Wiring a serial light switch.

[distante 7]

Hello DIYers, I hope you can help me with this task I want to accomplish.

 

I want to make a regular light switch "smart" and for this, I bought a Sonoff ZBMini, It seemed to be - and to be honest, it probably is - an easy task but I got stuck in doubt because all the examples I find online use 2 cables but the light switch I have, uses 3.

 

This is the device I want to connect.

 

And this is my current switch:

 

From what I was able to find, that is a Busch-Jaeger 2000 Schalter. 

 

My doubts start here. In all the examples I have found about it, the L connectors have just one cable. My intuition says to me that those L connectors are pass-through so the live signal can continue to be shared later with other connections.

 

If that is correct, then following this connection diagram:

 

I should take one of the brown cables from the top and put it into the L-IN of the Sonoff, and put the bottom brown cable into the L-OUT. I can patch the neutral cable from the existing joint connection

 

And then, what should I do with the other brown cable? Should I better patch it with a compact connection box  (like this one) and send it from there to the Sonoff L-IN?

 

Then, I should be able to send two cables from the switch, one from the top L connector, and the other on the Bottom arrow.

 

Do I have this right? I haven't had anyone to teach me this stuff as kid so I just learn as I go...

 

Thank you very much for reading and (maybe) answering!

[optimista 5,840]

If you do not employ a professional electrician and there is an issue, I would not expect the insurance to stump up when the building goes up in flames. It being Germany, I would not be surprised if you were even criminally liable in such an event. 

[distante 7]

16 minutes ago, optimista said:

If you do not employ a professional electrician and there is an issue, I would not expect the insurance to stump up when the building goes up in flames. It being Germany, I would not be surprised if you were even criminally liable in such an event. 

While I usually agree with hiring an electrician to do hard stuff in the house, I see this task as one degree harder than installing a new ceiling lamp. There is no special handling of different loads or so. 

 

If I would hire an electrician for each change of lamp, or replace a light switch I will never learn how to stuff on my own house. 

 

That said, if you point me my error and explain me what I am not seen that is too complex I would probably change my mind. 

 

Regards and thanks for your reply. 

[fraufruit 41,951]

There are a few youtubes about how to install it.

 

Here's one.

[distante 7]

19 minutes ago, fraufruit said:

There are a few youtubes about how to install it.

 

Here's one.

That is another one, but I was also looking at a video of the same guy with the model I have: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtAHJ1VESIM

 

Still not sure about the cable on the switch L holes though. 

Thanks for your reply :)

[HH_Sailor 3,533]

Busch Jäger 2000 appears to be a style, not a switch description.

 

Are you sure this is a single switch and not that somewhere else there's another?

ie  at the other end of that 2nd brown lead?

 

Keyword stairway lights with switches at top and bottom??

 

Nope, I'm not an electrician either

[fraufruit 41,951]

1 hour ago, distante said:

If I would hire an electrician for each change of lamp, or replace a light switch I will never learn how to stuff on my own house. 

 

I'm sure the electrician will show you how if you ask her/him.

[distante 7]

51 minutes ago, HH_Sailor said:

Busch Jäger 2000 appears to be a style, not a switch description.

 

Are you sure this is a single switch and not that somewhere else there's another?

ie  at the other end of that 2nd brown lead?

 

Keyword stairway lights with switches at top and bottom??

 

Nope, I'm not an electrician either

Yes, I am sure this one controls just one light. It is for my 3x3mts work room. 

[distante 7]

40 minutes ago, fraufruit said:

 

I'm sure the electrician will show you how if you ask her/him.

Seems like this is what I would need to do. Specially for the 2 way light switches. 

[JG52 1,019]

I'm not going to get involved in your wiring much more than this post, but you have what appears to be a common daisy chained switch that feeds another device (switch or outlet) somewhere in the room.  The two brown wires at the top in "L" on the switch are the 230V line inputs.  The brown wire at the bottom in "NF" goes to your light.

 

One of the brown wires at "L" is the line source and the other wire feeds the next device in the circuit.  It will be easy to determine which wire is from the source and which wire feeds the downstream device. 

 

With the circuit breaker turned off, push in the blue tab at the "L" point and pull one of the brown wires out of the switch.  Either tape the bare conductor or bend it out of the way so you don't electrocute yourself or others.  Turn the circuit breaker back on and see if the light works.  If it does, then the wire remaining in the switch is the line source.  If not, then the wire you removed is the line source.

 

 

[franklan 6,024]

1.) Take out the two brown wires on top of the switch and attach them both to LIn. You need a wago to do so. So, those two wires are shoved into the wago, and a third stumpy brown wire goes from the wago to LIn.

 

2.) Take out the single brown wire at the bottom and attach it to LOut.

 

3.) Attach a Neutral connection to NIn. It is considered good manners to use a blue wire. 

 

4.) Take a purple wire and attach one end where the two brown ones went in; attach the other side to S1.

 

5.) Take a malve wire and attach one end where the single brown cable went in; attach the other side to S2.

 

 

ACHTUNG, HÖLLENZUFRIERUNGSGEFAHR!
If you cannot source a purple wire or a malve wire: Do not do it, as hell freezes shut when you use the wrong colors!

[toBnruG 1,152]

16 hours ago, franklan said:

...

3.) Attach a Neutral connection to NIn. It is considered good manners to use a blue wire.

