Mixing Toggle and Paddle Style Switches?

I have a house full of toggles. I'm eyeing the Ionvelli Red presence sensors, which of course is paddle only.

Aesthetics wise, how would it look, for instance, in a multi-switch gang box? Or even standalone?

I'm having difficulty visualizing. I'm not that persnickety.

Easy way is just head to home dept buy a couple of paddle switches and replace the multi-gang box toggle with a paddle in highly trafficked area's and then live with it a few days.

If you have a spouse, wife, signiant other, room mate make sure you get their input also.

@velvetfoot If you ignore the weird shadowing I have in the room (tree leaves blocking light from the window across the room)

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Not bad. Do-able. :slight_smile:

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I have variations of this in numerous locations as well as a few Picos tossed in. They just work and have never struck me as visually offensive. Like @thebearmay above, the Inovelli light bars for status work very well. I have a pair of these in a very visible location to show locks and garage doors status.

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My modified Zooz toggles show status as well.
The Inovelli Presence sensor takes the investment $ up a notch.
Perhaps I should see if there is a Hubitat driver it works with, lol.

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Inovelli has a driver available for it. I don't use any of their Red stuff, but I have numerous Blue switches and 1 Blue mmW.

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Inovelli made a Hubitat driver for it? Interesting.

But they aren't button controllers. :wink:

Yes they are. 6 'buttons'.

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I had some that look like @thebearmay's post up there. E.g., this is three Inovelli Red dimmers.

We almost never touch these dimmers. Lighting automations controls them all. The two remaining toggles are for outside lights that we don't use, because there is a large floodlight controlled by an automation instead.

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They co-exist well!

Before I put the Red dimmers in, I made sure to consult with my spouse on the aesthetics. Pre-approval led to high WAF.

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Alas, I have no such constraint.

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After all of these decades of paddles, why do people still use toggles?

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Many houses still have them installed. Contractors tend to use whatever is cheaper or whatever they can find when building.

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Paddles suck. :slight_smile:

Two words - "Muscle memory"

People often resist change. For me, I bit the bullet years ago and replaced everything with Lutron Caseta devices, along with their Claro wall plates, for a nice clean look throughout the house. Some people hate the look of Caseta (original version, not the newer Decora style), while others like it. Fortunately, I am in the latter group. For me, mixing a toggle switch with a decora style switch in the same wall plate would drive me crazy. Maybe in a rarely used/seen location (like a basement, crawlspace, attic, or garage), but not somewhere where we have to see that abomination of aesthetics every day! :wink:

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I do remember when I replaced some my mom's switches with smart switches that were paddle she asked next time I was out was to make a trip to home depot to make the remaining toggle switches paddle. She was about 74 years old at the time and adopted to paddle really quick.

The only issue she had was to learn that the regular switches paddle up or paddle down. Where the smart switches tap up or tap down. But that didn't bother her. She liked the paddle design over toggle.

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You're pretty much forced to go all paddle once you get to 3+ gang boxes. You just won't (easily and inexpensively) find cover plates in those sizes that have the right number of toggle and paddle slots.

2 & 3 way paddle switches are inexpensive and if you buy them in 10 packs even more so. I did this where I didn't want to a mix of paddle and toggles in the same room. I left a few toggles in isolated rooms but mostly switched over. I don't think decora switches are as reliable as the old standby toggle but aesthetics seemed more important to me.

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