Best Smart Switches That Don't Require a Neutral
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Best Smart Switches No Neutral
So you want to upgrade your lighting system to smart switches but you don’t have an existing neutral wire in your switch box, what can you do?
Well there are actually smart light switches on the market that don’t require a neutral wire. In this post we cover the Best Smart switches that don’t require a neutral wire. Most older homes and even some newer homes don’t have a “white” neutral wire in the switch box, which is required for most smart home switches.
However recent advances in technology have made smart switches that don’t require a neutral available, accessible and affordable. Our recommendation for light switches that don’t require a neutral after extensive testing is the Lutron Caseta Light Switch System.
Best Smart Switches That Don’t Require A Neutral:
These smart switches from Lutron are the best smart switches on the market that we have found and tested that don’t require a neutral wire. They are incredibly easy to install, setup and use. The Lutron Caseta Smart Switches require only 2 wires, a hot and a load wire. They also have a ground wire but don’t require an extra neutral wire like most other smart light switches.
The Lutron Caseta Wireless Smart Switches work by removing your old switches, replacing them with the new smart light switch using the same wiring and then connecting the smart light switches to the Lutron Hub which then connects the devices to the internet for app control or voice control with a compatible voice assistant. The video below shows you just how easy it is to install the Lutron Smart Home Light Switches that don’t require a neutral.
Lutron Caseta Smart Light Switch Features
Beyond these smart light switches not needing a neutral wire they have a whole host of features that are designed around maximizing functionality for you.
Smart Dimmer Switches - The switches have built in smart dimming capability. They switch is built with 4 buttons. The two buttons on the end turn the light switch on and off and the buttons in the middle allow for dimming adjustment of the light fixtures.
Dimming Levels - These smart light switches offer full range dimming and have a lighted indicator on the side that shows you the dimming level for the smart switch and allows you to make precise dimming adjustments.
Works with LED’s - These smart light switches will work with LED’s, incandescent and halogen lights. They have been designed to work with a wide variety of light fixtures for compatibility.
App Control - These smart light switches allow you to control your smart light switches from an app either inside your home or when you’re away. You can even control your lights while you’re on vacation right from the app, just open the app click the light and can light up or turn off the lights with just a press of your finger.
Voice Assistant capability - These smart light switches allow for full voice assistant control meaning that you can turn on or off your light switches using your voice, you can even adjust the dimming using voice commands with your smart light switches and a compatible voice assistant. These light switches will work with Alexa, Google Home and HomeKit Voice assistants. We recommend picking these smart light switches up with an Alexa Echo Show 5 to add full voice lighting control to your home.
No Neutral Required - These light switches are perfect for older or newer homes that don’t have an existing neutral wire and offer easy retrofit installation.
Our Smart Switch Testing Results:
We’ve tested dozens of smart light switches but the vast majority of other smart light switches require a neutral wire in order to work. In our test of the Lutron Caseta smart light switches, they were one of the easiest and most straightforward smart light switches to install. They also have a much thinner profile than some competing smart light switches which makes them easier to install in tight junction boxes.
Overall they are responsive switches and worked with the LED light fixtures we installed them with and we had no issues turning the LED’s on or off or using the dimming functionality. I like that the switch has 4 buttons for easy control (on, off, dimming up, dimming down) which creates an easy to use interface.
Once installed the smart light switches were easy to set up with the hub and add to the Lutron app. After setting the light switches up on the Lutron App I also set them up on Alexa using the Lutron Skill and tested using them with Alexa voice commands. They were responsive and easy to control with Alexa voice commands, I turned them on by saying “Alexa, turn on hallway lights.” and could dim them by saying “Alexa, set hallway lights to 50%.”
Best Smart Switches No Neutral Summary:
We’ve tested all a lot of smart light switches for you so that you don’t have to waste your precious time installing smart switches that won’t work. Lutron is a well known brand and these smart light switches work great if you don’t have a neutral wire for installation. They work well even if you do have a neutral wire for installation, you just don’t have to wire up the extra wire. They are simple and straightforward to install and offered quick responsive control.
Lutron has one of the longest and best records in lighting control. The Lutron Caseta system is very similar to their high end commercial lighting systems that thousands of companies rely on to power their facilities. You’re getting the proven track record and tested reliability when you choose to install these smart light switches in your home. If you don’t have a neutral wire in my opinion these are the best smart switches that don’t require neutral.
