Had a homeowner ask me to wire up a wifi switch for his ceiling fan yesterday

I walked into this job in my town and the guy hands me a smart switch and says 'just make it work'. I opened up the box and there was no neutral wire in sight. He kept insisting I could use a switch loop or something weird. I spent 20 minutes explaining how smart switches actually need power and he finally gave up. Has anyone else run into DIY types who think wifi just magically solves old wiring problems?

2 comments

2 Comments

casey94315d ago

The real problem is people watch those home improvement shows where they swap out a switch in two minutes and think that's how it works. They don't understand that a smart switch is basically a small computer that needs constant power to stay connected to wifi. Without a neutral wire, that switch has nothing to power itself except through the load wire, which causes flickering or the fan just stops working right. It's like trying to run a laptop off a USB phone charger, it just doesn't have enough juice to do both jobs. I've started carrying a simple neutral wire tester in my bag just so I can point at it right away and save the arguing.

the_henry15d ago

Yeah, I gotta admit @casey943, I used to roll my eyes at the neutral wire thing. Figured it was just electricians being picky. But after helping a buddy wire up some smart switches in his old house, I saw the flickering firsthand. Totally changed my mind, you're right.