****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
I purchased 4 of these for use in my garage and walk-in closets. The first install was in the garage. We frequently enter and leave the garage for minutes at a time in order to dispose of recyclables. It would be very convenient to have a light activated by motion when we enter and to automatically shut off after a minute or two once we leave. This light got left on a lot of the time. The install was simple for me as an engineer. The programming of the light switch was pretty simple too. It seemed to work at the onset after the install. But the next day I noticed the light would already be on when entering the garage. I thought something may be triggering the motion sensor so I began troubleshooting. It was then I noticed the switch wasn't working at all. In fact once it was turned on manually or with motion it would not turn off. I tried everything. It seems to be a relatively cheaply made switch. So I decided to return it and replace it with a better quality product.PLEASE NOTE: THIS PRODUCT IS NOT RETURNABLE. AS A PRIME MEMBER AMAZON WAS COURTEOUS ENOUGH TO REFUND MY PURCHASE BUT FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT PRIME MEMBERS BEWARE. THE MANUFACTURER DOES NOT ACCEPT RETURNS OF THIS PRODUCT.I love my occupancy switches so much that I would give these 10 stars if I could!!!We just moved into a new house (new construction), and apparently CA code now requires vacancy switches in places like bathrooms and laundry rooms. I've learned a lot since we moved in - I had no idea what the difference was between a vacancy switch and an occupancy switch (or that there were two kinds of switches). I worked in an office where they have occupancy switches in the conference rooms and the light will turn off since everyone was sitting around a table without moving much, and a whole room of professionals in suits and ties will start waving their arms in the air to get the lights to go back on ... it's pretty funny! So I assumed that when there is a motion detector on the switch, that it is an occupancy switch ... I had no idea there was such a thing as a vacancy switch. So we moved into this house with these vacancy switches, and they never seemed to work - they never came on unless you pushed the button, and they never seemed to go off without using the switch. So I started googling, and learned all about vacancy vs occupancy - quick overview: vacancy will turn off a switch after a certain amount of time with inactivity, but it will not turn the lights on; an occupancy switch will turn the lights on when it detects motion, and off after a certain amount of time with no activity. These Lutron occupancy switches can be set up to act as vacancy switches if you want. Since we have no kids, and it is just 2 reasonably responsible adults living in the house, turning off lights is not an issue for us, so vacancy switches don't really make sense in our house ... in fact the ones we had were extra useless because they waited for 30 minutes of inactivity before turning the lights off, so we had lights on much longer than if we turned them off ourselves. Plus, the guest bathroom motion detector faced the mirror, which faced the door, so every time someone (or a dog) walked by the open door the motion detector saw the activity in the mirror, so the switch never turned off ... totally impractical.So ... I switched out the vacancy switches in the bathrooms and laundry room for regular toggle switches ... what a relief! But, all of this put it into my head that occupancy switches would be really nice in several other locations, so I checked the reviews and found these switches, and got 4 of them (2 orders of 2-packs):- I now have one installed in our walk-in pantry ... the light pops on as soon as you step into the room, and it shuts off after 30 seconds (the minimum you can set these switches to).- One installed in our master walk-in closet ... my husband's robe actually hangs on a hook right next to the switch, and tends to cover up the motion detector a little bit, but the side of the motion detector still catches the motion as we walk into the closet, and if it doesn't, we just have to touch his robe and the motion makes the light go on :-) The only issue I have found is when I'm folding laundry in the closet, and the robe is hiding me from the motion sensor, the light goes off ... not that big a deal. I have this one also set to go off after 30 seconds.- The third one is in the laundry room ... this was the hardest to install because it was a 3 way switch, and these occupancy switches are single pole. Since the two switches in the laundry room are literally so close to each other that you can touch them both at the same time, it made no sense to have 2 switches, so I googled it and took out one of the switches and set it up so that the other switch was now a single pole, so that I could replace the switch with the occupancy switch. It worked perfectly, and now when I go in the laundry room with a load of clothes I don't have to find the switch, and when we come in from the garage through the laundry room, the light also comes on, so we can see where we are going. I also have this one set to 30 seconds.- The 4th switch is in the garage ... the location of the switch is such that you actually have to step into the garage to hit the switch, and with the required "automatically closing" garage door, the door closes as you go for the switch leaving you in darkness until you find it. The motion detector has fixed all of that. And a bonus is that when the overhead garage door opens that garage light also comes on, so it is nice and bright in the garage. I've got this one set up to do the daylight sensing, so the lights only come on when it is dark in the garage. I've also got this one set to turn off after 5 minutes.Now I need to put one in the coat closet ... and I'm sure there are other places :-)Loving them!! (Sorry for the long review ... I guess I got carried away)I am an accomplished DIY'er and have installed many types of switches. This particular one went in easily and worked fine at the start. Now after 5 months of use it is extremely unreliable. I have it in my garage and it turns on and off by itself with no motion. The switch to turn off the lights works only about half the time. This makes it impossible to turn off the lights. The motion sensor turning it on works even less. I am going to have to replace it with something that has a longer operating life. It most likely will not be anything Lutron.I want to give this 5 stars, but I cannot because of the return policy. I purchased 4 of these, 3 worked great, one was broken right out of the box. I went to return it, and I couldn't, these are not eligible for return, so be aware.I bought this motion sensor switch because the children in the house will not turn the hologen kitchen lights off. I was hoping it would save electricity. I set it to turn off 1 minute after someone leaves the room.Sometimes it turns off, sometimes it just stays on, ALL NIGHT.I would say it turns the lights off the way it is supposed to about 25% of the time. It turns them off AT SOME POINT about 25% of the time, and the other 50% it simply does not turn them off.I will be looking to replace it with another brand asap.
