I’m ready to begin wiring in the ToggleLinc for the porch lights and reconnect the 2nd light switch for the interior light in the double gang box.

Ground Wire Connections

I begin by making the grounding wire connections:

1. The NM 14/2 ground wires from the house wiring are twisted together with a 6 inch pigtail for the 2nd light switch.
2. The ToggleLinc braided ground wire is added to the bundle.

ToggleLinc - Ground Wire Connections

The ground wires are held securely with a wire nut. Notice the ground wire pigtail to the right – this is for the 2nd light switch.

Wire Nut on the Ground Wire Connections

Rewiring the 2nd Light Switch

The 2nd light switch is rewired correctly. What you see here is:

• A pigtail is made from a 6 inch length of black wire and twisted to the black line wire. A wire nut will be added in the following steps.
• The black wire pigtail is back wired to the standard light switch.
• The black load wire (to the lights) is back wired to the light switch.
• The ground wire pigtail is attached to the green ground screw of the light switch.

2nd Light Switch Wired Correctly

ToggleLinc Line Wire

In the next photo, the black “Line” wire from the ToggleLinc is nutted to black line wire from the house. Note that the 2nd light switch is powered by black wire pigtail. This is the correct way to wire the switches.

Line Side (Black) Wire Connections

ToggleLinc Load (Red) and White (Neutral) Wires

The white (neutral) wire from the ToggleLinc is wire nutted to the NM 14/2 wire bundle from the house wiring. The red (load) wire from the ToggleLinc is nutted to the black load wire going to the porch lights. All wiring connections are now complete.

ToggleLinc and Standard Light Switch Wiring Completed

Folding Wires and Installing the Light Switches

The standard light switch for the interior lights doesn’t take up much room inside the electrical box, so it is screwed in first. The wires are gently pressed and folded into the electrical box.

Mounting the Switches

The remaining wires are pressed and folded into the box to make room the ToggleLinc switch.

Wires Folded into the Electrical Box

The ToggleLinc is mounted by two screws like a standard light switch.

ToggleLinc Mounted to the Electrical Box

The switch plate cover is reattached with four screws. The circuit breaker is turned on and the switches are checked for proper operation of the lights. The LED is illuminated when the switch is OFF. Notice how the ToggleLinc switch sits in the center position. It toggles, or clicks like a mouse momentarily when the switch is thrown, returning the center position.

ToggleLinc is now Operational

At this point you can begin “linking” devices by pressing and holding the Set Button. The product page with Quick Start and Owner’s Manual are on the SmartHome product page.

Next Steps

For my home automation project, I will use the ISY-99i home automation controller to integrate an Insteon wireless Motion Sensor to control the outside porch lights with some nifty user friendly features.

Take care,

Bob Jackson

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The Insteon® technology by SmartLabs® uses the existing 120VAC electrical wiring in the home and radio-frequency communication for reliable control of intelligent relays, switches and sensors to control lights, applicances, motors and other things around the house. Insteon is similar in concept to the X10 power-line communication technology and is compatible with X10, but has several reliability advantages.

This How To Guide covers the installation of an Insteon ToggleLinc™ 2466SW light switch relay to control the porch lights. The porch lights will be integrated with an programmable controller and Insteon motion sensor.

Insteon ToggleLinc 2466SW Relay

A Word of Caution!

Working with 120VAC electricity can kill or maim you, burn down the house or deliver an electrical shock that you’ll never forget! If you haven’t studied home electrical wiring, lack a solid knowledge of the electrical building code regulations and don’t know what you are doing, then stop! Hire a professional electrician!

ToggleLinc Relay

I chose a the Insteon ToggleLinc Relay (non-dimming) to control the front porch lights. The ToggleLinc replaces a standard on/off light switch, but operates like a computer mouse in that the toggle switch momentarily clicks on and off, returning the center position by spring action. The ToggleLinc can generate single and double-click events that can be used for advanced features that I’ll explain in future postings.

Referring the above photo, what you receive in the product box is a ToggleLinc switch, Quick Start Guide and wire-nuts. The installation instructions in the Quick Start Guide are very well written.

The ToggleLinc is study and well made. The face and sides of the ToggleLinc are metal, the back is clear plastic – you can see the electronics inside as shown here. The white (neutral) and black (hot) wires are connected to the house wiring like a traditional light switch. The red wire (load) is connected to the porch lights black (hot) wire such that the ToggleLinc can control the lights.

ToggleLinc Relay Switch - rear view

Replacing a Standard Light Switch with a ToggleLinc

First – shut off the power for the circuit by turning off the circuit breaker at the main electrical panel. A simple way to find the right circuit breaker is to turn on the porch light and have an assistant watch the light as you turn off the circuit breakers.

The switch for the porch lights (right side) is adjacent to an interior light switch in the same wall box.

Standard Light Switches

Removing the four switch plate cover screws reveals the two light switches in a double gang electrical box.

Switch Plate Removed

You cannot tell if a wire is hot by looking at it, so I always double check the circuit is dead (i.e. no power) with a voltage detector. The Greenlee GT-11 voltage detector is a nice tool – it beeps and flashes red when voltage is present. The GT-11 costs about $15 at Lowes.

Verifying the Circuit is Dead with a Voltage Detector

Remove the two screws for the light switch and pull it gently out of the electrical box. What the hey!? There’s an obvious problem here, the numbnut “contractor grade” electrician who installed the light switch wired it improperly. He should have used a wire nut and pigtail, but instead ran the hot wire to the 2nd light switch (red dots) from the terminal of 1st switch.

Removing the Porch Light Switch

OK – to correct the wiring I pull the 2nd light switch and see more shoddy, if not hazardous work! Look at the bare copper wire exposed on the back wiring noted by the red arrows! This is begging for an electrical short.

Improper Wiring Job on many points!

To release a back wired connection, insert a small screwdriver into the slot and pull the wire out. Wow! The wire lead is about twice as long as it should be! (See photo below). Whoever wired this switch should be fired! I’ve worked on several switches in the house and haven’t seen a job done this poorly.

Release the Back Wires - Much too long!

Next, the line side wire to the porch light switch is released. Oh my goodness! The guy who did this really sucked! He stripped the line wire insulation in mid-span and looped it under the screw terminal (see red box). Worse, the screw was loose!

What a bad wiring job!

Having removed both light switches, I rewire things correctly by trimming the wires to length. The first cut is at the mid-span of the line side wire.

Trimming the Line Side Wire

The remaining wires are trimmed to length, or about 6 inches in length.

Wires Trimmed to Proper Length

The correct way to wire a light switch is to use the strip gauge on the back of switch. Here the wire is stripped and cut to the length shown on the strip gauge.

Checking the Strip Gauge

After stripping insulation from the black wires, I had my assistant turn on the circuit breaker briefly to verify the line side (main power supply) wire because I didn’t trust anything the original electrician had done here. The voltage detector confirmed this center wire is the line side and the other two black wires were dead – these being the load side wires to the lights. The circuit breaker was turned off and I confirmed the line wire was dead.

Verifying the Line Side Wire

This guide is continued in Part 2.

Thanks for reading,

Bob Jackson

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