PD-5ANS 3 way setup just won’t work!

I've replaced several 3 ways with a PD-5ANS in one box, leaving the toggle in the other box. No problems.

I'm on my last one and it is driving me CRAZY. The closest I can get it to working is that either/both the toggle and the Caseta will turn the light on - but the light shuts ITSELF off 1 second later! (Behavior is the same from both switches.)

At the toggle - I have the yellow jumper on the common screw and tied to the (white) incoming line and the black traveler, and the red traveler on the same side of the switch on a traveler screw at the bottom of the switch.

At the Caseta - green to ground, white to neutral in the box, blue to the red traveler, red to the load, black to the black traveler.

I ohmed out all the wires, so I have positively identified the line, load and travelers, and labeled them.

What I've tried -
- Switching the black and the red at the Caseta - no go
- Switched the bulb to a reg. incandescent just in case it was an LED problem. - no diff. - light goes on then off by itself.
- Replaced the toggle just in case of a bad switch - no diff. - light goes on then off by itself.
- Every permutation and combination of wiring swaps.
- Put everything back to normal - two 3 way toggles - works fine!

What's really bugging me is it is wired identically to the last 3 way I replaced - I've checked three times - and that one works fine.

I'm about to go to a 'smart' bulb in that fixture, but I hate to give up!

Can anyone help?

Thanks so much!

Hello,

If you completely bypass the mechanical switch and wire the PD-5ANS as if it were a single-pole install (or as if installed in a 3-way with a Pico remote) are you able to recreate this behavior?

If I bypass the mechanical toggle (wire the line and red and black travellers together) I've got nothing at the Caseta, i.e., no power - the switch is dead. ???

Are the lights switched from more than 2 locations? If so you will need to bypass the switch(es) in the middle.

In a typical 3-way power comes in at one end goes through one of the travelers and out to the light at the other end. The light will be on as long as both switches are connected to the same traveler. In some cases both the power and the wire up to the light are at the same end. The electrician will relay the power or the wire up to the light using one of the conductors of the 3-wire cable. The Lutron wiring scheme should work in this case but it may cause some confusion because the white from the 3-wire cable is no longer a neutral.

Ooops - didn't realize (rookie mistake) had to also reconfig. the Caseta. Now that's done. Wghat happens is the Caseta is powered, but if I turn on the light, it stays on for a split second then blinks right back off.

Nope, only powered from 2 switches. My mistake, however - when I bypass the toggle an dthe reconfig the Caseta as if there was a Pico, the switch is, indeed powered. If I turn the light on, it comes on and then blinks off a split second later.

Do you have any info on the lights the switch is controlling? We've confirmed the issue isn't the mechanical switch since we've bypassed that. Do you have an incandescent light that we can test at this location with the PD-5ANS?

I thought the problem could be the LED, so I had already swapped in an incandescent 60w bulb. That's what's there now. Goes on, but then turns right off (like the Caseta is immediately sending a 'turn off' signal?) I also swapped in a known working Caseta from another location that was working to rule the Caseta out. I am really stumped.

Hello, can you confirm (since the PD-5ANS should be installed as a single pole device) that the blue wire on the PD-5ANS is capped off by itself and both travelers are on the same wire on the switch? We've seen before that this wiring setup may cause the switch to turn back off after turning on. Can you also confirm that when you pull out the FASS tab (physical pull-tab located beneath the off button on the front face of the switch) that the LED indicator light on the PD-5ANS turns off? After pushing the tab back in, do you get proper control from the switch, or do you get the same issue? If the LED indicator light does not turn off, it is possible that the line/load (black and red wires on the switch) are swapped.

Affirmative - the blue is capped. Boith the travelers are coinnected to the red wire on the switch. FASS pulled out, LED goes out. Push it back in, comes back on. Switch does the same thing. I rang the wires out, so I'm certain of the ID of the Load vs. the travelers.