Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang

The Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang is a Z-Wave touch panel in black glass. Four circuits on one plate, retrofitted into the existing back box, so the wall does not have to be opened up.

• Black glass, and where it belongs
• The Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang, retrofitted into the existing box
• Each of the four can be a scene instead of a light
• Nine association groups
• What it needs

A Z-Wave controller is required and is not included. It needs a neutral wire at the switch box.

Black glass, and where it belongs

The Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang comes in black rather than the white of the two gang, which is a decision about the wall behind it. Against dark timber, a deep painted wall or a dark stone finish, a white plate is the loudest thing in the room. Black recedes and the lit touch points read clearly against it after dark, which on a four position plate is a practical advantage as well as a visual one.

The Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang, retrofitted into the existing box

It goes into the existing back box, so a four gang plate can be replaced without opening the wall, chasing anything, or repainting afterwards. In a finished house that is the difference between an afternoon and a fortnight, and it is the main reason people choose a smart plate over rewiring for smart modules.

Each of the four can be a scene instead of a light

Any button can be set to momentary rather than toggle, so it fires and springs back. On a four gang plate that opens up an arrangement most people do not think of: two real lighting circuits and two scene buttons on the same plate, so the wall by the door does the room lights and the evening scene from the same face.

Nine association groups

Associations let this panel drive other Z-Wave devices directly, without the controller in the path, so the lights still answer while the hub is restarting. Nine groups is enough to point different buttons at different devices. It handles ELV, fluorescent, incandescent and LED loads, and it repeats for the rest of the mesh because it is mains powered.

What it needs

A neutral wire at the switch box, and a Z-Wave controller, not included. Inclusion is a touch and hold of any button for more than five seconds. Our controllers are the Fibaro Home Center Lite, the Fibaro Home Center 2 and the Homey Pro.

In white with a metal bezel and two circuits, the Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang. For a ceiling fan in the same room, the Hogar fan regulator. The maker is Hogar Controls, at hogarcontrols.com.