Leviton 5638-2W 20-Amp 120-Volt Decora Plus Rocker Pilot Light Illuminated ON Req. Neutral, 3-Way AC Quiet Switch, White

The pilot light is what sets this apart from regular 3-way switches. It requires an additional wire to make it work so I found it easier to run an additional length of 12-2 alongside of the 12-3 instead of ordering a roll of 12-4. The only 12-4 I could locate in my area was stranded wire instead of solid so the extra Romex pull was cheaper and more readily available for my job as I did not want to run conduit for individual wires.I had the walls opened up for the install so it was super easy to double up. Maybe not so easy if you can't open up the walls so be aware.I needed the pilot lights since these switches control a German made central exhaust fan that is so quiet it's near impossible to tell if it's running. The pilot lights simply make it easier to manage to prevent leaving the fan running unnecessarily. Other Fantech users commented they had mistakenly left their fans running for days on end due to their super quiet performance. If I were controlling overhead lights there wouldn't be a need for the pilots since the lights would be blatently obvious if they were on/off.The switch quality is typical Leviton. Nothing to note there. The pilot light is incandescent that I wish was LED but it's still worth it. The light is larger than I would like but I would still take over no pilot light at all. Leviton has smaller LED indicators on other switches but this is the only thing they offer in this lineup. I would prefer a green or blue indicator over red. The switch has 2 stranded wire pigtails protruding from the back for the pilot light connections. The remaining connections are back wired with side screw connections.The instructions don't appear to be typical Leviton. I was able sort it out but they don't use standard terms such as line, load & travelers. My only complaint is they should write the instructions using standard terminology like every other Leviton product available in every big box store on the planet. Instead of using the correct word "travelers" they said "brass screw" connections. Instead of using the word "line" they used "power in". These were easy to figure out but kind of silly to be honest since their other products use correct terms.As noted by another reviewer the 3-Way pilot lights need to have the power (line) entering through one of the switch locations. If the power is feeding in from the fan or light, the pilot light portion of these switches will NOT workClearer instructions would have helped since these switches are not common even among electricians. My senior union electrician at our plant had to stop and research information on this wiring scheme when I asked for advice when planning my project.Honest Cons:- Red indicator light glows through the switch cover creating this weird looking orange halo effect.- Instructions are horrible!- Metal plate is stamped "top" on the wrong end so if you believe it the switch will be upside down and not line up with the cover plate opening. Just make sure the brass ground piece is oriented at the top and it will be right.- Stranded wire pigtails can't be used with Wago push nuts. I had to convert to solid pigtails with Wago lever nuts that was no big deal but an extra step with extra parts non the less.

Understand that this product requires additional wiring to function properly. You cannot simply swap out an existing 3 way switch and pop this one in to end up with a 3 way switch and pilot light. If you already have a pilot switch, this would work fine - or if you are doing new construction and could run additional wires, then it would work great as well. Realize that the pilot light in the switch is an additional load - no different than if you add a light bulb - so that load must now be switched too. So a jumper wire must run from the pilot light on this switch to the other 3 way switch in your circuit. This is in addition to the traveler wires that are running for the 3 way operation. So... unless you want to pull new wire, this wont work in retrofit, if you do not already have a pilot light. If you simply wire the pilot light to the existing traveler wires and to a hot, it will remain illuminated at all times. This switch is not smart - no electronic circuitry - I thought it would have some smart circuitry to simply sense (perhaps by current transformer) when the load was energized and illuminate an led pilot. That is not the case. This is simply two items in one frame - (2) a three way switch and (2) a pilot light. Perhaps an electrician would have known this, but my guess is that most homeowner DIY people would miss this fact. The instructions that come with the switch are very clear as to this point.

This really is a Leviton 5638 3-way switch with a pilot light. But the pilot light needs its own wire coming from the light fixture you are controlling. The pilot is just a separate light bulb that was stuck into the switch and needs its own wiring. I was unable to pull another wire from the lights in the garage back to this switch in the house (too late), so I can not use this switch. Be sure you have a spare wire coming back from your lights to this switch. Don't be a dope like me.

This switch works as expected: it is a 3-way switch with pilot light functionality which is typically wired where the red light is on when the load is on. To this end: it works as expected.My problem is that the switch is very mushy. The tactile feedback is very poor; it does not have a solid thunk when flipping on/off. Its bad enough that I'm now looking for a different brand. Also, the pilot light bleeds thru to behind the paddle part of the switch giving it a bit of a cheap look (similar to those back-lighted nightlight paddle switches).As an aside: a number of negative reviews appear to be due to a lack of understanding of how to wire a piloted 3-way. It requires additional wiring beyond the usual wires used for a non-pilot 3-way. At a minimum you will need a dedicated neutral from the same circuit. Depending on where this piloted 3-way is in the overall circuit, you may also need a line which is hot when the load is on. So make sure you know what you have for existing wiring. Unless you have a 3-way pilot already, it's likely you'll need to add wiring...potentially requiring adding a new run to the lights and/or other switch.

I added a powered smoke detector to my hobby room. When I'm working on something that creates smoke, I turn it off. When done I turn it on. The light makes it easy to know when its on and off. No more startling alarm, grabbing a step stool and ripping out the battery and not getting around to putting the battery back for months on end.

Like most other buyers, I was tired of the garage lights being left on all night, and I wanted to be able to simply glance over to tell without having to open the door to check every night. The lights are controlled from 2 switches with one inside the garage. Wiring was a snap. The pilot is powered by two separate leads that are pre-stripped, and you connect them based on your specific conditions at that location.It's very minor, but my only negative is that the pilot light lights up the whole switch through the white plastic bezel and it looks a little sloppy, but I'll live with that.

Use this two way switch for garage lights when you have a solid door and cannot tell if you left them on or not. Wiring can be easy or difficult depending on how your existing circuit is wired. The button press is firm and smooth -- it feels like a very high quality switch. The lamp is brighter than the one in illuminated switches that glow so you can see them in the dark. It would likely confuse people if you installed this next to an illuminated switch since the meaning of the lamps would be opposite (one glows when off, the other glows when on).

This is the only Decora-style 3-way light switch with an indicator that turns on when the circuit is active (as opposed to 'night-light' switches that turn on when the lights are off). But...The 'instructions' are on a piece of paper smaller than the palm of my hand and indecipherable to me (as opposed to map-sized instructions Leviton includes with much simpler switches). Luckily I had an electrician (with 20 years' experience) doing some work in the house, and after a bunch of attempts he finally got it to work, even though he sounded like he was about to give up multiple times, and when he was done he wasn't sure if the way he wired it would pass inspection.

The usual solid Leviton product, however one should note that it seems you will need 4 conductors between your two switchboxes so for a retrofit in a finished space this is a bit problematic as an existing 3 way installation will typically only be a 3 wire link.It wouldn't be a bad idea if this was noted in the description.

I have a light switch for my basement in my kitchen, but since I can't see the basement from upstairs, this pilot light 3-way switch is the perfect solution to making sure the lights don't accidentally get left on. The switch was extremely easy to install - I just ran a 14/2 cable from one of the lights to the switch. I use a normal 3-way switch in the basement.

You need an extra conductor in order to make this 3-way with pilot light work. I don't have that so it is a failed purchase for me. The description could have made this more clear.