Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I really like this switch. Works as described. And for only having 3 buttons, the using interface and navigation is surprisingly very well done. If you've installed or modified an outlet or switch before, you should have no problem installing this product. If you haven't done this before, then the process is still doable, but it'll take you longer while you get confident working with the exposed wires and figuring out which wire goes where. Don't be scared; as long as your circuit breaker is off, you can't get hurt. Here are the steps I went through to install the switch. Your process will likely be similar. --PREP WORK-- 1. Turn off the circuit breaker at the electrical panel. Just turning off the switch is not good enough because at least one of the wires in the box would still be live. 2. Unscrew the existing wall plate. 3. You'll see that the switch is screwed into a blue box. Unscrew the old switch from the blue box and pull it out a bit (with the wires still attached) so that you that you have access to the wires and the space behind the switch. Don't worry, the wires are way less brittle than they seem. Unbend them instead of pulling them if you're paranoid. 4. (Optional) If you need more space to work in the blue box and/or you don't have easy access to the white neutral/return wires, you might need to unscrew and pull out the other switches that are there. I had to do this because the white wires were folded up behind the other switches. 5. Bear with me. 5a. Long story short: You should have two black wires attached to two different screws on the old switch that you're replacing. Figure out which one of these is the line and which is the load. Mark or identify them in some way. 5b. Long story long: One of the black wires attached to your old switch supplies power from the electrical panel to the switch. This is called the 'line.' The other wire, called the load, is connected from the switch to the light itself. When the switch is off, there is no electrical connection between the electrical panel and the light (between the line and the load). When the switch is on, you are physically connecting the line and load, which allows current to flow from the electrical panel, through the switch, to the light, then back through the neutral/return wires (which are white), eventually returning to the circuit panel. For typical boring switches like the one you're replacing, it doesn't matter if the line or the load is on the top or bottom screw of the switch. All that the switch is doing is connecting the two separate wires; doesn't matter if current is flowing up through the switch or down through the switch. However, it does matter for the Honeywell Econoswitch (and any other fancy programmable switches). This is because programmable switches are always using a little bit of power to display the current status, keep accurate time, charge the battery, etc. Therefore, you need to make sure that turning the switch off will disconnect the light from the switch and not the electrical panel from the switch. Okay, now in order to actually figure out which black wire is the line and which is the load, I personally turned the circuit breaker back on, made sure the old switch is in the OFF position, and used a voltmeter by putting one lead of the voltmeter on one of the black wires/screws of the old switch and the other lead on one of the ground wires that should be hiding in the blue box somewhere. (The ground wires are easy to spot because they have no plastic insulation around them.) If you do this and you get no reading on the voltmeter, then the black wire you're touching is the load (connected to the light). If you do get a reading, you have identified the line (connected to the electrical panel). Just to be sure, you should test the other black wire on the old switch to check that you get a different reading. Again, keep the other lead of the voltmeter on the ground wire. You could also use a white neutral/return wire instead of the ground here, but at the time I didn't expose any of the white wires' copper conductor. 6. Turn the circuit breaker back off so everything's safe. --INSTALLING THE NEW SWITCH-- 7. Remove the old switch by unscrewing the black line and black load wires. 8. Gain access to any of the neutral/return wires. These are white. If the box you are working on only contains switches, then all the white wires are probably just twisted together with a colored wire nut/cap. Untwist the wire nut (CCW to loosen) and pull it off. You now have access to the neutral/return wires. You will eventually shove the white neutral wire from the Honeywell into this twisted mess and put the colored wire nut back on. 9. You should now have three conductors in the box that you'll connect to the Honeywell's three wires: a black line wire that was connected to the old switch, a black load wire that was also connected to the old switch, and one or more white neutral/return wire that are probably just twisted together. Use one of the supplied wire nuts to connect the line wire in the box to the line wire of the Honeywell. Do the same for the two load wires. Do the same for the white neutral/return wires, noting that you might have to use the old wire nut in case the supplied nut is too small. 10. Everything is now connected and ready to be tested. Turn the circuit breaker back on, and make sure the switch works. Pushing the big button on the bottom should control the light as normal. 11. Turn the circuit breaker back off. --SHOVING EVERYTHING BACK IN-- 12. For me, showing the wires back into the box is always the hardest part. Electricians have a knack for fitting a mess of wires into a small box. I apparently can't do this well. Anyway, do remember that the wires are less breakable than they seem. The worst that can happen during this stage is that a wire is pulled loose from a wire cap. That's unsafe, so make sure it doesn't happen. There are techniques to ensuring a secure fit; find them online. 13. Screw the switch(es) back onto the blue box. I always have trouble making sure that the switch are flush to the wall and not crooked. Again, bend those wires. They're sturdy. 14. Screw the new* wall plate on, and you're done. *New because your old wall plate was probably only big enough for a toggle switch. You need something like the Leviton 80401-W 1-Gang Decora/GFCI Wallplate, Standard Size, Thermoset, Device Mount, White.