Installing a Humidity-Controlled Switch for a Bathroom Fan
$35
30 Minutes
Medium
I love easy, home-automating gadgets. I'm drawn to devices that offer convenience, energy-savings, affordability, and a simple cool factor. I've installed motion sensors, photocells (light activated) and timers, but this is the first one that's'' triggered by humidity. Neat eh? Here are the basic steps of the install; I go into more detail on the blog, including a numskull mistake.
Leviton sent me their Humidity Sensor and Fan Control to try out. It senses humidity and turns the fan on and off as needed. No more leaving it on all day.
It was simply a matter of removing the plate and the existing toggle switch. (power off!)
With the power on, I verified which was the hot and which was the switch leg.
Lights out! Normal toggle switches don't need it, but I had to add a neutral wire for this particular switch. Electronic's and what-not, I assume.
There were four wires to land: Hot (on black screw), Neutral (on silver screw), ground / bare (on green screw), and switch leg (on red / purple screw)
I like to add a wrap of good quality electrical tape (like EchoTape here), just as an added layer of protection.
Install the sensor, flip power back on at the breaker and give it a test in manual mode. Perfect! It can be used in those indelicate situations where, perhaps someone may want to run a fan in a non-humid "situation".
There's only one way to test it out for sure. A nice, steamy shower!
It works great. There are plenty of settings to adjust sensitivity, timing, and a humidistat. Since it's so dry here, I set it to fire up at relatively low humidity.
Want more details about this and other DIY projects? Check out my blog post!
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3 comments
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Great details! This seems like a handy gadget to have installed.
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