MOES no nuetral/no capacitor switch with 0 draw issue

Hardware
1

Hi, I'm sorry if this isn't the right place but I saw someone else post about something similar a few years ago and I'm having a bit of a problem with a MOES single gang zigbee switch.

TDLR/the question- will a capacitor supplied by MOES, installed in the first electrical outlet after the switch, make a MOES single gang zigbee switch function properly with 0 load?
Like if nothing was plugged into the outlet and I was just looking at the switch lighting.

The background:
I converted part of my basement into a wood working shop. Had an air compressor in the HVAC closet hooked up to a normal light switch on the outside of the closet.
The air compressor will run if the tank isn't full or once it gets below a certain level.
Because it isn't constantly on, it was easy to forget about it when turning stuff off for the night. It drains/leaks slowly. So a few hrs later when we're all nice and cozy in bed, the compressor kicks on annnd off to the basement I go.
Smart switch hooked up to Alexa makes saying "Alexa, turn off the air compressor" so much better than treking to the basement at midnight.
The problem is, I had no idea of the min load requirement. Apparently when the tank is full the compressor stops and there is 0 draw. So the switch turns off and stops working until the tank is low enough that it would start compressing.
What's weird is that the third night after installing it, the exact senario I bought it for happened. So at one point it worked.
However, now when using the compressor actively, it'll run properly until a full tank. Compressor cuts, the smart switch dies and turns off.
I use the tank, it gets below the cut off and nothing. The smart switch is responsive but it comes back in an off default. So the compressor recives no power. I then would have to continuously check the pressure.
Right now I have an extension cord with 5 night lights hooked to it on the other plug in the 2 socket outlet but that's not an acceptable long-term solution.

I'm here asking if a capacitor would work bc there's a post from 2 yrs ago saying it should help. However, I spent 2 days getting dicked around being told by the moes offical ebay seller that basically the switch is designed not to need a nuetral or capacitor and they've not explicitly refused to send me some, but basically keep reiterating that it doesn't need them.

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2

Almost all smart relays are designed for resistive loads, a compressor is a significant inductive load. It's definitely possible that it worked at one point but some part of the device has been damaged because it lacks the proper protections to handle an inductive load.

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3

It really doesn't. That screenshot you posted refers to light switches, which typically have no Neutral available. That's when you need the capacitor hooked up between L1 & N so it draws enough parasitic power to keep the device on.

What you have is a power outlet which does have a Neutral. A capacitor won't help with that since you want something on the output, like a dummy load.

Did you, or did you not hook up a Neutral to the Moes? If you did & it's not working correctly, then you might have knackered it, like @Didgeridrew said.

4

Huh.
So, I'm 100% positve that as I say what I did, I'm the idiot. So plz just know, that I know I'm the idiot here.
The shop area was 1/2 the basement that was unfinished, the other half was finished by a previous owner.

A buddy of mine is an old school jouneyman electrician. He helped me wire 2 additional circuits into the panel across the basement and run the cables to the workshop area.

I initiay had no plans for a smart switch. I only thought of it after the 4th or 5th time in 2 weeks that I was trecking to the basement at 1 am.

We originally wired the switch for an old school flip switch that didn't need a N. So I just moved the wires on each pole over after pigtailing them.

I (idiodically) thought the N was another wire that had to have been run seperatly. It's literally just a normal N white.

So in this room where we ran 3 cables (I forget the name of the cable but it was 3 together) I do have a N cable and I just need to plug it in. Right?
The N I plug into the switch would be coming from the braker or going to the outlet? I figure to the outlet bc thats where the capacitor wod go but I'm not sure.

5

Based on your reply, all I'm going to recommend is that you ask your friend (or a suitably qualified electrician) to come over & show them the wiring diagram on the manual. They'll know what to do.

Not gonna risk anything beyond that, sorry.

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