Leviton Sukz.

7942 Views 24 Replies 11 Participants Last post by markore, Jan 22, 2016

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · Oct 22, 2013

Had a customer request all Leviton Renu plates EVERYWHERE in his house. They're screwless snap on decora cover plates.

They are junk... don't ever agree to install them. They easily take 3 times as long to install, and they still don't look that great. Worst part was they don't even work properly with leviton quickport data straps.. the strap is too thick, and the plate sticks out from the wall.

I really like the Lutron screwless plates, but the customer didn't like the crack between back plate and the front snap on.

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HARRY304E

· #2 · Oct 22, 2013

FrunkSlammer said:
Had a customer request all Leviton Renu plates EVERYWHERE in his house. They're screwless snap on decora cover plates.

They are junk... don't ever agree to install them. They easily take 3 times as long to install, and they still don't look that great. Worst part was they don't even work properly with leviton quickport data straps.. the strap is too thick, and the plate sticks out from the wall.

I really like the Lutron screwless plates, but the customer didn't like the crack between back plate and the front snap on.

:sleep1:

:laughing:

Those are insane...:no::laughing:

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FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #3 · Oct 22, 2013

Yeah have you installed them? They just "snap" in.. I wonder how many times you can actually remove them and snap them back on before they don't work any more.

At least they're cheap.

I won't do them again.

chewy

· #4 · Oct 22, 2013

The face plates on our stuff snap on.

drspec

· #5 · Oct 22, 2013

I used either those or a P&S version for my kitchen backsplash

and while they did take longer to install, they worked great with no problems

look good too

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #6 · Oct 22, 2013

Did it have 2 pieces to the back plate? Those are the P&S.

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drspec

· #7 · Oct 22, 2013

FrunkSlammer said:
Did it have 2 pieces to the back plate? Those are the P&S.

I believe those were the ones

yamatitan

· #8 · Oct 22, 2013

They actually saved me a lot of time. Customer wanted different colors all over the house but was out of town and had a huge list in different locations on a 8k square feet house. So I just installed best I could and he was able to come back and easily pop the plates off the ones in the wrong locations to change them out. Came in handy and I dont see how they take longer once you get the hang of the positioning of the device so the plates sit right.

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #9 · Oct 22, 2013

Yamatitan, you're talking of the leviton's specifically? The colours option is great.. I just had the design.

The plastic strap sits on the front side of the switch/receptacle, but under the switch/receptacle screws.. so you can never get a real snug fit. If you over-torque the screws, they'll pop right through the snap-on plate. If you don't over-torque them, the receptacle will be slightly loose. You can shift it and move it around with your bare hands.

It's a terrible design. And multi-gangs are a nightmare trying to get them to look decent. But add in a plastic strap low voltage controller in one of those gang positions and it'll push that device out away from the wall, while the others are in tight. I had this in the bathroom where the vent fan was a LV touch less sensor on a plastic strap. I had to do some serious custom work on that strap, probably took 30mins to make it look right.

That same problem with the Leviton Quickport straps, which I had to use because the customer didn't want screws for the data jack plates.

First world problem.. but I think it's a poor design compared to the competition.

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yamatitan

· #10 · Oct 22, 2013

Yes im talking specifically about the leviton renu. I found a sweet spot where they would line up and the covers would snap on perfect with no device play after. Once I found that they all went on smooth. I actually used a different setup for the communication stuff that the customer supplied so I cant comment on that. I also can agree that the 4 gain boxes where a little tuff luckily his house only had 3 how it was laid out. One thing I found after though is he had 3 bad 3 way switches and one bad single pole. So the quality control was a little bad but that was before they where released to the public so hopefully they figured that out. He owns a pretty big hardware store and leviton gave him all the devices free for evaluation and to eventually sell in his store. Kinda a test period before public release. Luckily they sent plenty so we had extras of all the colors and switches to swap around.

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #11 · Oct 22, 2013

They were leviton renu devices?? So they came with that back plate built into them?

yamatitan

· #12 · Oct 22, 2013

Yes they came with the little black plate already attached just like the picture in the link you provided in the first post. All you did was screw them down and push the cover on.

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #13 · Oct 22, 2013

Oh sounds better. The ones I bought come with a back plate that you have slide over the device, and then screw the device down over it.

Sort of confusing to explain, but a really poor method. I have some extra plates, I should take some pictures of the shoddy-ness of the design.

Probably much better if you buy the devices with the back plate built into them.

yamatitan

· #14 · Oct 22, 2013

FrunkSlammer said:
Oh sounds better. The ones I bought come with a back plate that you have slide over the device, and then screw the device down over it.

Sort of confusing to explain, but a really poor method. I have some extra plates, I should take some pictures of the shoddy-ness of the design.

Probably much better if you buy the devices with the back plate built into them.

Yea that does suck, maybe thats how they come now? Like I said the ones I used where kinda test units so they could have changed for the worse.

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #15 · Oct 22, 2013

2

Maybe this helps explain my gripe a little better...

Just doesn't seem like a solid system. It's hard to tighten the receptacles so they're strong, because you eat up the plastic on the back plate. Seems to work okay for switches.. and terrible for any kind of plastic strapped device (low voltage).

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HackWork

· #16 · Oct 22, 2013

This is the type of thing I hate. You spend more time di*king around with this little insignificant crap than doing the real work. And the homeowner thinks you should be charging less because it's only easy cover plates!

Screw you, do your own fancy coverplates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

FrunkSlammer

Discussion Starter · #17 · Oct 22, 2013

Finally! That's the reply I wanted to hear. lol

Screw your screwless plates!

And screw you leviton for making this crap available for PITA customers to demand! Guess if I ever have a PITA customer demand these again, I'll say they have to also get the expensive leviton renu receptacles and switches.. sounds like an easier install.

Live and learn.

rrolleston

· #18 · Oct 22, 2013

Can't remember the brand but I have determined that there will be an extra charge for installation after just doing one. They are a PITA to deal with. Thinking two piece Pass & Seymour but can't remember.

yamatitan

· #19 · Oct 22, 2013 (Edited)

Yea the picture you showed is not how the ones I used where designed. The screw was touching the metal plate as support and the plastic bracket was attatched with other means not pinched behind the screw like that. There was no way to crack it by overtightening but it would start to cave in pushing the edges out making the plate not sit flush.

It looks like the design you used just used normal decora devices with the renu plates. Mine where just like in the op link with the device and plate the whole cover snapped off the device to swap colors. So in conclusion dont just use the plates make sure you get the devices and plates much better design.

Elephante

· #20 · Oct 22, 2013

FrunkSlammer said:
Maybe this helps explain my gripe a little better... Just doesn't seem like a solid system. It's hard to tighten the receptacles so they're strong, because you eat up the plastic on the back plate. Seems to work okay for switches.. and terrible for any kind of plastic strapped device (low voltage).

lol those are a pain especially if the sheet rock is cut too large.

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