3-way HAI switch seems to have gone bad - help needed

[bodonnell]

Couple things here. You're likely looking at a "remote" switch from your description as one of the other posters mentioned. I'm pretty sure Leviton and/or HAI had these available, I know PCS does. They're a hard wired remote switch that connects to the yellow wire. Its helpful if you specify the brand and part number of the switch. The first thing you might want to look at is how those connections are in the boxes in the wall. Are the wire nuts tight. ITs possible they're just worn out or damaged. I have my clients put a full house surge suppressor in as a prerequisite for an automation install. ITs not a guarantee, but its silly to install thousands or tens of thousands of dollars of electronic equipment and have it exposed "naked" on the grid. Back to your question - you have access to turn the lights on/off - that's good. At least "something" works. Just troubleshoot what doesn't. I would look at the physical connections of all 3 switches. Make sure you or someone else hasn't put a sheetrock screw through a wire recently causing an issue. Then, failing that, I would find replacement switches (remotes) on eBay or one of the distributor sites. I wouldn't "cross-pollinate" - stick with the same part number/manufacturer or replace all 3 with a newer part. Stick with new products. A 15 year old switch in a box works just as well today as it did 15 years ago. NOS (New Old Stock) is a great way to save money. If you report back your findings I'll try to follow up, though I'm not on here a lot.

 

[ano]

Its not very likely that it just "fixed itself." You probably had a device that generated lots of UPB noise and that prevented it from working. When that noise source was off or changed, things work again. Could be a microwave oven (Panasonic), plasma tv, variable speed motor, or UPS power supply. UPB can be like that.

I don't think the OP had any remote switches from the description of them. Their LEDs work differently, for one thing.

 

[bodonnell]

Very good point, ano - UPB noise could indeed be the culprit or a factor. Another major source of interference I see is electric vehicle chargers. I have one high output one that has taken out a UPB active repeater a couple of times with one client.

 

[ano]

Very good point, ano - UPB noise could indeed be the culprit or a factor. Another major source of interference I see is electric vehicle chargers. I have one high output one that has taken out a UPB active repeater a couple of times with one client.

That's a real good point. UPB works by creating positive and negative voltage spikes, so you can have two problems. First, anything that filters out the spikes can cause problems, or second, anything that creates its own spikes can cause problems. Things that control large loads on and off at fast rates, EV chargers, variable speed motors and ACs, and other things like that. If you have a noise like that, you can filter it out between the noise source and the UPB network.