Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Legrand Pass & Seymour Over Leviton Anyday

Last winter, I got tired of finding the light on in the Master Bed Room walk-in closet, so I went to Home Depot, and I picked up a Leviton pr180 motion activated light switch (pictured on the left) and installed it. I followed all the adjust procedures, and got it to work when you walked into the closet, but it would not remain on for more than a few minutes. This frustrated Dr Desert Flower, who sometimes spent more than a few minutes in the walk in closet, so the little toggle switch under the sensor was used a great deal, defeating the purpose of the motion sensor.

Then, last week, the lights began to come on only 1/2 strength, dimly lighting the closet. Not acceptable. I figured the cheap Made In China switch had failed, so Saturday morning I drove down to Lowes. Lowes doesn't carry Leviton, and instead, for $32 (I was shocked as it was twice as expensive as the Home Depot switch) I picked up a Legrand Pass & Seymour RW500BLACCV6 motion activated switch (pictured on the right). No adjustments, just on & off. There was a little "calibration" technique to perform in the installation manual, but it was unnecessary.

The Legrand switch has a little night light on it (that mesmerizes the cat) and it times out at 30 minutes. No more hand waving required, no more dim lights. Legrand makes a far superior product. Leviton failure, Legrand success. Let's see how long it lasts (MTBF), in the closet before it breaks. =)

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