Following as I am looking for the answer for basically an identical setup.
this post was submitted on 27 Oct 2023
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Home Automation
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It is automation of the home, housework or household activity.
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What switch look are you trying to preserve?
What you have diagrammed is called a 4-way switch. There used to be a Z-Wave dimming microswitch that could be controlled with standard toggle On/Off switches. They may still be available, but I don't have that information. But, the dimming behavior of these microdimmers was not intuitive and I never cared for them. You used to have to flip the toggle switch On, and it would ramp up until you flipped the Switch Off again. To turn the light Off, you had to ramp it up past 100%, where it would then shut off.
There are a few modern day Z-Wave dimmers that are capable of 4-way installations.
There is also the option to use any Z-Wave dimmer and two additional wireless scene controller switches. These can be wired, for power, or battery operated. They are Grouped with the main dimmer and then any of the three switches can turn the light On/Off or dim it Up/Down. For example, 1 GoControl D500Z5-1 Dimmer and 2 GoControl WD00Z5-1 Scene controller switches.
You would need to reconfigure the current wiring, but you already have everything you need in the walls/boxes. Here's a wiring diagram.
Thank you! I will look into these. I was kind of hoping I wouldn’t need to change switches, but I just have to swallow that pill
I'd recommend the 'shelly' brand. They have a solution for everything.
A little more info now I've fully read your post: You have several options. If you have a permanent L and N at the light, you can just fit one Shelly there, and use the switch wire as a trigger.
If you only have a N at the light, and you only have an L at the first switch, you'll need 4x Shelly's. You'd join the L all the way to the lamp, and join the N all the way to the first switch. Then you'd have a permanent supply at each switch plus the light. Fit a Shelly behind each switch, and connect the switch to it's inputs. Fit a Shelly at the light, and connect the light to it's output.
Then you need to connect all Shellys together via wifi. You can either do this directly (device to device) or you can do it via the home wifi.
The function of each switch could be individually controlled, and the light can be switched on/off via app, timer, smart home system etc.