I would assume they only use 1 traveler and a neutral. The auxiliary switches are usually just resistors on a switch that communicate with the ‘main’ zwave switch over the traveler line. The main switch senses resistance on the traveler line and reacts. So you don’t end up having 2 zwave switches, only 1.
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Yeah it’s kind of odd I guess. My current 4-way switch by the TV where the load is, has no hot wire or using the travelers. It only has two traveler wires and neutrals in the wall. Not to mention currently if I turn off the light switch by the TV the other switches do not function.
By the way, this was my concept. So in theory unless someone says otherwise, I will need to run a neutral to the right/kitchen side. Then will probably have to reuse one of the travelers in the kitchen as a hot wire for the TV far switch. Or run one from the middle switch to the TV switch. Note I have 100% conduit everywhere but lot of curves and decent amount of wiring in the conduit already.
If i remember correctly, I had to re purpose traveler lines when I switched my 4 way over. And it was complicated. I had to find the ‘main’ switch. I.E. The switch with the line, load, neutral, and ground for the whole 4 way circuit. Then, once I found that, I changed 1 traveler to be the load, and 1 traveler remained the same but it had to be put in-parallel with each auxiliary switch instead of in-series.
EDIT: I should clarify that O is load in the second diagram.
Yes, that diagram is essentially the same as my shitty diagram. And that’s essentially what I did.
yeah, we typically try to use those colors for 480v/3ph but only for 3ph loads (motors) but it’s not really a hard and fast rule.
But there are differences between industrial & residential too. Normally residential installations don’t have 480v available so the “brown, orange, yellow for 480v” won’t apply.
In your case since you have conduit everywhere they could (or at least did) use single strand wire (not a pre-bundled Romex) so I think that allows them more “flexibility” on what they use. However I still really don’t like the seeming lack of standardization in your wiring. But from the pictures/description it’s really hard to figure out where everything goes so there may, in fact, be a standard that they used that’s not readily apparent.
While true, if instructions say black is load/hot, red is traveler, white is neutral, and green ground I’d want to beat my electrician for putting in other colors 
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I completely agree and I think I’ve made that pretty clear already!
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OK so couple things:
- So we think my design is OK it sounds?
- If I can replace the wiring will probably do that as long as I can pull them thru without getting stuck. I just ordered a thinner pull line https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0026TA6RK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1 so hopefully that will allow me to pull it thru and if I can then can replace the wires. If I can also see movement on one end by pulling the other can always pull new wiring thru using the existing wire.
Like I mentioned, the neutral by the line area in the kitchen may be an issue but will have to see if I have an outlet or something on the same circuit I can pull from. If not maybe can do something with the neutral in the middle wall.
if your wiring is as you show in the picture you posted it should work. the messy pictures and complicated descriptions don’t give me any comfort in how things actually are so i can’t tell you things won’t blow up when you first turn the breaker back on tho. 
Make absolutely sure you replace the wire with the same gauge as the wire that is already there. Wiring gauges have different load ratings depending on if they are running in a wall, in conduit or in free air and also based on the supply breaker ratings. (Hopefully…) the electrician sized the wires correctly based on your specific circumstances so I wouldn’t change that at all.
you also need to be careful and not potentially overload that neutral wire since it is also a current carrying conductor it still needs to be fully protected from overload by a properly sized breaker. the breaker itself only sees the power going to the hot wire. It doesn’t see the potential that a neutral might be carrying current from two different hot supplies so you could put yourself into a situation where your neutral might be carrying up to twice the current as it’s rated for and the two supply breakers will continue supplying that current until the wire burns up…
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There you go. So the circuit is 20 amp but besides the 9 cans in my family room it also powers my garage, basement, and hallway. When I look at the wiring, there is a combination of 12AWG and 14AWG. So technically it is not properly sized right now. Like the kitchen has 12AWG yellow wire but the brown wire connected to it is 14AWG. Well, I guess if they assume for a given room you aren’t going to exceed 15 amps then a 14AWG wire is OK but I would think either way using 12AWG wire on a 15 or 20 amp circuit would be OK where using 14AWG wire on a 20 amp circuit wouldn’t.
