Smart switch wiring

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gregmcc

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#2728869 15-Jun-2021 06:18

ifflanb: ...or perhaps just some non condescending actual help.

The law requires that if homeowner wants to do some of their own work in their house the MUST be competent, As you have misidentified the green wire, this is a clear demonstration that you do not have the required skills or competency.

For the sake of yourself, your family and your house, get an electrician.

ifflanb

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#2728878 15-Jun-2021 06:42

You guys wouldnt be electricians would you?

gregmcc

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#2728879 15-Jun-2021 06:43

ifflanb: You guys wouldnt be electricians would you?

Me.. no... Just an Electrical Inspector

sparkz25

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#2728882 15-Jun-2021 07:12

ifflanb: You guys wouldnt be electricians would you?

Just an Electrical Engineer.

ifflanb

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#2728890 15-Jun-2021 07:39

Great I'll need an inspector to inspect my fine workmanship ... post mortem of course! 😀

Lias

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#2728971 15-Jun-2021 10:03

I can understand you want to learn, but the better option here might be doing some book learning first. You might not like the way people have responded, but at the end of the day they are trying to stop you from potentially killing yourself and others and destroying your house.

PS: I'm not an electrician.

I'm a geek, a gamer, a dad, a Quic user, and an IT Professional. I have a full rack home lab, size 15 feet, an epic beard and Asperger's. I'm a bit of a Cypherpunk, who believes information wants to be free and the Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. If you use my Quic signup you can also use the code R570394EKGIZ8 for free setup.

kiwifidget

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#2728993 15-Jun-2021 10:43

I'm not an electrician but I know good advice when I see it.

And even if I was an electrician, I certainly wouldn't tell you how to do the job yourself, lest I find myself being held liable for your "work".

Save yourself from becoming a contender for a Darwin Award and get a professional.

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Rikkitic

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#2729026 15-Jun-2021 11:10

There are a number of qualified electricians on this site who will say what the others here are saying. I am not one but I do have a fair bit of knowledge. This is not just a matter of not knowing the wiring colour codes. What people are reacting to is if you don't have even that basic knowledge, then you don't have the knowledge to wire things up correctly. You might be lucky and get away with it, but mains voltage is definitely not something to learn on. If you don't know how to drive, you don't start by getting into a Formula One car. All of us who do know something have spent years playing with safe voltages and working our way up. People aren't trying to give you a hard time, but they are genuinely concerned at the potential consequences of what you are attempting.

Electrocution is definitely possible if you don't really know what you are doing, but you might get away even with that. Maybe just a nasty shock and your heart skips a beat but doesn't actually stop. Good on you. Have a celebratory cup of tea when you stop shaking.

But electrocution isn't the only risk. Far nastier is miswiring something (easy to do) that causes arcing or overload, resulting in a smouldering fire that doesn't break out until the middle of the night when you are soundly sleeping off a pleasantly alcoholic evening. If you survive, maybe your kids won't, assuming you have them. You will probably miss them.

Maybe you all survive and only your property doesn't. Congratulations. Just a pity that your insurance won't pay out because someone fudged a DIY electrical connection.

Or you are just a lucky type and none of this happens and all you lose is the cost of your smart switch when you blow it up. Not to mention the cost of repairing your blackened wall.

I believe that qualified electricians (one can correct me if I'm wrong) are only allowed to work on live connections after two years of training. That might be something to bear in mind.

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FineWine

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#2729075 15-Jun-2021 12:51

Well said ❗️

Whilst the difficult we can do immediately, the impossible takes a bit longer. However, miracles you will have to wait for.

toejam316

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#2729111 15-Jun-2021 13:47

Just to really back things up - I'm a former ultra low voltage cable jointer, have dabbled in electrical installation and testing on mains voltage, and I still routinely consult documentation every time I do something as simple as rewire an appliance plug, because I don't do it very often, and when I do it, I'd rather not harm anyone.

I'd be very upset if my partner got a zap from me repairing the appliance cord on a breadmaker, it'd be another thing entirely to just haphazardly try to rewire home wiring and hope for the best. Find out if a SDOC exists for the smart switch you have purchased, make sure it's compliant with NZ standards. Return it if it isn't, and if it is compliant, go on grabone or something and get one of those "1 hour electrical work" promos to get a sparky to come and do the job. He'll probably have it done in 15 minutes flat, so stand there and ask questions and be a pain in his ass. What you've shown in your posts so far is that you're probably too dangerous to be given access to Google and YouTube unsupervised, as you're simply too confident.

Anything I say is the ramblings of an ill informed, opinionated so-and-so, and not representative of any of my past, present or future employers, and is also probably best disregarded.

Paul1977

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#2729115 15-Jun-2021 14:00

sparkz25:

The switch also looks like its rated for 60Hz only not 50Hz

Does this device even have a SDOC?

That's a very important question. If it's not certified for use in NZ then no sparky will install it for you, and installing it yourself would void your house insurance.

I'm not an electrician so I've got no idea what using a switch designed for 60Hz on NZ 50Hz AC will do. But I'd guess it's a bad idea.

I can't see that product on any reputable NZ websites, where did you get it?

michaelmurfy

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#2729124 15-Jun-2021 14:23

As everyone else has said get an electrician involved. I don't know why you're being so stubborn when there is the potential for so much to go wrong.

I'm not going to entertain the DIY aspect of this. Do what you please but we didn't tell you to if you decide to make the wrong decision.

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