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I have a Legrand (Pass & Seymour H703P) dimmer that I installed in a 4 way circuit. This dimmer has its common connected to the line so it's 1st in the circuit line and not in the middle or end. This dimmer also has a green indicator light that goes ON when the lights are off and goes OFF when the lights are on.

Why does the indicator light on the switch only go dim when the lights are on as opposed to going completely off? The other 2 toggle switches work perfectly as does the dimmer itself in the grand scheme of things but just the green indicator on the dimmer has me concerned with only going dim when on and not completely off.

I have this same dimmer on another circuit but it's a 3 way circuit and it works like it should with the indicator light off when the lights are on. Is this because it's on a 4 way circuit and that it is expected to be dim when on?

Thanks in advance.

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  • Can you describe how the switch is connected, as well as how the rest of the circuit is wired?
    – Tester101
    Dec 17, 2015 at 19:15
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    Sure. The switch is connected as such: Ground to ground, common to line (power), one traveler wire connected to the 3-way switch screw and the other traveler wire connected to the other 3-way switch screw. I've also tried reversing the traveler wires and still same result. There was a 3 way toggle switch that was there before I swapped it for this dimmer. As for the rest of the circuit, the other 2 switches appears to be a 3-way and a 4-way (in the middle of the circuit). Does that help? Thanks again.
    – Chris T.
    Dec 17, 2015 at 23:26
  • What is the load? Incandescent, dimmable led? Are they the same with both switches? Can you swap them if they're different?
    – TomG
    Jul 16, 2016 at 13:39

2 Answers 2

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3/4 way switch systems have a 3-way on each end and 4-ways in the middle. As long as the smart switch is on a end (a 3-way position), it cannot possibly know there are 4-ways involved. So a simple mechanical 4-way inline is not a factor and can be disregarded.

When using dimmers, motion sensors, lighted switch, or any sort of powered switch, those absolutely do not support LEDs ... unless they do. And when they do, there are conditions and rules. So when chasing this kind of problem, it's best to divide and conquer: go back to incandescents until the problem is sorted out, then handle the "making LEDs work here" problem.

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It sounds like the dimmer isn't calibrated for full on and therefore dropping some small amount of voltage that causes the LED to glow.

An LED can light with as little as 1.7 volts.

Check all your connections for tightness and then recalibrate the dimmer if you don't find anything loose.

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  • Thanks for the response. I think this dimmer is self-calibrating. I'll check the connections again but would should I only be concerned with the connections on the dimmer or should I check the connections on all 3 switches?
    – Chris T.
    Dec 18, 2015 at 2:34
  • Well, I always start with the easy stuff and move to the more difficult. You should eventually check everything that was changed from the time it was working the way you wanted it to. Anything that was changed is immediately suspect. Then move to things that weren't changed but are part of the circuit. One thought is that it may have something to to with the fact that you have a 4-way switch in this circuit and none in the other circuit that works fine.
    – ArchonOSX
    Dec 18, 2015 at 10:56

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