How to wire a 3-way decora leviton motion sensor switch?

Question

I want to replace one of the two 3-way switch that's in my laundry room. I have the Decora D0S05 model switch: PDF instructions here

The issue though is that the switches beside it is linking up the black wires with it too. My motion sensor has 5 wires:

• ground
• ground/neutral
• black (line/load)
• black (line/load)
• red/yellow (typically counted as a traveler)

The middle black wire is where the power is coming from, if I disconnect it to the left black wire, the garage light does not turn on.

Closer look with the two switches on either end of the wiring of the first box.

Within the second 3-way switch's box -- there is one other switch that borrows power (it's confirmed because if I turn off the breaker, the 3rd switch can still turn on its set of lights).

I have it to the point where it can periodically have light, but it turns off right away. It does not actually detect motion as it would have this faint red light when motion is detected. Please help...

Answer 1

Switch spurs

The setup you have, where always-hot (power) and switched-hot (the light) are both brought to the same switch box in separate cables, is what I call a three-way switch spur. As a result of this, you're limited in where your motion sensor can be placed by the fact you only have 3 wires between the two switch boxes. Fortunately, though, since you're putting the motion sensor at the first switch box, it shouldn't be too much of a challenge wiring this into your 3 way circuit.

To hook it up correctly, as per the instructions:

• Remove the green sleeve from the white wire on the motion sensor and connect it in with the bundle of white wires in the first switch box. Do not separate this bundle!
• Connect the green/yellow grounding wire on the motion sensor to the bundle of bare grounding wires in the first switch box.
• Connect the red and white wires from the cable over to the second box to the black incoming hot wire, one of the black line/load wires on the motion sensor, and the two black pigtails off to the other two switches in the first box. This wires up the two same-colored terminals on the switch in the second box.
• Connect the black wire in the cable to the second box to the red/yellow traveler wire on the motion sensor. This wires up the differently-colored terminal on the switch in the second box.
• Connect the remaining black wire on the switch to the black load wire off to the light
• Button everything up and turn the breaker on
• Make sure the light works properly from the pushpad on the motion sensor, then program the motion sensor to work the way you want it as per the instructions.