I think Franklan's right, and here's where the OP's plan is lain to waste. Whoever has done your original wiring just used a manual switch to let power pass to the next stage or cut it off. You only have live wires (brown), no neutral (blue). This means that only a manual switch like the one you have already, or else a battery powered switch (not sure if those exist?) will work in this location, unless there is a neutral wire (blue) in the cavity which you can use to provide return current for your new "smart" switch.

The smart switch is useless without at least 1 brown and 1 blue wire - if either of these is missing you cannot power the switch.

 

edit: after looking at the Sonoff website linked by the OP, I'd suggest one of their smart light bulbs for your office and leave the existing switch on the wall.

[franklan 6,024]

 

11 hours ago, toBnruG said:

You only have live wires (brown), no neutral (blue).

 

The OP clearly wrote "I can patch the neutral cable from the existing joint connection".

[distante 7]

On 05/02/2023, 15:58:41, JG52 said:

I'm not going to get involved in your wiring much more than this post, but you have what appears to be a common daisy-chained switch that feeds another device (switch or outlet) somewhere in the room.  The two brown wires at the top in "L" on the switch are the 230V line inputs.  The brown wire at the bottom in "NF" goes to your light.

 

One of the brown wires at "L" is the line source and the other wire feeds the next device in the circuit.  It will be easy to determine which wire is from the source and which wire feeds the downstream device. 

 

With the circuit breaker turned off, push in the blue tab at the "L" point and pull one of the brown wires out of the switch.  Either tape the bare conductor or bend it out of the way so you don't electrocute yourself or others.  Turn the circuit breaker back on and see if the light works.  If it does, then the wire remaining in the switch is the line source.  If not, then the wire you removed is the line source.

 

 

I will try this @JG52, thank you! I also will put some labels there for the future. At least now I kind of understand that on that kind of switch, the pairs (L) or (NF) are bridges.

 

On 05/02/2023, 16:17:45, franklan said:

1.) Take out the two brown wires on top of the switch and attach them both to LIn. You need a wago to do so. So, those two wires are shoved into the wago, and a third stumpy brown wire goes from the wago to LIn.

 

2.) Take out the single brown wire at the bottom and attach it to LOut.

 

3.) Attach a Neutral connection to NIn. It is considered good manners to use a blue wire. 

 

4.) Take a purple wire and attach one end where the two brown ones went in; attach the other side to S1.

 

5.) Take a malve wire and attach one end where the single brown cable went in; attach the other side to S2.

 

 

ACHTUNG, HÖLLENZUFRIERUNGSGEFAHR!
If you cannot source a purple wire or a malve wire: Do not do it, as hell freezes shut when you use the wrong colors!

 

This is an excellent step-by-step response! thanks! 

 

One question though. Do they have to be purple and malve? I still have to go to buy some cable but I was under the impression they should be black and Grey as per this diagram I found on a German site.:

 

Thank you very much again for the detailed responses @JG52 and @franklan !, I had to pause my project this week because of work and my child is also sick. But in the meantime, I managed to split the single switch from my bathroom controlling the ventilator and light together, into a dual switch so I can control them separately.

 

 

 

 

[distante 7]

21 hours ago, toBnruG said:

I think Franklan's right, and here's where the OP's plan is lain to waste. Whoever has done your original wiring just used a manual switch to let power pass to the next stage or cut it off. You only have live wires (brown), no neutral (blue). This means that only a manual switch like the one you have already, or else a battery powered switch (not sure if those exist?) will work in this location, unless there is a neutral wire (blue) in the cavity which you can use to provide return current for your new "smart" switch.

The smart switch is useless without at least 1 brown and 1 blue wire - if either of these is missing you cannot power the switch.

 

edit: after looking at the Sonoff website linked by the OP, I'd suggest one of their smart light bulbs for your office and leave the existing switch on the wall.

 

In the switch cavity, there are several wagos with Neutral and PE cables. I do not want to go the Smartlight bulb way because they still depend on the switch from the wall, also that forces me to use the give bulb instead of a bigger light with more Lumens for my work room.

 

Plus the sonoff miniz also works as bridge for the Zigbee signal so it can travel across all floors and rooms.

[HH_Sailor 3,533]

5 hours ago, distante said:

Plus the sonoff miniz also works as bridge for the Zigbee signal so it can travel across all floors and rooms.

 

 

I think I have to go back to language school.

Or jargon classes...

[optimista 5,840]

Double Dutch or Cantonese ?

 

I repeat... if you are not an electrician you are ill advised farting about with the wiring, especially if you ain t gotta clue and have to ask advice. Sorry for the broken record. But this thread looked like the latest fake anyway.

[toBnruG 1,152]

3 hours ago, optimista said:

I repeat... if you are not an electrician you are ill advised farting about with the wiring, especially if you ain t gotta clue and have to ask advice. Sorry for the broken record. But this thread looked like the latest fake anyway.

I think that if the OP didn't have a clue then they'd have called an electrician, wasted a couple hundred euros and would have learned nothing in the process. They even got the response they asked for and have probably, by now, completed the installation and are enjoying wireless-controlled lighting in their office. Why are you against them doing it themselves? Even if they screw something up the worst they'll get is a tripped relay.

[fraufruit 41,951]

3 hours ago, optimista said:

But this thread looked like the latest fake anyway.

 

 

[JG52 1,019]

40 minutes ago, toBnruG said:

Even if they screw something up the worst they'll get is a tripped relay.

 

There are no mystical properties to electrical work and some people do go on to be excellent electricians or competent DIYers.  However, I can assure you I have seen worse things besides a tripped circuit breaker (not a relay).  Electricity is unforgiving and any unintentional path to ground can be fatal.