Switch – What Can Cause TP-LINK Smart Switch (HS200) To Light (LED) Flicker

home-automationswitch

I have bought a TP-LINK (HS200) wall light switch to replace several switches.

The first switch I tried is controlled an outlet that I have a a lamp connected to it. The outlet is configured as follows:

  • Bare copper wire: Ground
  • Black wire: live, shows about ~120V AC multi-meter regardless of switch's position.
  • Red wire: load, shows few mVs when OFF, and ~120V AC when the switch is ON.
  • Inside the outlet box there are 3-white wires bundled all together with a wire-nut at the end (assumed to be neutral lines).

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I have connected the TP-LINK HS200 to the wires as they are marked/named on the back of the switch. When I returned power to the switch the lamp flickers really fast on low light, when the switch is supposedly switched on the flickering is a little brighter and the white circle LED light on the switch is ON. The WiFi icon on the switch goes orange on and off regardless of switch's state (as I did not configure it yet).

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I called TP-LINK customer support and they barely speak English. I emailed her pictures of my wiring, and she told me someone would call me back within 30 minutes. It has been a day and yet no one called. So that route of help is gone.

I have tried two HS200 switches thinking one was faulty, and got the same result. I have swapped the Live/Load wires and got the same result.

How should it be wired to work properly?

Best Answer

The light (LED or bulb) was flickering really fast. I found out that the White Neutral Wire was at fault. Wrong wiring caused the neutral line to float and be tied to return to the electrical box. Once I tied the entire bundle of the neutral wires together, the switched worked perfectly.