Right now those neutrals are completely unused so thinking that wouldn’t be an issue.
Also sorry if my description was confusing, tried to explain my setup but know that can be a challenge to describe thru a forum.
One thing I would like to get opinions on. The GE smart switches show no hot connection other than the switch tied to the line wire. They also say you can go without a neutral on the switch tied directly to the line closest to the circuit box. I’m guessing this is not the case with Leviton?
that’s pretty normal. Usually plugs on a 20 amp circuit are 12g and lighting is 14g. EDIT: and it’s not against code in my state.
Here’s what’s weird. I took a second look at the diagram from Leviton or maybe it’s new who knows now that I have the switches. Put one in a single pole and that worked out well. I am going to now move to a 3-way switch and then to my 4-way. What I find odd is the below:
So if you look at the part I highlighted, it shows the hot wire going into that terminal plus one of the travelers. But in the diagram under the “picture” of the switches, it just shows a wire going in from the hot connection and that’s it. If you go back to the picture of the switches they then show the traveler goes into the BK connector on the actual dimmer switch and the hot goes to RD on the dimmer. But the diagram doesn’t show that.
I’d go by that wiring diagram. It seems like it’s a different device and it requires different wiring setup from mine.
Yeah that’s my plan. Not to mention my dimmer is where the line comes in and the load goes out to. The “matching remote” as they call it has nothing coming in or out other than wires coming from the primary switch. That’s kind of why I’m going to assuming the wiring diagram is accurate and the device pictures aren’t as in the secondary box I only have two travelers from the main switch and power coming in from the main switch. Nothing else routing in or out. So was going to use one of the two travelers as a neutral from the other box. The way the switch picture shows you need both neutrals, and with the bottom diagram you only need the one from YL/RD to YL/RD.
there’s nothing odd about the pictures that I can see.
The first is a wiring diagram. It shows how the wiring should (could…) be physically laid out and connected.
The second is a schematic diagram. It shows you how the circuit is electrically connected.
the two red boxes below (your original and my addition) show the same thing conceptually. the big black dots in the second drawing denote an electrically equivalent potential/connection. It just so happens in the real world that connection point is on the BK terminal of the switch. You can translate anywhere there is a black dot as it being a wire nut or device terminal point.
Thanks for the info. Talked with Leviton and they felt my diagram was good. That said, I deviated slightly from what i put above now. Since I am currently short of wires in two areas:
- At the switch in the kitchen I am missing a neutral.
- At the switch by the TV I am missing HOT
But I have two travelers and from the 3-way I just completed elsewhere in the house, you only need one traveler though sounds like Leviton considers a “traveler” any hot or whatever that connects from switch to switch.
- I will take the kitchen traveler 1 wire and at the mid point connect that one to the neutral in that middle box
- I will take the other half of that traveler 1 wire from the TV area and at the mid point connect that to HOT.
So kind of like this:
At least that’s my theory. Originally I was thinking the hot and white wires all had to be on the same physical wire, but now thinking they just should be on the same circuit. So as long as “a” wire goes from one switch to another connection on the same circuit this should work. So in other words, Do not need Traveler 1 to be just a hot or just a neutral across the entire 4-way.
are the middle switch and the right switch powered from the same supply breaker in the box?
Also do yourself and the next person a favor and wrap some white electrical tape around both ends of that “traveler 1” wire going between the middle switch and the right switch to denote that’s a neutral wire. And also put some black electrical tape on both ends of “traveler 1” going between the middle switch and the left switch to denote it’s a hot wire.
Yes, when I turn off a single breaker all the switch boxes and everything in them (middle has two switches) show no power on any of the wires. Also thanks for the note on identification. I did that with the 3-way so will do the same here.
OK, then it looks like you should be OK doing what you have in the drawing.