Leviton Z-Wave Universal Switch - Your Choice Price: $29.99 Shipping Options:: $5 Standard OR $10 Two-Day OR $20 One-Day Shipping Estimates: Ships in 1-2 business days (Wednesday, Jul 12 to Thursday, Jul 13) + transit Condition: New
Has anyone used this? Is a separate hub required for all smart connectivity, or just some cases (i.e. Alexa)? Can I control this with a smartphone app without purchasing a separate hub?
You need a hub which can control Z wave stuff or a Z wave remote. You get way more functionality with a hub. I use the SmartThings hub which happens to be one of the PrimeDay deals today.
No you need some sort of a separate hub. These switches communicate over a protocol called Z-Wave. Z-Wave goes at around 900MHz which phones do not support.
The Samsung Smartthings is one of the most popular separate hubs.
I bought three of these last time I saw them on Woot (the non-dimmer, switch type) and I have a Philips Hue Bridge, and no they do not connect to it. I’m pretty sure this is because Hue uses Zigbee which is a different wireless frequency than Z-wave. I prefer Z-wave because there’s no interference with regular 2.4ghz wifi, like Zigbee could potentially cause on some wifi channels. I use it with my Wink hub instead and I love these switches. I have timers set for my front porch lights to click on at night and click off at dawn, and another light doing the same in the kitchen to act as a nightlight.
One thing I will comment on is I was originally upset that the rocker always looks like it’s in the “on” position because it’s actually not a true rocker, it’s just a button. But I will tell you after I installed them and have had them in the house for a few weeks, it’s not nearly as annoying as I expected, in fact it doesn’t bother me in the least and they look very nice and clean. It actually serves as a reminder that this switch is on a timer, and I plan on getting the actual “neutral” position z-wave rockers for all the switches that aren’t on timers to distinguish them. The glowing light at the bottom when the light is off is also not intrusive at all, like I worried it might be. It’s actually a subtle hint that this switch is smarter than it looks.
One other thing, these are Z-Wave, and not the newer Z-Wave Plus. If there’s a delay when I voice activate them with my Echo, it’s pretty minor–barely more than you’re already expecting for the Echo to process what you just said. I opted for Z-Wave Plus switches in the hallway which is triggered by a motion sensor as soon as someone walks in the hallway because this is a function I want to be instantaneous, but for normal voice activation or switching manually by pressing it, save yourself some money and get these Z-Wave legacy switches. You won’t notice unless your switch is very far from your hub and you need the additional distance Plus offers.
If you buy them, the instruction sheet for mine was in another language. The English one can be found here: http://www.leviton.com/en/products/dzs15-1lz
It helps to know an electrician. My dad is one and I made several calls to him to make sure I was wiring them correctly.
Yeah, what the above poster said! I also use them with a Wink hub, love them, work great. I haven’t used the dimmer switch version, as I have the Lutron Caseta which I think are more functional and attractive, but at this price, I’m going to give the Leviton one a spin. Be-careful, home automation is addicting, you find your self wanting to put smart switches, thermostats, door locks, garage door openers, etc in to every place you can think as it’s just so freaking handy. Don’t get me started with the insane stuff you can do with Stringify.
This looks similar to the Jasco Z-Wave switches that I purchased to use with my Vivint home security and automation system. As sduane said, the “rocker” is actually just a button press, but the little light underneath is illuminated when off and not illuminated when on. It gives off very little light, just enough to find the switch in the dark for manual operation.
The photos show the switches with wall plates, but the description says that the wall plates are sold separately. Wall plates are fairly cheap at the local home improvement or big department stores.
Amen Brother…I’ve had to resist making so many purchases and pissing off my Wife. I’ve only used them in lighting so far. In addition to that I have an Ecobee and received the Echo as a gift in pre-release from an Amazon Family employee. At first I didn’t know what to do with the Echo; I actually thought it was a waste. Now, I’m in love with it and love telling all my lights to shut off, dim, or create scenes. Cool Stuff!!!..
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