DVRF-5NS Strobe Light Flashing on Setup

[Zacharia]

I'm wondering if this is common, or if there is a fix or something I am overlooking.

I have a double gang box on a single circuit where I am placing the new switch (Location 1). I am fairly certain that the wiring also supports the Light/Fan & GFCI plug in the bathroom on the other side of the wall. The circuit breaker turns the power off there as well.
This switch is set up as a three way with another switch in a single gang box down the hall (Location 2). Location 2 has no neutral wire available. I've currently got a Zooz zwave switch installed in location 1 and it is working fine.

When I install the Caseta Claro Smart Switch In location 1, I can turn it on/off at the Caseta switch, but when toggling the manual switch at location 2 the light starts to flash / strobe. It blinks on and off about every half second.

I had the same result in this area when I installed the older model Caseta switch in location 1 some time ago. Since I haven't had this issue with other switches I've tried in this location I thought I would give this Claro a try, but had similar results.

I have a couple of thoughts.

1. This circuit has a GFCI plug on it, perhaps it is somehow interrupting power to the lights?
2. There are two bundles of Neutral wires in the box maybe there is a different neutral bundle connection/configuration that should be used?
   
   1. I am under the assumption that all the neutral wires should support the same circuit so it shouldn't matter... also I am using the same neutral wires for my Zooz switch with out issue.
   
   
3. My home was built in 2002, the lights are recessed and I have LED's in them. Maybe something is incompatible, either the bulbs or the fixtures?

These are listed in order of what I think they might be. I am not sure if installing the Caseta accessory switch might resolve it?

Here is a video of a guy with a similar experience on youtube. He fixed it by installing at location 2, but my location 2 doesn't support a neutral wire, so not an option for me.
@ about 11:45 mark in the video. He was not able to resolve the issue, only do something else.

[Zacharia]

Just a quick update.

The guy in the Youtube video above responded to my comment on his video. He indicated that Lutron told him it was because of an imbalanced neutral line. I am going to spend some $$ and bring in an electrician to trouble shoot this switch. I've done many of the other switches in my house and while not all go smooth, I've always been able to get them to work - except this one and only for these Caseta switches.

I'll keep this post updated with the findings, it was difficult to find related information online that wasn't about dimmers with flickering, incompatible bulbs.

[Jonathan K.]

Hello,

Can you confirm the wiring in the wallbox at the second location (with the mechanical switch)? Do all 3 wires enter the wallbox from the same sheath of Romex?

Our engineering team has been able to reproduce this issue in two different ways. The first way is if the 3-way mechanical switch, or DVRF-AS accessory switch, is wired between the blue wire and neutral. The switch expects the accessories to be wired between hot (line side) or switched hot (load side) and the blue wire. Neutral causes the switch to think you’re constantly toggling the 3-way. This miswire will not damage the unit so the fix would simply be to find the wiring issue and fix it.

The second way we reproduced it was with a very small load (less than 1W) with the accessory/toggle switch on the load side.
There are 3 ways to fix this issue:
1. Move the accessory/toggle switch to the line side
2. Remove the accessory and use a Pico remote
3. Increase or changing the load

[Zacharia]

Hi,

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips.

The wall box at the second location is a mechanical switch. There is no neutral wire at that switch.
I had the electrician in today to take a look. He could not get the switch to work either. He spent nearly 2 hours trying to troubleshoot the issue.

I had two switches to install. He tried them both with the same effect. He attempted to install both switches in a 3-way configuration, for the upstairs hall, and the stairway. Each set produced a strobe effect (Same 2 gang box).
Depending on how it was wired up the light switch would work correctly until the accessory switch was utilized. In other wiring attempts it would strobe right away. If we could never use the second switch we could get the get the main Lutron switch to toggle on and off with out strobing. That could have been possible in the upstairs hallway, but not at the top and bottom of the stairs.

Unfortunately I am out of reasonable options for me to install this switch with out bring back an electrician or removing the accessory switch for a pico remote, which I am not inclined to do. I reinstalled the Zooz z-wave switches and the are working as expected. I really did want to change over to these new lutron switches here and in other areas of the house, but I think I will look for other alternative.

Thanks

[Mike F]

I have a crazy strobe going on with my PD-6WCL dimmer. I have 10 of them and have no issue elsewhere.

Did you try an incandescent bulb? When I put one in the flashing stopped on ALL of the bulbs. CFL, LED, all flash, any brand.

Hi,

Thanks for the troubleshooting tips.

The wall box at the second location is a mechanical switch. There is no neutral wire at that switch.
I had the electrician in today to take a look. He could not get the switch to work either. He spent nearly 2 hours trying to troubleshoot the issue.

I had two switches to install. He tried them both with the same effect. He attempted to install both switches in a 3-way configuration, for the upstairs hall, and the stairway. Each set produced a strobe effect (Same 2 gang box).
Depending on how it was wired up the light switch would work correctly until the accessory switch was utilized. In other wiring attempts it would strobe right away. If we could never use the second switch we could get the get the main Lutron switch to toggle on and off with out strobing. That could have been possible in the upstairs hallway, but not at the top and bottom of the stairs.

Unfortunately I am out of reasonable options for me to install this switch with out bring back an electrician or removing the accessory switch for a pico remote, which I am not inclined to do. I reinstalled the Zooz z-wave switches and the are working as expected. I really did want to change over to these new lutron switches here and in other areas of the house, but I think I will look for other alternative.

Thanks

[Jonathan K.]

Hi Mike,

We would like to troubleshoot your issue further. Can you send in a support request to support@lutron.com summarizing your issue? Please include the makes, models, and quantities of LED and CFL bulbs that you had tested with this dimmer that were exhibiting the strobing issue.

[Mike F]

Hi, I've already been in touch with somebody and they are looking after me. If it doesn't solve the problem, I'll come back to this thread.