wire would the wifi switch turn off when the 2 way switch was turned on? cause that's what would happen. but i thought I first connected the neutral the the white wires that were capped together and nothing happened so that's why I connected it to the red and black one or is it red and white, it's a red wire and another wire capped together though.

 

[paul291277]

I am not misogynistic whatsoever and maybe it was the xmas vino talking but OP's question has been responded to completely differently on this forum to, lets say, he called himself Dave: Get a spark in: a local one: and sorry if I caused offence to anyone. Happy Holidays

 

[buzzlightyear]

I am not misogynistic whatsoever and maybe it was the xmas vino talking but OP's question has been responded to completely differently on this forum to, lets say, he called himself Dave: Get a spark in: a local one: and sorry if I caused offence to anyone. Happy Holidays

we don't want our cousins over the pond to think we are sexist .in England we are brought up to be genital men.. we still pull a chair out for some ladies.

 

[westward10]

The post has been reported. I suggest Paul refrains from posting if he has been on the vino.

 

[paul291277]

I will apologise once again, Hoki, I hope you get it sorted, night all x

 

[hoki]

well is everyone done with the suggestions?

 

[123]

If your location is correct, why are you asking this on a UK Forum?

 

[hoki]

just the place that popped up in goggle.

 

[buzzlightyear]

If your location is correct, why are you asking this on a UK Forum?

just the place that popped up in goggle

my be he thinks you are on the moon!

 

[buzzlightyear]

some times we get from here and has far. may be tomorrow from china !

 

[Pete999]

Theres two switches side by side in the same box by the entry door and the switch on the right switches on and off the porch light and the switch on the left will turn on the hallway lights and also works with another switch at the end of the hallway to turn on and off the same lights so that must be a two-way switch and the one for the porch light is just a regular one I guess and I want to change the porch light switch to a wifi enables paddle switch so I hooked it up the way I thought it would should go and something is wrong because whenever I turn off the hallway light the switch will turn on for the porch but if I turn on the hallway light the porch switch will turn off. The way it was wired before was the hallway light switch had two wires going in on top and the one wire on the side on the bottom was hooked up to it with the screw and it also ran to the porch light switch to the bottoms screw so I'm wondering what is that wire that runs to both switches in line with each other. Also I was reading something I'm about switches earlier that talked about joining two wires together and plugging in a pigtail from them is that something I would have to do here?

A picture of what you have done with the wiring would help us with the answer.

 

[PEG]

A picture of what you have done with the wiring would help us with the answer.

I agree,although anyone who has studied Police interview techniques,such as "tells",got the picture post#11

 

[Darkwood]

I have tidied the thread up and sent appropriate warnings to the members involved, I would suggest in future if members partake in some alcohol or not that they consider refraining from posting if they cannot do so in a friendly and helpful manner we would expect of our members giving out help and advise.
@hoki
My apologies your first encounter of the forum has not been what we aim to provide, content has been removed and I hope you feel you can come back to the forum for any further queries you may have.
Re' Darkwood.

 

[HandySparks]

...in England we are brought up to be genital men..

Speak for yourself.

 

[gnuuser]

Hoki please post a picture of the light switches and how the original wiring was and if possible the specs to the wifi switch(or link to the manufacturers site).
depending on the conductors used the wiring may not have been properly marked and could cause a lot of confusion.
three way and 4 way switches can throw people for a loop if they do not understand the concepts of them.
from what you are describing I would hazard a guess that they tapped off of the common conductor without marking it properly and you are getting a backfeed to the wifi switch.

also there are different configuration to three way circuits ( switch,switch, light) (switch,light,switch) and (light,switch,switch)
and more for 4 way switching, so without a picture or diagram its a bit difficult to diagnose without being there.
my friends here on the uk site are correct though.
you should enlist the help of a professional for this.
worst case scenario with electric is burning your house down or getting hurt.

 

[hoki]

well I fixed it last night no thanks to anybody here I went to an electrical company that was next to my workplace and I asked some people about it and they said my neutral wire is probably plugged into one of the traveler wires for the two-way switch so that's why my wifi switch is turning off when I turn on the two-way switch so I disconnected it from where it was plugged and I plugged it into the bundle of white wires instead and it works fine now

 

[gnuuser]

thats what i figured it was.
anyhow you can still make use of the forums here and you can pm me as well.
but it is crucial when talking with the people that you provide a picture so they can see whats going on, that way they can help you better.
just don't get upset if their answers aren't what you expect.
in the U.K. you could say it's against laws for a home owner to do any electrical work and they can be held responsible and prosecuted.
many places in the U.S. are the same.

 

[Pete999]

A picture of what you have done with the wiring would help us with the answer.

Why the dislike dragon? only trying to help, there was no abuse, just a request for further info, feel deflated now, need to find a hanky to weep in, or find some Birch twigs to flagellate myself, for being disliked.

 

[Pete999]

why you quote yourself ? you on the beer ?

NO

 

[Darkwood]

because i love to randomly thumbs down the spelling police

ill let you carry on with you Paul gascoigne at a fetish party impression.

each to there own lol

I would suggest you correct or delete your ratings on members posts if all you are doing is trolling, we look down on people trolling whether it by post or actions so please refrain.
If you continue with the random down rating of posts for your own amusement then we will take appropriate action, members have a rating value and some do like to keep it healthy, negative rating do affect the score but we have no issue if given as a genuine opinion that can be backed up or explained.

 

[Pete999]

because i love to randomly thumbs down the spelling police

ill let you carry on with you Paul gascoigne at a fetish party impression.

each to there own lol

Now that is a dumb reply, I suggest you curb your responses, or at least think about it before you reply, you seem to have problem with peoples replies to your inane quotes.

 

[Pete999]

I would suggest you correct or delete your ratings on members posts if all you are doing is trolling, we look down on people trolling whether it by post or actions so please refrain.
If you continue with the random down rating of posts for your own amusement then we will take appropriate action, members have a rating value and some do like to keep it healthy, negative rating do affect the score but we have no issue if given as a genuine opinion that can be backed up or explained.

Totally agree, why oh why do people, post these abrasive replies, without any serious reasons, personally I have no problem with a genuine dislike, disagreement, dumb, bad spelling or whatever as long as an explanation follows, but this member seems to revel in peeing people off for no other reason, than his own puerile gratification, still the World is made up of all sorts.

 

[Darkwood]

This thread has run its course anyway and is now going downhill so I am closing it.