Lutron Caseta & Neutral Wire (Important Things To Know).

Every device in our home is becoming smart, starting with our light bulbs, plugs, televisions, doorbells, and much more. These intelligent gadgets add a lot of conveniences compared to traditional models. And today our topic will be around the Lutron Caseta smart switches/dimmers.

These Lutron Caseta products have a big place in the market due to features such as voice control from assistants like Google, Siri, Alexa, and Sonos, as well as remote control from its own app, the ability to create and program scenes, adjust the brightness, etc.

People are wondering if the Lutron Caseta requires a neutral wire? this manufacturer produces some models that need a neutral wire to operate and some don’t, for example, “Smart Dimmer Switch PD 6WCL” doesn’t need a neutral wire while the “Smart On/Off Switch PD-6ANS” requires this wiring system.

What is a neutral wire?

The neutral wire is considered half of the circuit. The circuit comes from your electrical panel and provides power to your smart switches and there are two wires that create this power.

The first one is the hot wire and the second is the neutral wire and both of them are creating a path of electricity to go all the way around through your device and back to your panel.

The neutral wire is the return path for current and it is known to have zero voltage on it, or it’s the path back to a potential of zero.

Is the neutral wire the same as a ground wire?

A common belief is that the ground wire is the same as neutral wire but this is definitely false as they have a completely different roles.

The ground wire avoids the risks of electrification and electrocution which could be caused by an electrical device whose wires are damaged or poorly insulated electrically.

When an electrical device is poorly insulated, simple contact with a conductive element will create an electrical accident.

So the ground wire will take electricity back to the breaker panel, then outside to a rod that’s buried in the ground and serve as a protective wire to the human body.

Why some Lutron Caseta switches don’t require a neutral wire?

As we mentioned before not all Lutron switches can work without a neutral wire which makes it an essential piece for you to keep your smart switch powered on all the time but this company produces some switches that can operate without it so how they can do that?

Generally speaking, the Lutron smart switches need to be powered all the time in order to connect to your mobile or voice assistant or continue to perform scheduled scenes and communicate with the rest of your connected home appliances.

But when they’re connected to the Smart Bridge the need for a neutral wire can be avoided as this hub will do all the work like connecting to your smartphone and to the router or handle all the commands that you’re sending to devices controlled by your switches, also your voice assistants like Google Assistant, Alexa, Siri, and Sonos will need to communicate with the bridge to manage your switches.

In presence of the Lutron Caseta Smart Bridge, your switches will act as traditional switches rather than smart ones.

Note: Switches that don’t work with a smart hub need to be powered 24/7, so the wire is mandatory for them.

How to identify the neutral wire?

If you’re living in a new or remodeled building there’s a high chance that a neutral wire exists inside your switch box, also if your house or residence is built in the 1980s or later, there is usually both a neutral wire and a hot wire at the light switch.

Follow the next steps to check if you already have a neutral wire:

Tools needed: Flat head screwdriver, Phillips head screwdriver, handheld voltage tester.

1. Test the light switch to see if it’s working.
2. Turn the power off at the circuit breaker.
3. Remove the wall plate, then unscrew the switch from the wall box.
4. Use the voltage tester to ensure that the power is off.
5. If you see a white wire or a group of white wires, this may be the neutral wire (the neutral wire may be blue sometimes).

Note: You can contact a professional electrician to be 100% sure that the wire you’ve identified is the neutral wire.

Can I install a neutral wire?

If you purchased a Lutron model that works with a neutral wire and you find that your house is old and the switch boxes do not have this wiring system, don’t worry, you can easily add a neutral wire to the box.

When I say easily it doesn’t mean you can do it yourself because it’s dangerous and requires technical skills and knowledge of safety codes and standards.

So I highly recommend that you spend extra money to hire a professional electrician to set up a fancy wiring system, otherwise go replace your switch with a model that doesn’t need a neutral wire.

Conclusion.

Lutron Caseta switches/dimmers are one of the best on the market and you can decide which model you buy based on the existing wiring in your home if you find Lutron not suitable for your home you can opt for other brands like “General Electric“.