Customer Reviews

Leviton ODS10-ID Decora Wall Switch Occupancy Sensor (120/277V rating), White

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I installed one of these in my laundry room (which is located just inside the garage door in my house). Now, whenever we come home, we don't have the fumble for the light switch. I've also installed one in the room that my wife uses for her office for the same reasons.

This switch comes with three adjustments to customize it to your needs.

First, it has an ambient light adjustment so that you can tell it not to turn on if there is already sufficient light in the room. If you turn this setting all the way up, the switch will become a manual on, auto off switch that will only turn on when you push the button, but will turn off after it senses no motion for a set period of time.

Second, it has a sensitivity adjustment, which adjusts how far the sensor will look for motion.

Third, it has a duration adjustment to tell it how long it should wait with no motion before turning the light off.

It also has a red LED, which blinks whenever it detects motion, so you can tell how whether your movements are being detected or not.

Initially purchased a cheaper Leviton ($25) occupancy switch from a local hardware store to control a 4-tube flourescent fixture in our garage. Initially the switch worked great but it eventually failed to turn on 2 of the four tubes using the motion sensor. (all four tubes lit with the manual-on overide). After researching online, I came across this switch which works with both Magnetic and Electronically ballasted flourescent fixtures so I decided to spend the money.

Installation wasn't too challenging but did require the use of an a/c probe to determine which of the two black wires was the line "hot" and which was the load (light). Set up was also a breeze with the adjustment dials being easy to understand and dial-in.

This switch just went in and it's working perfectly with no flickering or problems so far. All four tubes of the overhead fixture fire up with any motion and the manual on/off is a great feature to have as you can simply turn the lights off or on and not worry as the motion sensor resets after the selected time out period with no motion.

The unit is also much more sensitive than the previous model, picking up the initial motion of the garage door opening so the lights are on by the time the garage door is fully open.

I would love to purchase more of these swiches for closets and other areas where lights are frequently left on.

If you're looking for IR sensor switches to automatically turn on lights when you enter the room, then turn them off when the room is empty, get these sensors and don't hesitate to pay a little extra. They require no neutral wire, but still work flawlessly in 2-way arrangement (two switches controlling the same lights--either sensor turns and keeps lights on when motion is present) as well as with circline and other fluorescent lights with newer electronic ballasts.
My first purchase was for sensors found at Home Depot. After installing these, I learned that a small amount of current trickles through the switch to run the infrared sensor, and this low current is enough to cause electronic ballast to try to start--hence the HD sensors caused my fluorescent bulbs to flicker even when no motion was present.
My second attempt was my own failure to read the details on Leviton IPP15 and IPP0R sensors. I read the "Manual On" as an infrared sensor with a "manual-on" override switch similar to the ones I bought from HD. These DO indeed work with electronic ballasts, but they ONLY come on via the manual button--then turn off when motion in the room stops.
When I bought these ODS10-ID switches, install was a breeze and everything worked the first time. I was very pleased.
One very minor disappointment is that the inactivity timeout settings allow for either 30 seconds or 10, 20, or 30 minutes. I'd think a 2 or 5 minute timeout would be ideal, but is not an option.
They call the 30 second timeout a "test" mode, which is fine for testing switch operation, but we also found it is ideal for things like a laundry or utility room. You don't stand motionless there and if it doesn't sense movement for 30 seconds, the room is likely empty. We have the 2-way switches set for 10 minutes in the basement.
Note: NO NEUTRAL IS NEEDED for these, which is impressive and makes installation a breeze. Somehow, they found a way to run the infrared sensor with a little current without tripping the electronic ballasts. But these sensors are great and my wife smiles at me every time she goes into the basement and laundry room with arms loaded with laundry and the lights greet her without effort.

After burning out one of the cheap motion sensor switches that could not handle fluorescent lights with electronic ballast at all, and only lasted a couple of months with a magnetic ballast, I am happy I spent the extra for this switch.
We use the switch in a laundry room where we often go with our hands full. It is so nice to know we do not have to fumble for a light switch. The lights with electronic ballast are so much better with no flicker and seem much brighter.
There is a slight delay when you open the door before the light clicks on, but we got used to that in a week or so. The delay is maybe 1 second, so just don't expect it to be instant-on. Also it does 'click' on. You can hear a faint sound, which I did not expect, and is not a problem.

This is an excellent product (with a big price tag, though). I like this!!

We always use a garage-to-family room door for outgoing and incoming traffic. In addition, a secondary refrigerator is sitting in the garage right next to the door. So, I installed an occupancy sensor switch to control the ceiling fluorescent lights for automatic turn-on and off.

The first generation occupancy sensor switch was a Leviton's fluorescent light-compatible product (about $20). It worked fine until I decided to replace the old T12 ceiling FLs with more energy-efficient T8 lights and I found the switch was not compatible and would flicker with the new electronic ballasts.

After a long Net search, I tried a Brazix [...] occupancy sensor switch (about $12). The Brazix product uses a mechanical relay instead of a semiconductor switch so that it is compatible with any type of load. The very friendly price tag also attracted me. The only and big problem of Brazix was its poor product quality. I bought a 5-switch set, and one of them was defective and would never turn off (Brazix immediately sent me a replacement). It also lacked sensitivity control. The IR sensor was so sensitive that the one installed in a bathroom "detected" warm air from a HVAC heater duct. Finally, only a year and half after installation, the internal mechanical contact of the one installed in the garage got stuck and I had to tap its housing strongly in order to turn the light off.

