Smart switch with functionalities determined based on a grounded conductor connection

1 . An apparatus, comprising:

at least three electrical terminals including a first electrical terminal, the first electrical terminal being a ground electrical terminal configured to connect to a grounded conductor and transmit a first portion of electricity received from an ungrounded conductor to the grounded conductor in response to a connection of the ground electrical terminal to the grounded conductor;

an electrical switching device configured to generate a conductive electrical path between two of the at least three electrical terminals in response to actuation of the electrical switching device;

an actuator device;

a dimmer switch;

a memory; and

at least one processor coupled to the memory and configured to, in response to determining that a second electrical terminal of the at least three electrical terminals is not connected to the grounded conductor, perform operations comprising:

in response to determining that the ground electrical terminal is connected to the grounded conductor, generating a first control signal configured to instruct the actuator device to permit a performance of a dimmer switch modification function,

generating a second control signal configured to instruct another apparatus to perform the dimmer switch modification function, and

transmitting, using a communications device coupled to the other apparatus, the second control signal to the other apparatus.

2 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the other apparatus is one of:

an alternating current (AC) controlling device;

a media device;

a remote control; or

a user device.

3 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the ungrounded conductor is a line wire; and

the grounded conductor is a neutral wire.

4 . The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein:

the apparatus comprises the communications device.

5 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by at least one processor of an alternating current (AC) controlling device, causes the AC controlling device to perform operations,

wherein the AC controlling device comprises:

at least three electrical terminals including a first electrical terminal, the first electrical terminal being a ground electrical terminal configured to connect to a grounded conductor and transmit a first portion of electricity received from an ungrounded conductor to the grounded conductor in response to a connection of the ground electrical terminal to the grounded conductor;

an electrical switching device configured to generate a conductive electrical path between two of the at least three electrical terminals in response to actuation of the electrical switching device;

an actuator device; and

a dimmer switch; and

wherein the operations are performed in response to determining that a second electrical terminal of the at least three electrical terminals is not connected to the grounded conductor, the operations comprising:

in response to determining that the ground electrical terminal is connected to the grounded conductor, generating a first control signal configured to instruct the actuator device to permit a performance of a dimmer switch modification function,

generating a second control signal configured to instruct another device to perform the dimmer switch modification function, and

transmitting, using a communications device coupled to the other device, the second control signal to the other device.

6 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the AC controlling device further comprises:

a memory, wherein

the at least one processor is coupled to the memory.

7 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 5 , wherein the other device comprises one of:

another AC controlling device;

a media device;

a remote control; or

a user device.

8 . A computer-implemented method performed by at least one processor of an alternating current (AC) controlling device, wherein the AC controlling device comprises:

at least three electrical terminals including a first electrical terminal, the first electrical terminal being a ground electrical terminal configured to connect to a grounded conductor and transmit a first portion of electricity received from an ungrounded conductor to the grounded conductor in response to a connection of the ground electrical terminal to the grounded conductor;

an electrical switching device configured to generate a conductive electrical path between two of the at least three electrical terminals in response to actuation of the electrical switching device;

an actuator device; and

a dimmer switch;

wherein the computer-implemented method comprises:

in response to determining that the ground electrical terminal is connected to the grounded conductor, generating a first control signal configured to instruct the actuator device to permit a performance of a dimmer switch modification function,

generating a second control signal configured to instruct another device to perform the dimmer switch modification function, and

transmitting, using a communications device coupled to the other device, the second control signal to the other device.

9 . The computer-implemented method of claim 8 , wherein the AC controlling device further comprises:

a memory, wherein

the at least one processor is coupled to the memory.