Any Caseta device that requires a neutral won't work in any of my homes

I have 2 of the pro dimmers which have a neutral (can get the model #s if needed, but the one is just the standard looking Caseta dimmer but with a neutral, the other is the one with the favorite button). I also purchased a normal switch as well recently. In my house which is 7 years old, I have neutrals in all the walls. It doesn't matter where I try to install any of these devices, they do not work. I tried maybe 5 different fixtures and different locations in my house and no go. Insteon and Z-Wave with neutral work fine in these locations.

I just bought a brand new condo, built 6 months ago. I took these 3 devices here, and it's the exact same thing, none of them function at all. I've tried Halogen bulbs and also LED. As soon as I remove them and put in Z-Wave or Insteon those work perfectly fine. All 3 of these were bought at different times, with the switch just a week ago from Amazon. I exchanged the switch and one of the dimmers and they do the same thing.

For whatever reason any Caseta product that requires a neutral just doesn't work. So I'm forced to use Insteon for my island lights because a 2 wire Caseta causes them to flicker like crazy since the bulbs don't dim.

Am I maybe missing something obvious here? I refuse to believe that Caseta could be THAT picky, as I've tried literally every light in my house, as well as at my new condo and it doesn't work at either place. Any ideas?

The PD-10NXD and PD-5NE neutral wire dimmers that you have won't work if the black and red dimmer wires are connected incorrectly. Have you tried swapping the house wires that the dimmer black and red wires are connected to?

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Originally Posted by Brian W.

The PD-10NXD and PD-5NE neutral wire dimmers that you have won't work if the black and red dimmer wires are connected incorrectly. Have you tried swapping the house wires that the dimmer black and red wires are connected to?

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Tried everything! If they are wrong you usually know because the dimmer has no LED lit up. If I swap them then the dimmer LED comes on but the lights just don't respond. It's very strange, as I know Lutron is picky about bulbs and what not, but I've honestly tried this on at least 10 different fixtures, in 2 different homes, with numerous different bulbs.

Does the neutral carry different levels of voltage? When I use my power tester, if I touch the load or line it lights up like 100% beeping like crazy as expected. If I touch the neutral bundle, it only lights up to maybe 20%. So at first I thought great I have all these neutrals but they don't work. But then I swapped it for Insteon and Z-Wave that require a neutral and they worked immediately.

For the most part I'm fine, it's just over my island I have 3 retro style LEDs that don't dim on the pendant's that hang down. I'd love to include them in Caseta scenes, but using the Caseta switch just doesn't work since it requires a neutral, and then using just the 2 wire dimmer causes them to never turn off, they just flicker instead.

I may have missed this in the initial post. Are these LEDs dimmable? If not, you would have to use the Caseta PD-6ANS switch instead of a dimmer.

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Originally Posted by Brian W.

I may have missed this in the initial post. Are these LEDs dimmable? If not, you would have to use the Caseta PD-6ANS switch instead of a dimmer.

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I already tried the PD-6ANS it doesn't work either, that's the one I just returend. I've tried every bulb, some A19 incandescent, then A19 LED, GU10 Halogen, GU10 LED, new condo is MR16 Halogen, then changed that to MR16 LED.

I'm thinking I might have to ditch the Lutron bridge and use Wink instead, and then just use a Z-Wave switch here as everywhere else is fine as they are dimmable so 2 wire works fine, it's just over my island they don't dim so was hoping the PD-6ANS would have worked. But PD-5NE-WH-C didn't work neither did the Caseta dimmer that requires a neutral with no favourite button (forget the model). Basically no Lutron Caseta product that uses neutrals has ever worked for me, in 10+ fixtures in 2 separate homes. So just thought maybe I'm missing something obvious but who knows.

That's unfortunate that this isn't working for you.

Getting dimmers to work with LEDs can be tricky. We have to test each kind of LED to see what works with our dimmers.
We have a webtool that lists specifically which LEDs have passed our testing: http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Service-...merMatrix.aspx. You may want to try this tool, and see if there is an LED of that type that we've approved.

Plus, MR16 LEDs are extremely difficult to dim. We've created an Application Note #559 about specific MR16 LEDs and how to dim them: http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocum...ary/048559.pdf.

