Leviton Decora Intelligent Motion Sensor Dimmer: Specifications
Size: 4.5 x 2.5 x 1.7 inches
WIFI: yes
motion sensor: yes
works with: Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, HomeKit, IFTTT, August
Dimmable: yes
Supports 3-way switches: yes
The Leviton Anywhere Dimmer Companion Companion supports: yes
Two-factor documentation: number
Neutral wire required: yes
Light switches may not be the first thing you might think of when it comes to making your home smarter, but they are one of the simplest and most important ways to control your home. Once you are in control of your lighting, the rest is much easier. And they’re easy to install these days: Devices like the second-generation Leviton Decora Smart WiFi Motion Sensing Dimmer that I tested here are just replacements for old light switches that open up a host of possibilities.
Want to set a dimmer to control multiple separate lights? Want to set a light that glows dimly at night, so you don’t go blind when you wake up to go to the bathroom? This can do that and much more. The breadth of its features makes it one of the Best smart light switches About it, but you’ll want to read the rest of our Leviton Decora Smart WiFi Motion Sensing Dimmer review first.
Leviton Decora Smart Motion Sensing Dimmer Review: Design
The D2MSD has a clean and simple design with a large push button to manually turn on the light. To the right of this are two small dimmer buttons and a set of four green LEDs on the other side of the light switch to show you the dimmer level. The dimming range can be configured in the app: a useful feature if you want to dim it a bit but not close to turning off.
Above the main switch is the motion sensor behind a frosted plastic sheet. This is the type of passive infrared (PIR), which is triggered by things that are warmer than their surroundings, such as the human or animal body. A red LED next to the sensor shows when it’s on, but this light can be disabled if you don’t want people to realize it. A small multi-colored LED below the sensor shows the status of the smart switch, flashing green when it’s ready to set up or red if there’s a problem.
Next to the PIR sensor is a small plastic tag. Leviton calls this an Air Gap: pull this, and the switch and light socket it controls are completely cut off from power: a great feature if you’re worried about getting shocked while changing a bulb.
In general, the look is less pleasing, if not futuristic, like the GE Cync Smart Switch Motion Sensing Dimmer.
Leviton Decora Smart Motion Sensing Dimmer Review: Installation
Requires Leviton Decora Smart A neutral wire, which allows the switch to turn itself on even when the light is off. This means that it will not work on old school light switches as the switch simply breaks the circuit on the live wire without some rewiring. You can usually tell if the switch you are replacing has a neutral connection by unscrewing the cap, pulling the switch mechanism, and looking at the wires behind it. If you see two or more wire nuts behind the switch mechanism connecting the white and green wires, you should be fine. If you don’t have a neutral wire, you can install a dimmer like Leviton Decora Smart Dull DN6HD-1BW, but not the motion sensor. Leviton also has a video Displays different wire types. If you are not sure, consult an electrician.
Installing a Decora Smart Switch involves turning off the power, removing the old switch, then connecting the load, neutral and ground wires to the appropriately colored cables at the back of the switch: green for ground, black for line, white for neutral and red to the load line that leads to the light. A yellow line is included that can be used for a dipole setup (where more than one switch controls the light), but this usually won’t be required. The included manual describes the process clearly.
The only problem I found during installation is that the switch is large and takes up a lot of space in the switch box. This means that you have to be careful when placing cables and wire nuts, as they can get stuck or push the switch out at an odd angle if you get stuck behind it.
Once the switch is connected, you can turn the power back on and wait for the status LED on the front of the switch to flash, indicating that the switch is in the setting position. You can then use the My Leviton app (available for iOS and Android) to connect and configure the light to your WiFi network. Again, this process is pretty simple, and I’ve never had any issues connecting to two networks. It only supports the 2.4GHz frequency band, so it will not work with only 5GHz routers.
Once the light is configured, you can name it, set the type of LED, and connect it to your smart home network. This light supports the Big Three: Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit, so it should work with any smart home device or console.
Leviton Decora Smart Motion Sensing Dimmer review: In use
Decora Smart can handle a wide range of light sources, including LEDs, incandescent CFLs, and the less common magnetic low voltage (MLV) type. They can also dim LED and CFL lights, as long as they are of the dimmable type. You should not try to dim the non-dimmable lamp: at best, you will get a headache from flickering, and at worst, you can damage the light. It can handle up to 450W of load for incandescent lighting and MLV or 300W for CFL and LED bulbs. This is enough for most household appliances.
I’ve found the motion sensor to be very sensitive: I can trigger it by walking up to about 15 feet. This is very sensitive for most uses, and the light offers two modes: occupancy and vacancy. The first turns on the lights when it detects someone approaching, then turns them off after a predetermined time of no motion being detected. The vacancy does only the second part: you turn on the lamp manually, then it turns off when it doesn’t detect you’re in the room anymore. This is great if you are someone who often accidentally leaves the light on. It is part of the California Standard for Energy Saving by Turning Off Lights in Unoccupied Rooms (CA 2019 Title 24, Part 6: Vacancy Controller Requirements for State Building Code Fans).
The My Leviton app is also easy to use, allowing you to control the light, see the status of the motion sensor, and configure settings for motion detection. This includes things like how long the light lasts after motion is detected, as well as adjusting the dimming range. The app also integrates the switch with your smart home system. It supports Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomeKit. It’s unusual for the switch to be controllable through all three major smart home systems, so this is a huge plus if you use more than one or want to change the option in the future without having to switch devices.
Leviton Decora Smart Motion Sensing Dimmer review: Verdict
The Leviton Decora Smart Motion Sensing Dimmer combines a lot of different features into one device: a dimmer, a motion sensor, and a smart light switch. It does all this without a lot of fuss, integrating with your existing Wi-Fi wiring and network without having to do a lot of rewiring or adding a hub or other controller. This makes it a great choice for a smart home upgrade, and support for all three smart home standards is the cherry on the cake, as it means you won’t need to rip it off and start over if you switch from Android to iPhone or Alexa to HomeKit. between the Best smart light switchesThis guy owns it all.
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