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Am replacing a single pole switch with a smart switch. The single pole I'm replacing has two wires on one terminal, a single on the other. The single wire is live, and the two wires are load. Single Pole Switch with 3 wires

The smart switch has ground, neutral, live and load wires. Unfortunately the instructions are not the best, but include a diagram.Smart Switch Wiring

I'd like help on how to make the connections. Feel safe to connect ground-ground, and believe I would connect the live from the smart switch using the live wire from the original switch.

Am not so sure with the neutral and load wires on the smart switch. Do I connect the neutral to the neutral (white) in the box? And for load, am thinking I pigtail the two existing wires and then connect?

Any help would be very much appreciated.

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Be sure to turn the power off before working on it. Pigtailing the two wires on the left side of the switch would be the way to go, it appears they are the feed to the switches. The whites in the back are needed to complete the circuits to the lights. The pigtail would be the hot, the load would go to the other black wire on the switch. The bare wire would be ground (earth) and the white is neutral (same as the whites in back). If you are the least bit uncomfortable put some colored tape on each of the wires and take another picture that way you can always put it back. When it is all working you can remove the tape if you want.

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  • OP says "the single wire is live, and the two wires are load." Dumb switches don't care which side is hot or switched-hot, but smart switches do because it has to power the internal electronics (which is also why they need neutral, whereas dumb switches don't).
    – Fredric Shope
    Oct 7, 2022 at 14:05
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    Putting tape on to identify the wires is a very good idea. Or, simply remove one wire at a time, then attach it directly to the new switch. This way, there is never more than one (related set of) wire disconnected at any time.
    – FreeMan
    Oct 7, 2022 at 14:26
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    Thanks for the input - yes, to confirm, the two wires (that I will pigtail) are load, and the single is hot, so will connect accordingly. I'll give it a go and see if things work.
    – Alan Pollard
    Oct 7, 2022 at 20:07

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