Leviton Switches

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physis

physis

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I've been having what seems to me to be too many failures with Leviton switches.

When I've bought them by the hundreds (from Home Depot, that might make a huge difference) I've found as much as 20% failure. This is completely typical in my experience.

This happens with the $3.00 decoras too.

So the problem I'm finding is that the plastic housing and the internal contacts can't withstand the tightening of the terminal screw.

Like I said, this is, maybe, a 20% problem. But that's a lot.

These things have UL stamps blatently placed everywhere you can see.

I know all about over torquing. Being honest, I might sometimes make them "a little" tight.

What happens is, tightening the terminal screw causes the contacts to fail to operate correctly, or at all.

The biggest problem, in my mind, is that if you back off the terminal, just however much, it will work again.

Correct me if I'm wrong. How many loose terminals are going to be the source of exactly what most of us would hope to avoid.

And finally, Thank God for UL. I can't even put into words what a fabulous job they're doing.

Oh, and has anybody else found this?
 
Re: Leviton Switches

Originally posted by physis:
I've been having what seems to me to be too many failures with Leviton switches...............Oh, and has anybody else found this?
Click to expand...
YES! :roll:

It really disappoints me that the name "Leviton" can no longer be associated with high quality....just low price.
That totally sucks. :mad:

Dave
 
Re: Leviton Switches

I can't say for sure whether it was a Levitton product or not but I had a similar problem a few years ago. It seemed that when I attached a 4-way rocker switch to a plastic recessed backbox, if the strap was tightened to the yoke too much the switch would fail. Out of some 10 or 12 devices, half were defective. I'm guessing that somehow the housing became warped and caused the internal switching mechanism to jam up.
 
Re: Leviton Switches

I just had to leave a job uncompleted yesterday over this and it really bothers me a lot.

The materials were provided by the GC and by all rights I should charge him for the additional trip. I'm not going to, even though I should. But over a $3.00 device. I know this kind of thing happens (believe me). But still.

I'm going to stop using Leviton switches.

Because of what I said about leaving a loose connection making it work again, these things should not be UL listed.

Why do we have UL listings? I honestly don't know much about what it's all for, but I would think that preventing something like this would be one reason. So either that's not true, or UL listings are simply not meaningful.
 
Re: Leviton Switches

I agree, the Leviton stuff has taken a real dive lately. About the only Leviton products that I still like are the porcelain lampholders. That's not saying much. :roll:

I'm liking Cooper and P&S much better these days.
 
Re: Leviton Switches

Have had the same problems, on another note has anyone seen some of levitions older GFCIs charred for no apparent reason. Have seen quite a few burnt up.

[ April 09, 2005, 05:56 PM: Message edited by: ken987 ]
 
Re: Leviton Switches

We ave trim crews that like to use cordless drils that reak havoc on gfci devices.Anyone else see this problem :roll:
 
Re: Leviton Switches

There is a problem with ALL light switches which is that they are not rate for the high inrush current of electronic ballasts. See http://home.earthlink.net/~mc5w/badnewsballasts.txt . I one time asked GE for inrush current data on their ballasts so that I could solve somebody's problem with both ballast and light swtch life. What I got was a big We Don't Know from them. What I did next was to do a ballast autopsy so that I could calculate inrush current. I also found a number of other design flaws.

I have not had a problem with Leviton's stuff that I installed 3 years ago, but I have not been doing a lot of new wiring the last 3 years. I did wire a 24x26 foot or so wood frame commercial room but most devices were P&S or Bryant. The electrical business has been on the ropes the past 3 years because of 911.

However, I do clean copper oxide off of the wires using #220 silicon carbide paper as recommended by Dr. Jesse Aronstein. The old Signal Corps method was that you had to remove all copper oxides from all wires strands regardless of whether the connection was soldered or solderless. Repair work on other people's stuff shows that this is the best policy. During World War 2 you could not afford to have 2/3 of the wire strands conducting.

Leviton does make about 4 grades of wiring devices including the 69 cent receptacles and 89 cent light switches. Those things have always been crap.
 
Re: Leviton Switches

Leviton does make about 4 grades of wiring devices including the 69 cent receptacles and 89 cent light switches. Those things have always been crap.
Click to expand...
No mc5w, they weren't, and Leviton only manufactures 1 type of Residential Grade Non-Illiuminating Decora Rocker switch in Single Pole, Double Pole, 3-way & 4-way. The 5601 -02 -03 -04. And they definitely have not always been like this. It's painfully obvious to anyone that has used them in the past before using todays product. The ones manufactured just a few years ago were a highly Superior Product compared to todays version.

This really bothers me, it's like the equivalent of Square D suddenly starting to manufacture QO Circuit breakers that are only as good as the old Federal Pacific, yet they still stamp their "highly Recognized" name on it.

Their Specs & Features claim:

*Sturdy Construction for long service life.
*Full rated current capacity with Tungsten, fluorescent, or resistive loads. Motor capacity is 80% of switch rating.

Testing and Code Compliance:

*UL Listed (File #E-7458)
*CSA Certified (File #LR-3413)
*NOM Certified (#057)
*Backed by a Limited Two-Year Warranty


"Due to cut-backs, the light at the end of the tunnel has been shut off!"
:(
Dave
 
Re: Leviton Switches

Originally posted by mc5w:
However, I do clean copper oxide off of the wires using #220 silicon carbide paper as recommended by Dr. Jesse Aronstein.
Click to expand...
MC are you telling us that you find it necessary to use #220 silicon carbide paper on conductors you are installing on a typical device? ;)

For myself and I am sure the vast majority of electricians there is no need to prep a new conductor in that manner for simple device connections.
 
Re: Leviton Switches

I just printed them...looking for Fax # now!
:D

Dave

Editted to add:
On second thought, I'm going to mail them, along with a letter. So far I wrote:

Dear Leviton,
You must have thought no one would notice...

[ April 10, 2005, 10:58 AM: Message edited by: davedottcom ]
 
Re: Leviton Switches

I'm sure they have some idea.

[ April 10, 2005, 03:46 PM: Message edited by: physis ]
 
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