reversing polarity on z-wave light switch?

[paul]

I've just moved into a very old house. It appears that a number of the light switch wires are a very old two wire wiring, no ground. Both wires look identical, no indication as to which is hot and which is the return. Using a voltmeter didn't help, since there's no ground I couldn't get a read on either wire.

I took a guess and wired it up to my Intermatic 2-wire light switch. Switch works - light turns on and off and dims fine. However, it isn't talking to any devices. I see the device from my z-troller up close (walk up to it, tap Add, tap the switch, and I see it's device number pop up). However, I can't communicate with it when the z-troller is back on Homeseer. I have a couple of other (working) devices that are quite close to the switch, so my belief would have been that the 'mesh' theory of z-wave should be able to work and give me connectivity, even if the z-troller is too far from the switch.

Sooo... I guess I'm wondering if one of the following situations probably applies:

1. I wired the hot and return to the wrong wires on the switch, and that's causing me grief (though it *appears* to be ok in that regard)

2. Am I misunderstanding how the z-wave "mesh" works?

3. Perhaps I just happen to have a dying switch and just need to replace it?

I'm considering just swapping out the switch with one of the two-wire HomePro ZDW120W switches I purchased, but am concerned about blowing the switch if I wire the hot backwards.

Any thoughts?

Paul

[nightwalker]

More than likely the wires you see at the switch box are not either of those and are just either the hot or netural (depending on who wired it) passed through the switch box so a switch could be put there. The real hot and netural are most likely at the light itself.

[rmasonjr]

Marty is probably right. I have the same situation in a fair number of my switches. I am slowly one-by-one running separate line and load lines so that I can install my z-wave switches. I spent a couple of hours in the attic last weekend for ONE SWITCH.

If you can, you should spend a little time running a separate line if you can. It will really pay off in the long run.

[paul]

Indeed, that's probably what the situation is. Fortunately, after posting I realized that the HomePro switches I picked up don't differentiate between load and return, probably for the very reason described above and the resultant need for two-wire switches.

I wired up the HomePro switch and it's working great. I guess It's time to retire the Intermatic switch....