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Originally Posted by Brian W.

That's unfortunate that this isn't working for you.

Getting dimmers to work with LEDs can be tricky. We have to test each kind of LED to see what works with our dimmers.
We have a webtool that lists specifically which LEDs have passed our testing: http://www.lutron.com/en-US/Service-...merMatrix.aspx. You may want to try this tool, and see if there is an LED of that type that we've approved.

Plus, MR16 LEDs are extremely difficult to dim. We've created an Application Note #559 about specific MR16 LEDs and how to dim them: http://www.lutron.com/TechnicalDocum...ary/048559.pdf.

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Sorry maybe I'm not being clear, I'm not trying to dim anything. I'm saying that no Lutron Caseta product that uses a neutral will work. I've tried both dimmer models, as well as the switch. What I really want is a switch here with just on and off, but the Lutron Caseta switch with neutral doesn't work. It doesn't work on any lights I've tried, not just MR16 ones. I've tried the switch and both Pro model dimmers with neutral and none of them work on any fixture in either of my home. If Lutron is this picky then I don't see how they could still be in business as I've tried probably 5 brands of bulbs, 10+ fixtures, 2 different homes (one a house built in 2006 the other my condo built last year). I've yet to get any Caseta product with neutral to work anywhere. So it's very weird, but wanted to check if I was missing something but I think I'll use the Wink hub and put a Z-Wave switch where the one is causing issues.

Also regarding MR16, I use the Philips gentle glow ones the ones that change colour temperature as they dim. They work amazing with the 2 wire no neutral Caseta and dim perfectly. Only thing is their 1% brightness is the same actual brightness as the Halogens were when at 40%, so they don't get quite as dim, but I'll take the 6w of power of 50 any day, especially when there's 16 of them in my living room window alone.

One quick thing to add. I tried the PD-5NE-WH-C again this morning. It powers on, and seems like it works, but then it stops. So 100% works, but if I try to turn it off nothing happens. I pulled the air gap to kill the power, and put it back, and the light was on 100%. I press off, and it actually turned off. Press on and it came on to 100%, so thought finally it's working. But then the LED's on the dimmer it self, I think LED #2 and 5 would just flash back and forth and nothing would make it respond.

Omg finally got one working! The ELV+ Dimmer just would not work, but then I found online the advanced setup guide and noticed you can change it between ELV and MLV. It was on ELV, (bottom LED flashing) so changed it to MLV and now it works! This light isn't dimmable though so hopefully it will be okay. I'd have preferred the PD-6ANS switch but that one wouldn't work at all. I'm good with just this though!

Just one thing I forgot to add, now that I know it was the ELV vs MLV causing the issue on at least the one, does that help determine why the PD-6ANS won't work? Ideally that's the one I'd rather have so that I can include this in Pico scenes.

Unfortunately, no. That doens't help determine why it wouldn't work with the PD-6ANS. The PD-6ANS is full conduction. It's neither MLV, nor ELV.

The PD-6ANS wouldn't work anywhere I tried it so I returned it to Amazon and bought it again, arriving tonight so will see if it has the same issue with a new one.

Are you sure you are connecting to a neutral? Sometimes the white wire is used for other things. If so, it should be marked with black tape or a black marker. That doesn't always happen. Especially in older houses. You can test using a volt meter. You should see approximately 120v between the black/power and white/neutral.

If your lights are switched from multi-locations, there are limitations on where in the circuit the device can go.

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Originally Posted by randyc

Are you sure you are connecting to a neutral? Sometimes the white wire is used for other things. If so, it should be marked with black tape or a black marker. That doesn't always happen. Especially in older houses. You can test using a volt meter. You should see approximately 120v between the black/power and white/neutral.

If your lights are switched from multi-locations, there are limitations on where in the circuit the device can go.

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I got it all working, it was the blue vs red wire I had mixed up. I forget how I had it, was using the blue one as the line/load leaving the red capped since reds have always been travelers on my other switches, but finally swapped them and it worked right away. Either that or the other way around, but it was because I was using the blue wire and not the red, or vice-versa whatever it was.