electricalsmart-switch
So I've been replacing most of the switches at home to smart switches and ran into one I can't figure out.
It's wired like this:
Here's a pic of the switch (Circled in drawing)
Can I even put a smartswitch here? There is a ground wire, but it's grounded to the box the switch is in. When I disconnect the switch, I have no power to either outlet and obviously the light and ceiling fan. TIA!
You say that, when you release the button, the contact opens again (resistance goes to infinity). But the light stays on, right? That means there must be some device which has a "memory" of the last action: you push a button, the light goes on and stays on, until you press the button again (or another button). I'm sure there is a device in the cabinet (Dutch: "schakelkast") which toggles its output on every pulse it receives, and which in this way controls the lamp.
The wire on the top right of the switch also hints in this direction; it's a signal wire, it's too thin to be a power wire. My hunch is that it carries the pulses to the actual switching device (I don't know what it's called).
Use a smart switch capable of supporting a wireless remote, so when the AHJ flags you for failing to have requisite switches, you can just glue a wireless to the wall.
Black and white are currently travelers. The red is switched-hot, which is awesome because it'll stay that.
Re-task black to be always-hot, by moving it in box A to the always-hot bundle on the wire nut.
Re-task white to be neutral, by moving it in box A to the same bundle of all-whites that the lamp uses.
At this point there are no wires on the upper switch in the duplex switch. Convert to a single switch.
Now install the smart switch in box "B".
Best Answer
The 2 blacks at the bottom will be the live from the breaker and the live to the outlets. There will be another place where the wire continues to the other outlet.
The red and black are going to the fan/light. The reason for 2 wires being switched is to allow easy upgrade from single switch to a combo switch that controls the light and fan separately.
The whites are the neutral.
So the smart switch will take line in from the bottom black which will need to be wirenutted and pigtailed if the switch doesn't allow 2 wires per connection. The neutral will be an addition white in the bundle of neutrals. And the switched out will be the red/black combo (again wirenut as needed).