GE 45612 Dimmer Switch

I have a few questions about the GE45612 zwave dimmer switch. 1) Is it compatible with the 2GIG system? 2) Can I use it in a situation where I have no neutral wire? I have a light switch box with no neutral wire and they claim this switch does not need a neutral. Which begs the question, how does it power the zwave circuit? It does require a ground which leads me to believe they are using the ground as the neutral since they all go back to the same buss in the panel anyway. Question 3 is, if they are doing that, is that legal/safe with an insulated ground wire?

The last GE Z-Wave switch I remember using with 2GIG was a GE 45606 but light switches are pretty simple and don’t have many, if any, Z-Wave compatibility issues. I think it would work with 2GIG but hopefully someone who has used that exact model can confirm.

I would be more worried about the compatibility of that model with light bulbs. I’ve read that GE Z-Wave switches without neutral wires will only work with incandescent bulbs which are hard to find these days.

Maybe it uses the load side terminal as it’s “neutral” to power the Z-Wave circuit which is why it can work with incandescent bulbs but not with CFL bulbs? The load side would be connected to neutral across the load itself. Maybe they let a little bit of current pass when the light is off to generate a small voltage between the line and load to power Z-Wave? Do you already have one? If so, you might try an experiment with ground disconnected to see if it still works.

incandescent bulbs which are hard to find these days

Funny thing bout that, i was in Lowes a month or so ago, and saw tons of incandescents., and I said “arent these banned?” The answer was “nope, not anymore”.

I suspect many are not aware that incandescents are not going away, and are in fact being manufactured and stocked just about everywhere.

Apparently that whole light bulb energy efficiency standards initiative thing collapsed last year due to lack of funding (all funding was purposely stripped). They stripped funding in 2015.

2014/2015

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/01/14/heres-a-breakdown-of-whats-in-congress-1-012-trillion-spending-bill/

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/240749-house-adopts-proposal-to-halt-incandescent-light-bulb-standards

You need the neutral wire in order to power the z-wave switch. They don’t work without it. Ask me how I know…

Are you sure the neutrals aren’t just bundled up and tied together in the back of your switch box? That’s where I found mine.

Unfortunately this switch was configured as a loop, so no neutral- just a hot, load and ground.

I found the manual online for the GE 45612. It shows a single switch configuration with no Neutral wire. A hot, a load and a ground only. It is definatly only rated for incandescent lights.

Actually the 3 way configuration does not have a neutral either. I’m going to get one of these and give it a try.

The only other zwave switch I see out there that claims to not need a neutral is made by cooper but it is not clear if that works with 2gig. It is also incandescent only.

Interesting. I suppose they’re bridging the hot and ground internally for the z-wave power. I’m using some GE 12722s to run exterior CFLs and it for sure doesn’t work without the neutral but good to know that the others exist.

2GIG has stated in the past that Cooper switches are not officially supported and may not function.