Wiring colors wrong... help!

Or at least outdated. Or at least, I'm very confused.

Installing an Evolve Z-wave switch to control some outdoor security lights. Removed the old switch to find the following wires:
White - appears to be hot, tests at 120v
Red
Black
Bare - obviously the ground.

The poor installation of the box itself leads me to suspect it was a questionable install by the previous occupant. Now, the switch uses black for line voltage, blue for the load, and white for neutral. Since white is hot in the box, I don't know whether red or black is the neutral, and I've tried both configurations with no success. I can hear the switch clicking and tell that it is applying the voltage, but the lights are not coming on. Help?

Is this switch part of a 3-way switch configuration?  A clue would be that the black, red and white wires were all connected to the old switch.
 
If so, depending on how things are wired, there may not be a neutral in this box, just a hot and two travelers. A proper installation would have marked the white wire with black tape to indicate that it is not a neutral. 

RAL,

To our knowledge, it is not a three way, but we've only been in the house for a few months, so it's possible we've overlooked another switch. How would I go about testing that?

Edit: forgot to mention, yes, all three wires were connected to the old switch. Does that mean it's a three-way? If one of them was a neutral, wouldn't it also be connected?

But assuming you're right and it's a three way switch, I can order the three-way Z-wave version tomorrow, but then I have to figure out what to do about a neutral. Any suggestions where to start? Surely I cant be the first one to deal with this situation...

Was the old switch a conventional "dumb" switch (i.e. not X10, UPB, Zwave)?  And were all 3 colored wires connected to the old switch?  Is this 3-wire cable the only one coming into the switch box?
 
If it was a dumb switch and all 3 wires were connected to it, that would make it pretty certain that this is a 3-way circuit.
 
 
If one of the wires was just capped off and not connected to anything, and only 2 colored wires went to the old switch,  then it probably is not a 3-way and that wire could be the neutral.   In that case, if you use a multimeter to measure the resistance between that wire and the ground wire, you should see something very close to 0 Ohms if it is indeed the neutral.  If you make this measurement, be sure to do it with the circuit breaker turned off!

Sometimes you can get strange voltage readings. If the load is still in the light fixture being controlled.

RagnarD said:

Or at least outdated. Or at least, I'm very confused.

Installing an Evolve Z-wave switch to control some outdoor security lights. Removed the old switch to find the following wires:
White - appears to be hot, tests at 120v
Red
Black
Bare - obviously the ground.

The poor installation of the box itself leads me to suspect it was a questionable install by the previous occupant. Now, the switch uses black for line voltage, blue for the load, and white for neutral. Since white is hot in the box, I don't know whether red or black is the neutral, and I've tried both configurations with no success. I can hear the switch clicking and tell that it is applying the voltage, but the lights are not coming on. Help?

Click to expand...

 
Here is a link explaining how a three way switch works that may help
 
http://www.instructables.com/id/Three-Way-and-Four-Way-Switches-How-They-Work/
 
Mike.
Mike.

I would also open up the box for the light and investigate there.   You said "security lights" if these are motion detector floods it may have multiple wires going to it, one for switching it on and one to provide power for motion. 
 
If these are motion lights you may not be able to use a zwave switch to control them.