Hogar Touch Switch HP 16A

The Hogar touch switch is a single-gang glass panel from Hogar Controls: a white square face with a champagne bezel and one circular touch zone that lights with a blue ring. It replaces an ordinary wall switch in a standard two-module back box, so it is a retrofit rather than a rewire, and being capacitive glass there is nothing mechanical to wear out or rattle.

• A retrofit, not a rewire
• It needs a Hogar hub, and the bands must match
• Why the current rating is not printed on this page
• Wiring a Hogar touch switch into older installations
• Two things to confirm with us

It is a Z-Wave device, which means it needs a Hogar hub. This is the thing to understand before buying. There is no Wi-Fi in it and no app that talks to it directly. Without a Hogar controller on the same network it is a touch switch and nothing more. Z-Wave is also region banded, and Hogar's Indian-market panels run on 865.2 MHz rather than the 868.42 MHz used across Europe and most of Africa, so the panel and the hub have to be a matched pair. Ask us and we will check what is in the box before it leaves the shop.

On the current rating, we would rather say nothing than guess. This listing is titled HP 16A. Hogar's own published material gives 5 A and 150 W for the documented single-gang panel, and 15 A for the high-power variant in the same hardware family. Three different numbers, none of which we can tie to this exact unit from a photograph. Since the whole point of a high-power switch is the number, and since getting it wrong on a geyser circuit is a fire, we have left it off the page. Message us and we will read the label on the actual unit.

It needs a neutral at the switch position. Many older installations in Dar run a switch drop with only live and switched-live, and in that case the wall will need a neutral pulled through before this panel will work at all. Worth having your electrician look before you order.

A retrofit, not a rewire

The Hogar touch switch replaces an ordinary wall switch in a standard two-module back box, so the wall is not opened up beyond the plate. It is a single-gang glass panel, a white square face with a champagne bezel and one circular touch zone that lights with a blue ring.

Being capacitive glass there is nothing mechanical to wear out or rattle, which is the quiet advantage of a touch panel over a rocker on a switch used many times a day.

It needs a Hogar hub, and the bands must match

This is a Z-Wave device. There is no Wi-Fi in it and no app that talks to it directly, so without a Hogar controller on the same network it is a touch switch and nothing more.

Z-Wave is also region banded, and Hogar Indian-market panels run on 865.2 MHz rather than the 868.42 MHz used across Europe and most of Africa. The panel and the hub have to be a matched pair. Ask us and we will check what is in the box before it leaves the shop.

Why the current rating is not printed on this page

This listing is titled HP 16A. Hogar own published material gives 5 A and 150 W for the documented single-gang panel, and 15 A for the high-power variant in the same hardware family. Three different numbers, none of which we can tie to this exact unit from a photograph.

The whole point of a high-power switch is the number, and getting it wrong on a geyser circuit is a fire. So we have left it off rather than repeat a figure we cannot stand behind. Message us and we will read the label on the actual unit before you order.

Wiring a Hogar touch switch into older installations

It needs a neutral at the switch position. Many older installations in Dar run a switch drop with only live and switched-live, and in that case a neutral has to be pulled through before this panel will work at all.

Worth having your electrician look before you order rather than after it arrives. The panel is 95 x 95 x 34.2 mm on a two-module British Standard back box, draws under 0.5 W on standby, is rated IP20 for indoor dry locations, and works from 0 to 40 degrees C. Hard wired, so an electrician fits it.

Two things to confirm with us

The radio band and the current rating. Hogar build for the Indian market on 865.2 MHz and European hubs run 868.42, so the panel and the controller have to be a matched pair. And we will not print a rating we cannot verify, so ask and we will read the label on the unit in stock before you commit.

Your electrician should also check there is a neutral at the switch position. Plenty of older wiring in Dar has only live and switched-live, and this will not work without one. Hogar are at hogarcontrols.com, and our other panels are in AC and heaters.