Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Finding the right switch was like a search for the Holy Grail. I installed 2 different switches in 2 different ways for each trying to make it work. Major issue was trying to figure out what switch to buy, so I will lay it out in a very simple "Electrical Connections for Dummies" kind of way. Disclaimer: the wiring in your home may be different from mine, so please use this advice at your own risk. My situation: Laundry room leading to the garage with doored entrance on both ends. 2 switches, one on each end of the laundry room. My want: To have the laundry room light turn on automatically when I enter the laundry room from the garage or from the house and turn off automatically after a couple of minutes The solution: This switch and the below instructions 1. Turn off your power to the switches at the fuse box 2. Take off all the wires from both switches and separate them. My switch has 4 wires: 2 black (1-hot, 1-traveler), 1 red (traveler) and 1 bare wire (ground) Note: If you have white wires in there, then those should be your neutral wires and should already be tied off to another white neutral to complete the circuit (don't worry about these) 3. Buy a hot wire detector (like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Fluke-1AC-A1-II-Volt-Alert-Non-Contact-Voltage/dp/B000EJ332O/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1336776918&sr=8-1) from Amazon. I bought one at Home Depot for about $14. 4. Turn on power to the switches at the fuse box - please make sure that nobody is going to come wandering in and touch the open wires 5. Take the hot wire detector and place it near every wire from both switches. Once you find the hot wire, then label it as "hot". This is the wire that is connected to your fuse box, and this is where you HAVE TO connect the regular switch. You CANNOT put the Motion switch on this end - Update: Someone commented that you can, but just stating what the installation instructions showed in the diagram. 6. Turn off your power to the switches again at the fuse box 7. Take the "hot" wire and screw-tap with one of the travelers which you will label as "Traveler A" 8. Turn on your power to the switches at the fuse box 9. Use hot wire detector to find the live traveler wire on the other end (where the motion switch will go) 10. Label that live wire as "Traveler A" 11. Turn off your power to the switches at the fuse box 12. Repeat step 7-10 for the other traveler wire but label wires as "Traveler B" 13. The remaining wire at the Motion switch end is the "load" wire that connects to the laundry room light 14. From here you should be able to follow the instructions of the Motion light switch fairly easily. Only thing that may seem confusing is connecting the wires at the regular switch - you have to take the separate wire included with the motion switch and connect that to the black screw of the regular switch and then screw-tap it with the "hot" wire and one of the traveler wires. After that, the motion switch connections are straightforward. This switch allows you to do the following: - Adjust motion detection sensitivity (regular and extra-sensitive) - Adjust time to auto off (15 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes, 15 minutes and 30 minutes - can't remember exact increments since I only wanted 1 minute). - Make it auto-on (what I needed) or manual-on switch with auto-off - Turn off the lights manually either at the regular switch end or on the motion switch end, and it will reset itself for auto-on (takes about 20 seconds to reset itself) - Able to use with CFL or better known as fluorescent bulbs - which is what I have. Great switch and fits my needs perfectly. I have found the Holy Grail. Good Luck! UPDATE 4/8/13: Well, it's been about a year since I installed this switch, and it is still working like a charm. Very sensitive motion detector which is what I wanted so it will instantly turn on upon entry from the house or from the garage. One of the better home improvement projects that I have done. The other ones are timer switches on my bathroom exhaust fans. It's these little things that make your house a home. I am glad this review helped some people out there since it aggravated me to no end spending many hours trying to get the right switch to work. Will keep the light on for you.....or not. UPDATE 9/8/15: Still running like a champ after over 3 years in service. Some have asked about being able to install the motion detectors on both ends (i.e. at bottom and top of stairs). Unfortunately, I am not an electrician which is why my review was more for electrical dummies like me; thus, I cannot advise or recommend doing anything custom with these switches. I only "go by the book" with my home's wiring since I am too chicken to risk burning my home to the ground. For those who are certified electricians and can advise on these custom questions, then please help a brother / sister out. Peace, love and.......light. UPDATE 12/18/16: Still running and working as installed over 4 years ago. Switched my bulbs from CFLs to LEDs since the CFLs seems to burnout quickly with the repeated on/off in this high-traffic area. I can confirm that it works fine with LED bulbs also, and the LEDs last much longer (have not needed to change either of the 2 bulbs for the last 6 months). Merry Christmas to all! UPDATE 5/11/2022: 10 Years to this day!!! And still working like a champ! Need I say more?