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Thread: Help with Caseta 4-way wiring

  1. #1
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    Help with Caseta 4-way wiring

    Okay, I know that the Official answer to doing a 4-way Caseta lighting situation is to use the Pico Remotes. However, I hate the idea of using these remotes (remotes falling off the wall and breaking, having another item that requires batteries, loosing the Pico remote and having to buy another one, having a system that requires additional "wireless" commands to be work, having a potential buyer not like the remotes either if I sell the house). I am searching for another way to do this using Lutron wired light switches. That way in the future, a potential buyer that doesn't want to use home automation can just use the light switches as is without having to have a Lutron Bridge hooked up to their router.One of the main reasons I went with Lutron Caseta is that they work with any smart home system, including Apple's HomeKit (which I am using). I have changed out about every light switch circuit in my house using the Lutron Caseta light switches (I just have 4 circuits left) and I am very familiar with the different light switches that Lutron sells. My house has Neutrals in all of the switch boxes so I have been using wired switches exclusively throughout my house, even on the three-ways, which also includes a three-way that has a dimmer.My issue is with my Kitchen. It is the only 4-way light circuit in the house with three switches and the light. The light fixture is a built-in box with three dual-bulb, four-foot fluorescent light fixtures that I have rewired (removed the ballasts) and am now running 4' LED direct driven light bulbs with 6 bulbs total. This is a non-dimming application.On my other three-way light switches, I used Decora 3-way rockers on one switch and a Lutron Caseta PD-5ANS-WH for the other switch. All of these three-way circuits have one light fixture that has either one or two bulbs in it, nothing over 5 amps. On the one three-way circuit that goes to a ceiling fan and is also dimmable, I used a Lutron Caseta PD-10NXD-WH on one end and a Lutron Decora Rocker 3-way switch at the other end.I have rewired the kitchen light circuit to use a Lutron Decora 3-way rocker switch on the far end, a Lutron Decora 4-way rocker switch in the middle of the circuit, and a Lutron Decora 3-way rocker switch where the power comes into the circuit. I would like to automate this last switch (where the power feed into the circuit) so I can control this circuit with HomeKit without having to resort to using the Pico remotes for the first two switches.My long-winded question is this, is there a way to use a wired Lutron Caseta switch along with two other Lutron Decora rocker switches to do a 4-way circuit? If you can do a wired 3-way circuit, then why can't you do a wired 4-way circuit? I have checked around and Leviton has a 4-way wired solution, but I would really like to keep all of my light switches using the same thing.Am I just out of luck?

  2. #2
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    Angry

    Why is it every time I post, it jams all of my paragraphs into one long paragraph?
    Last edited by Polkster13; 02-11-2021 at 05:54 PM. Reason: misspelled word/wrong word.

  3. #3
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    Correction to description above.

    Oops, the switches that I said were Decora switches are actually Diva switches.

  4. #4
    You can insert a < B R > without the spaces to force a line break.

    When you do a preview, they'll all be removed. So make sure you copy all the text before the preview so you can paste it back in before posting.

    Hope that helps.

  5. #5
    While clearly not official, others have posted wiring diagrams to make this work.

    Normally the issue is, there's not enough wires in the wall in the correct path to make it work.

    If you review the wiring diagram, the actual circuit not just the direction steps for a three way using a toggle switch, you can work out how the circuit needs to be wired as a four way to work.

    What you are effectively doing is replacing the single toggle switch with a multiple switch setup that acts like a single switch.
    In the three way with a toggle, the toggle switches the blue wire between hot and open. Adding a second toggle, using two 3 way switches, you should be able to create a circuit where moving either toggle switches the blue wire between hot and open.

    If you have access to rewire all the switches, you could run enough wires to make it work.

  6. #6
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    Thank you

    Thank you for the response.

    Do you know which thread has the wiring diagrams of which you speak? I did a Search on "4-way" and didn't find anything.

  7. #7
    Lutron Technical Support
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  8. #8
    I don't see it off hand, but you should be able to work it out from the wiring diagrams in the advanced install directions.

    If you're not sure or don't know exactly the wiring path, I wouldn't try it and just use PICO in the other locations. There's a reason it's not in the directions and you would want to be really sure not just following some random Internet diagram.

    Assuming you have something like Power Source-->Locations 1-->2-->3-->light. Normally (recently), they run three wires from 1 to 2 to 3 to the light. Two travelers that become hot based on the switch and the neutral passing through, using some standard colors. If you replace 1 with a Caseta and then want to use physical switches in 2 and 3, you would need four wires running between 2 and 3. One switched from the Caseta that isn't used by switches 2 and 3, two travelers that can connect back to the Caseta blue and hot at the far end, plus the neutral passing through to the final light. If you're able to run new wires to everything, you can make this happen. But, it would be super rare for those wires to already be in the wall. If the power flow isn't that path, but one of the many others that an electrician could have run, either because it's an older house before the more recent codes or some retrofit done, then everything is more complicated and unique. What's possible then is very dependent on what exists.

    For instance, if switches 2 and 3 were added in a retro fit and pulled as a switch leg with power coming to location 1 then out to the light, and the switch leg also leaving location 1, then everything is different.

    Which really means you need to understand the exact circuit diagram you're trying to create and exactly how your particular circuit matches up.

  9. #9
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    Okay, I need to get up into the attic and determine where the wiring for the light goes to which of the three switches. I know power comes into switch 1 and switch 2 is a four-way switch and switch 3 which is at the end of the run is a three-way switch. As soon as I get all of the wiring circuitry figured out, I will post a diagram here of exactly what I have. I have plenty of attic space in which to work and I am very confident of running new wire if I need to, so all I need is to know exactly how to get it wired up.

    I want to be able to turn the lights off at any of the three locations regardless of the status of my WIFI. If I go with the Pico remotes and my WIFI goes down, then the two Pico switches will no longer work. Just one of the reasons why I don't want to use the Pico remotes.

  10. #10
    Lutron Technical Support
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    The Pico Remotes should work with the dimmers/switches regardless of the WiFi status as they pair directly to the dimmers/switches using Clear Connect RF technology. As long as they are within 30 feet through walls or ceilings or 60 feet line of sight.

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