GE CYNC Smart Light Switch, Toggle Switch Style, No Neutral Wire Required, Bluetooth and 2.4 GHz WiFi 3-Wire Switch, Works with Amazon Alexa and Google Home, White (1 Pack)

So far, so good!
I was installing this to control our porch lights. I had wanted smart switches to replace a number of existing switches in our older home. However, all of the ones I had previously reviewed required the neutral wire, which we do not have. So, I was very happy to find the GE Cync which does not need it.Installation was straightforward. Only took about 15 minutes after I figured out how the existing switch was originally wired. The switch is controlling 3 LED lights on the porch. I had no issues installing, the app worked immediately, the device was added to Google Home, and I was able to control the lights by voice, through the app, through Google Home, and of course manually flipping the switch. There are other traditional non-GE Cync switches on the circuit, and everything seems to play nicely with each other.I’m very happy at this point.Update 1/9/23:I’ve installed the second switch controlling an outside light above our garage. Initially it had a 60 watt LED and using only 5 watts, was below the 15 watt required minimum and so it was flickering. I swapped for a 300 watt equivalent, 33 watt actual, and it worked fine.I set up a scene/routine to turn the porch and outside garage lights on 30 minutes after sunset, and off a few hours later. Works with no issues whatsoever.Having seen these work, becoming more familiar and comfortable with them, understanding the benefits, I ordered another 12 GE Cync switches of various flavors and will probably add more over time. Our 1960s home has many of the original switches, and it’s wonderful that we can bring it in to the modern age without much effort, even with the old wiring.Update 1/17/23I now have 12 switches installed and working well, and more received and waiting to be installed. Since I’m doing so many of these, I thought I’d pass along lessons learned that may help others.3-way works just fine. As another comment/reply mentioned, travelers aren’t needed. By default, all lights within the same grouping will be switched on/off when any of the switches in the group is toggled. Just wire each independently and handle the 3-way functionality within the app and/or Google Home.In one bedroom, we have track lighting, where there is a power adapter/injector at one end that plugs into a wall outlet controlled by a switch. The GE Cync switch works in this configuration. Don’t plug anything else in to the outlet controlled by the switch. We originally had six 60 watt equivalent LEDs in the track lighting (8.5 watt each) and the switch did not like the configuration at all through the wall outlet. I swapped out one of the LEDs for a traditional 60 watt incandescent, and it now works fine. The incandescent and five LEDs are all 60 watt soft white and you cannot tell any difference between them at all.If you have multiple switches in one room, by default, without changing any settings, using any of them manually by hand will control all of them. If you want them to be independent, then put each in its own group within the app. Within the app, all the switches in a single room can be controlled as a group (flipping the on/off toggle) or individually (click into the room and then flip the individual light). This is the same within Google Home.If you run into trouble with flickering, try using more powerful bulbs. I believe folks are seeing this so frequently because they are using LEDs and there’s really no guarantee what they are drawing, no matter what the info/spec says on the product page – most are cheap Chinese. If you’re using the switch on a single LED bulb, be aware that it’s going to need to be 150 watt equivalent if not more to get you above the 15 watts minimum. If more powerful LEDs don’t do it for you, then fall back to a lower power incandescent. If you have one switch controlling a bunch of LEDs and have issues, then change just one of the LEDs for an incandescent and it will resolve. I did this with the track lighting previously discussed as well as another location where there were only LEDs in a string.In our kitchen, we have two switches (dual gang) which are about 4 or 5 feet from the microwave. When the microwave is used, both switches lose network connectivity.If you purchased used/like new switches, the person who returned it likely tried setting up already. Out of the box, it will likely not be in setup mode when you put power on it. Hold the button or switch in the on position for at least 10 seconds and then let go, the indicator light should then flash blue for setup mode.I have found QA to be iffy. I’ve successfully installed 12 so far. I’ve returned 3. Two were “Used Very Good” and were defective. This was no fault of Amazons since these were from third-party sellers on the site. The third that was returned was new out of the box and electrically would not power the lights. So, keep this in mind, as there are lots of used ones and this should alert you to the fact that folks are returning many of these for one reason or another. Also, factor this in when you purchase – depending on the price differential, for a few extra dollars it may save hassles and headaches if you just buy new.DW ordered some Kasa smart plugs. I told her to give them to friends or family, I’ll buy the GEs so we can have it integrated with the GE app.We continue to be very happy with all of it thus far.Update 1/25/23We now have over 20 devices installed and doing well. For those asking if the switches work with fluorescent bulbs – yes, for me it is. In my garage, we have four sets of four four foot fluorescent tube bulbs – ceiling mounted shop lamps. I was unsure if the GE Cync switch would work, but I decided to try. One thing to be aware of – depending on the ballast, it may or may not work well. On three of our four sets, the switch worked fine. However on the fourth set it was making some percolating sounds and kind of flickering. I realized that a few years ago on the three working sets I had replaced the 40 year old magnetic ballasts with newer GE electronic ballasts. The fourth set still had the old magnetic ballasts. I had the replacements, just never got around to replacing. So, I took 30 minutes, replaced the old heavyweight magnetic ballasts and then all four sets work fine together on the one paddle switch. Additionally, with the fourth set, the bulbs appeared to be dim and kind of burned out. It’s now nearly impossible to get fluorescent tube bulbs. My local hardware store had LED drop in replacements, so I gave them a try, and they worked great in the shop lamps with the new ballasts as well as with the switch. No problems.

