Hi @Carl & early adopters,

Can the KS230KIT be used in a 4-way switch like the HS210/KIT?

Thanks,

Justin

@justinmfischer 

Hi Justin,  What I have been told from the engineering team is, no.  However, I am not sure if that is just because it hasn't been tested or if its due to the dimmer functionality.  I would like to assume since only one switch is actually smart, the one that connects to the line, that it could be posisble.  Just that because I am not an electrician by trade I can't say for 100% certain.  @B.Will  I want to say you have expertly answered wiring questions on other posts in the past would you be able to provide any expert insight on this question?

@Connu 

No never thought you were.  Just wanted to make sure you understood that if you had already menitoned the replacements I missed it.  I didn't want you to feel like we weren't listening, this post has kinda blowen up since these issues arose.  With two bad and now a possible third, i would want to consult the engineering team before issuing a replacement from us.  God knows we don't want to replace a product only for you to get a 4th non-working item.  Let me speak to them and I should be able to let you know on Monday morning what we can do. 

@Carl Yes u should be able to just replase the powered switch.

@justinmfischer 

justinmfischer wrote

Hi @Carl & early adopters,

 

Can the KS230KIT be used in a 4-way switch like the HS210/KIT?

 

Thanks,

Justin

No it can't 

The Satellite switch in the 230 Kit is not like a conventional 3-way dumb switch; the kit is wired such that the Line voltage is always carried to the Satellite; you can't achieve this when you put a 4-way in the middle, as that effectively changes the line power from one pole to the other. 

Thanks @DEcosse, was afraid of this. If the line voltage is always carried, do any of the early adopters understand the form of communication between the two switches in the KIT?

Justin

@justinmfischer It's a little complex:

The Traveler 2 and Load Wire are connected together at the Same Terminal on the Satellite Unit; therefor the Traveler 2 Wire must carry the 'dimmed' voltage directly to the Load from the main Control Module. 

And I would then believe the Traveler 1 must carry Full Line Voltage* to power the Satellite Module Electronics

So I would perceive that the physical dimming takes place at the Main (Primary) Module and is applied either wirelessly (from the App, Alexa etc) or directly by the Dimming controls on the Main Unit. 

Next we have the Satellite Module - it has a Physical on/off switch AND Physical dimming switches; So by the premise that dimming voltage originates from the Main Module, it must be that the status of either of those functions is transmitted wirelessly via the App to the Primary Module to affect the necessary change there. 

So - all of that is just my own deduction of how it must work, based on the wiring scheme - I do not know this for fact, but is a reasonable hypothesis. 

* I must test the voltage on the T1 pole with lights both on & off to validate that is actually the case. 

@DEcosse 

Decosse,

Thank you for sharing this with the group.  I am not familar with wiring and was not yet able to get a full answer from the engineering team on why it could or couldn't be used.  This makes a lot of sense since Traveler 2 and load are wired to the same screw.  

@DEcosse I seriously hope they aren't actually dimming with the remote switch.  This would be a highly unusual way to execute 3-way smart switch.  Most of the 3-way smart switches I've used in the past do all dimming from the main switch.  You can then add a 2nd, 3rd, 4th switch etc.  Those remote switches have no dimming ability on their own at all.  They are simply sending the dimming commands to the main switch.  So all that is really required is a constant hot/neutral at any remote switch and traveler.  The traveler is used for the data signal back to the main switch.

@AMDPower,

I agree.  That's crazy.  I hadn't complained about the fact that 4-way circuits aren't supported, because there are so many other issues with the KS230 right now, but I really do need to have 4-way support.  Several circuits in my home have Lutron switches that work fine on a 3-way and 4-way circuit with the existing 3-way and 4-way switches remaining or by adding "dummy" Lutron remote/satellite switches as long as the main switch is on the line side.  They support up to 10 remotes per circuit which is plenty for almost any conceivable installation.  My largest run is 5 switches where we're using one Lutron switch, three original "dumb" 4-way switches, and the orginal "dumb" 3-way switch on the load end.

@Carl.

It's really weird, but after almost a week of my KS230 dropping it's Internet connection, it has been working again for a couple of days (but still having all of the other reported issues).  Nothing has changed, but I did notice that the connection speed to my router is now consistently 23Mbps, which is still slower than the nearly 50Mbps of all my other Kasa switches, but significantly faster than the .5Mbps it had been reporting while the switch failed most of last week.  It sure seems like a hardware issue of some sort.  I wish others could report their connection speed.