Occupancy
detector
In rooms that you often
enter with your arms
full, like the kitchen or
laundry room, it’s
handy to have the light
come on automatically
when you enter. No
one around? It turns off
the light and saves on
those energy bills.
Featured switch:
Leviton PR180 ($20)
Timer switches
This class of switches is
perfect for lights or fans
that you’d like to leave
on for a set amount of
time. Bathroom heat
lamps and exhaust fans
are perfect candidates.
Push the 10-minute
button and the bathroom
fan will turn itself off
in 10 minutes—long enough to clear out the
moisture after a shower, for example.
Featured switch: Leviton 6560M ($42)
Programmable
timer switches
Would you like some lights to
turn on and off at certain
times? Say you’d like to
schedule your outdoor lights
to come on at 6 in the
evening and shut off at 10
that night. It’s simple with a
programmable switch. This
switch can be separately programmed
for every day of the week.
Featured switch: Intermatic EJ500C ($33)
Three-way dimmers
This new electronic three-way dimmer system
calls for a main dimmer that works in conjunction
with a “slave” dimmer at the second switch
location. The slave and main dimmer switches
use radio signals to let each one know what the
other is up to.
Switch models, both by Leviton: Main Switch,
TPI06 ($38); Slave Switch, MS00R-10W ($30)
Remote-controlled
dimmer
Keep the remote by your
bedside, favorite movielounging
spot or near the
dining room table. No more
climbing out of bed to turn
off the lights when
you’re ready
for a little
shuteye; just
reach for the remote!
Featured switch: Lutron
MIR-600-THW ($53)
Buyer’s Guide
INTERMATIC: (815) 675-7000. www.intermatic.com
LEVITON: (718) 229-4040. www.leviton.com
LUTRON: (888) 588-7661. www.Lutron.com
Say “so long” to at least some of
your old light switches and
mechanical timers. Ever-shrinking
and smarter microelectronics containing
“embedded intelligence” can
help you save a bit on energy costs, but
more important, they’ll add convenience.
The ones featured here don’t
require you to add wires within the
walls; you just have to replace the old
switches with new electronic ones. All
of these switches can be controlled
manually at the switch as well.
A clumsy, finicky, hard-to-program
mechanical timer can be replaced with
an electronic one that even has an
internal atomic clock that resets itself
after power outages. Lights on old
three-way switches were impossible to
dim from more than one location—no
longer true. Replace a mechanical-dial
shutoff timer switch with a new unit
that has preset intervals so that with
the touch of a button, you can decide
how long a bath fan or other fixture
will run. And when you enter a room
with your hands full, let a new electronic
occupancy sensor turn on the lights—and turn
them off again when you leave.
Home centers carry a version of
most of the switches shown here. But
for the widest selection, go to the manufacturers’ Web
sites listed above.
