Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Buying this switch is not a Bright idea, February 22, 2009
I have a Harmony 890 remote and purchased this 3 way switch to control a florescent light in our dining room. I was under the impression that it would replace any existing 3 way switch. I should have done some homework before buying. This switch has 4 wires plus a ground. In my home and in most instances 3 way switches use 3 wires plus a ground. This switch has a blue wire that requires you to rewire your home before it will work. You may want to check that you have all necessary wiring before you get this switch.
Also after doing a bit of research I found that there is a very common problem with CFL flickering in some florescent lights when the switch is off.
I would not recommend the Ha18c 3 way switch.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not a true relay switch, August 29, 2008
What attracted me to this switch is that it is about half the price of other switches. I bought 3 of them for installation throughout the house, with the intention being to control compact fluorescent lights in wired-in fixtures.
First, the positive points. The switch comes in pure white only. It doesn't include a Decora plate, but since I am replacing existing switches, this is a non issue.
The package includes a number of wire nuts, and a very detailed instruction sheet. The switch can be used in a regular two way or multiple way setup, using regular switches as the slave switches. There is a very soft click when it turns on or off. I'm using Intermatic's hand remote to control them, as well as Hawking's Home Remote Gateway, and ThinkEssential's USB stick, and they all work very reliably.
The switch paddle stays in a middle position - you can push both the upper and lower portion of the switch. As expected, top turns it on, and bottom turns it off. There is a LED that lights up when the switch is on. Pushing off when the switch is already off, and on when it is already on, does nothing. The switch feels a little mushy and soft, but has worked reliably.
I had one occurrence of the switch not responding to local control, but continues to respond to the remote. I think it was caused when something went wrong while I was trying to program a remote control. I could not replicate it. I had to reset the switch by turning off power to it at the breaker to reset it, after which it worked fine. This only happened once on one switch, in 2 months of use.
So why 3 stars? I first noticed that some of my CF lights are flickering when the power is off. This disturbs me quite a lot. It means that there is current flowing through the fixtures even when the switch is off. This happened on both switches, at two different fixtures. The wiring were done properly, with the neutral and ground connected.
With some CF bulbs, I don't see the flickering, but the very fact that it flickers with some bulbs suggest to me that there is some power leaking through.
I intend to contact the manufacturer to seek clarification on this issue, and will update this review if I hear back from them.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Great When Used With LED's, June 9, 2009
I purchased a Harmony 890 remote last year, followed by a host of Z-Wave switches and devices. Among them was the Intermatic HA18C (to control my CFL's, of course) and although I don't usually write reviews on products that I purchase from Amazon, I thought I should share my views on the HA18C.
Firstly, I also bought this switch to control the CFL's in my DVD & equipment cabinets and I experienced the same flickering as mentioned in the other reviews. I did some research on low voltage lighting and I decided to go out on a limb and purchase the Cyron LED Media Highlighter System. I say that because I could not find any reviews on the switch controlling LED's and was afraid of damaging the switch or lights. Anyway, some minor electrical work needed to be done to disconnect the CFL's and install a standard power outlet for the lighting kit but once complete and hooked up, the LED's worked perfectly with the switch. There is absolutely no flickering or power bleeding through when the switch is in the off position so the LED's are truly off. The HA18C does not dim the LED's but it is very responsive in turning the power on and off in both manual and Z-Wave operation. The LED's also performed better than the CFL's as they provided just enough light in my cabinet to read the DVD labels while maintaining a soft, ambient feel.
Overall I've found the HA18C to be a great product when used with LED's but 4 stars because Intermatic shouldn't have marketed this switch to CFL users when there was a known fault in its performance. They should really look into re-branding this switch to control LED lighting, especially given that home automation is moving to that technology. For those of you that still experience the flickering, I would highly recommend spending the extra $ to upgrade to LED's rather than replacing the switch.
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