One of the few truly solid no-neutral switches
I’ve tried every brand of switch, outside of the wildly unknown, and found each of the paddle switches annoying. First, it is just a push button covered by a ‘paddle’ hinged at the top. Secondly, they’ve all been constructed of too cheap a plastic to the point they make noise, and have a spring action that is … not right. None have managed to hold a consistent wifi connection when placed in the somewhat tight area between the wall and refrigerator. In fact, each has failed to some degree regardless of location. The no-neutral isn’t exactly a complicated issue to get around, but it seems all but Lutron, Leviton and GE put much effort into it.GE CYNC Smart Light Switch On/Off Paddle Style, No Neutral Wire: installed in 7 mins, no issues, silent, holds wifi, and best of all … far superior construction, feel and action than the others. It may have a better feel than the Leviton paddle-rocker even tho the Leviton does actually rock.Bottom Line: While the no-neutral device selection is limited – If installing a no-neutral smart switch, I’ve found the extra $15 to grab Lutron, GE or Leviton an absolute no-brainer. Smart setups are wicked sweet handy and worth it when functioning, but if not always rock solid … not so much.

Para focos de LED hay que tomar en cuenta una carga mínima de 15 watts de lo contrario los focos LED encienden con un parpadeo constante, por lo que investigue, es un requisito de carga mínima recomendado por el fabricante, en mi caso puse un foco fluorescente de 19 Watts en una sección del circuito y las 3 luces LED en serie con el anterior y con esto los LED ya funcionan correctamente.

I was expecting better from GE. The device was easy to install but this is about it. Once installed I had a problem with flashing lights. Not the light on the switch but the ceiling light. Even the bulb adapter couldn’t fix the problem. Turned out that I have to use the exact same brand bulbs (I use LED) on all tree receptacles. I downloaded the software from GE and started the setup. It took forever for the phone to find the switch. Once it did things went well, for the first time at least. Once the switch was connected to the phone things started going stupid. The switch would turn the lights off for a second and then back on. When this happened the first time, the light that surround the switch changed from white to red and stayed red. The light continued to go on and off at regular interval without any input from me. Turning the switch off, waiting a few seconds, and then turning it back on didn’t do anything about the problem. The lights will stay on for a while and then go off for a second and back on again. This process happened 5 times when I was in the room.Trying to get Alexa or Google to control the unit was an exercise in futility at best. The procedure in trying to connect the unit to Google went well until I got to the place where I was asked to enter the login ID and password for the C by GE software. The site boldly refused to accept the login info, claiming that the account did not exist. The box the switch came in does indeed display that it is supposed to work with Google Assistant but getting it to connect with google is an entirely different story.Once the pairing was aborted I needed to reset the switch and start the procedure all over again. This turned out to be nothing short of a nightmare. The phone could not connect to the switch through bluetooth and many reset were required. After many hours of fooling around with this switch I ended out having to completely delete both the room and device from the C by GE app and starting all over again. Eventually I got the switch to be recognised by the C by GE app.Trying to connect the switch to Alexa was no picnic either. The instructions provided by GE were nothing more than totally erroneous. GE must not have been speaking about the same Alexa app that the Google store has because the instructions at the beginning were directing me to steps that were non existent on the app. Through trying various options I ended out where they wanted me to go and got Alexa to recognise the switch.As soon as I get myself a motion sensor switch I will return this one. I grew up trusting GE but not anymore. This item is total junk.