Next, I found a Cooper occupancy sensor product at a local Lowe's store (about $29). The Cooper product claimed compatibility with CFLs and electronic ballasts. But the reality was that the IR sensor that Cooper claimed to have a "self-learning capability" was so unreliable and the claimed delay time was so inaccurate (always doubled) that I returned the product.

After the frustrating periods, I resumed a desperate search for an electronic ballast-compatible product and finally came across the ODS10-ID Decora Wall Switch Occupancy Sensor. The product is equipped with five control switches and adjusters. I only had to re-adjust the ambient light knob to the darkest to fit my application. It works great with the fluorescent lights in out garage. I have not tried it with CFLs, but other reviewers have reported very positive results. The biggest problem with the product is its big price tag. But I now have peace of mind that I have a way to replace the soon-to-be failing Brazix switches installed in other locations.

This light switch is expensive, but it works flawlessly.... I hooked it up in my garage switch, where I'm running 3 electronic ballast fluorescent lights, and it works like a charm.. It works every time I walk into the garage.. I love how you can override the switch to turn it on or off too.. It resets after the 10 minutes and back to the motion detection
I know these things are like 20 bucks at home depot but this one is worth the extra cash..
Buy it, you will not be disappointed..

Motion detectors available from local stores are less expensive, but don't work reliably with fluorescent lighting.

This works flawlessly. I put it the downstairs bathroom where most people left the light on. No more!

If you are buying this for the ambient light feature: I'd be wary.

The ambient light sensor will not override the switch until the room is brightly lit -- in fact much more brightly lit than the light provided by the typical 17 watt CFL the switch is operating! The ambient light sensor in my five outdoor motion sensing lamps which turn on only when it is nearly dark work much better. Plus, those lamps cost about as much as this single switch and include actually functional electronics and a whole metal lamp housing.

Want more technical? More technical: The ambient light sensors in the units that I received need far more than the 2 foot candles indicated in the specs to override the motion switch. The spec both here and on the Leviton website indicates 2 foot candles or 2 lux of light as the lowest setting for override. First, there is a mistake here since 2 foot candles = 20 lux. The difference between 2 lux and 20 lux is the difference between enough light to barely see and enough light to read easily, so the spec matters. Second, whichever spec is supposed to be correct, these units often seem to need more like 40-50 lux or more to override the switch. When I tried to set the dial controlling the ambient light switch any lower (well before the off setting), the light would not come on in the dark.

I've tried three of these Leviton units from Amazon.

Unit 1: Ambient light sensor required a direct light source or sunlight on the unit for the ambient light sensor to override the switch at its lowest setting.
Unit 2: Slightly more sensitive light sensor, but the 30 second time setting did not work. The minimum on time was 10 minutes, which made diagnosis especially tricky. This unit also turned the light on randomly in the middle of the night without motion.
Unit 3: Would not turn the lights on unless the button was pressed, regardless of the ambient light setting.

Defeated, I spoke with Leviton customer support. The excellent representative indicated that none of these units appeared to be working properly. So, you can take your chances that you get a properly functioning ambient light sensor. He did say that air drafts in the room could trigger the unit in the middle of the night. Air drafts. I have an old motion sensor for incandescent bulbs and it has never turned on with airdrafts, even when the furnace was warming up a cold house.

It may be worth trying the made-in-USA version of this product, which does exist. Unfortunately, it is almost impossible to find for sale. Amazon sells the made in China version. There are also made in Mexico versions. Each have the same ODS10 part number -- the ODS10-IAW is made in USA, the ODS10-IDW is made in China. I have no idea if the ones made in USA or Mexico work any better, but these ones gave me a worse headache than reading in the dark.

If you don't need ambient light sensing, there are cheaper units. If you do, I'd recommend to keep looking. On paper these are awesome, and I'm pretty bummed they don't work since keeping looking is not turning up much else.

First, let me say if I could give it 4.5 stars I would. The half a star lost is the difficulty in remembering/choosing color as the color names are brand specific. HINT: Before you order check out the leviton brand colors and their names for that line. Who can keep track of Almond, Ivory and Lt. Almond? So, I had to exchange my original purchase.

BUT, when the replacement came, it was a breeze to install. Took me less than 15 minutes. You need to wire in all 4 color wires to work properly. I installed this is the main floor bathroom as it gets a lot of use and often the light is not turned off by the children and even myself! This light is compatible with the electric balast CFL lights - they will not flicker. This light goes on when you enter the room. You can also push the button to turn it on (even though it goes on when you go in....), but you can also push the button to turn it OFF --- OR if you forget to turn it off, it will turn off after the preset time limit. I set it to the shortest setting because my kids are always in and out of there. The only complaint I received was from my husband who said the light went off too soon (I have it set for 5 minutes). I suppose he'll learn to wave his arm or walk upstairs to use another bathroom. I love it because the kids can walk in there with dirty hands and not dirty that lightplate up anymore too.