Honeywell 3 way smart switch

[Esprs0mart1ni]

My grandparents are getting into this whole "smart home" thing, and I'm trying to help them out.

They have a light in the stairwell that's controlled by a switch at the top and another at the bottom. They really just want to be able to turn it on and off with their phone.
I hooked up a couple of their other lights with some Honeywell smart switches, and it was super easy since they connected right to their Vivant system.
But my understanding is that a 3 way setup like this is different. Even if we only want one of the switches to be "smart," we still need a special kind of switch, right?

Do I just need to get one of those Honeywell 3 way switches and wire it up, or do I need to do something to the other switch too?
Also any specific Honeywell models I should look for to make sure they work with Vivant?

 

[terryson]

Yeah, you'll need the Honeywell 3 way kit, the smart switch plus the companion switch for the other end. You can't just drop in a single smart switch and leave the old one, it won't play nice. Check that the model is Z wave compatible by the way since that's what vivint uses

 

[vic-hop]

My grandparents are getting into this whole "smart home" thing, and I'm trying to help them out.

They have a light in the stairwell that's controlled by a switch at the top and another at the bottom. They really just want to be able to turn it on and off with their phone.
I hooked up a couple of their other lights with some Honeywell smart switches, and it was super easy since they connected right to their Vivant system.
But my understanding is that a 3 way setup like this is different. Even if we only want one of the switches to be "smart," we still need a special kind of switch, right?

Do I just need to get one of those Honeywell 3 way switches and wire it up, or do I need to do something to the other switch too?
Also any specific Honeywell models I should look for to make sure they work with Vivant?

Make sure both switch boxes have the right wires, mainly a neutral wire, for most smart switches to work. If there's no neutral wire, try no-neutral switches. Just so you know, they aren't Z-Wave and might not link to Vivint as easily.

 

[Dailan_Xaldin]

For your grandparents, keep it simple: get the Honeywell smart 3-way kit (master + aux). Install the master in the box with line + neutral, put the aux in the other spot, pair it to Vivint, done. If you try to Frankenstein a regular switch with a smart one, you’ll both be chasing ghosts every time they flip the wrong end.