Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang

The Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang is a Z-Wave touch panel in white glass with a metal bezel. It takes the place of a conventional two switch plate and retrofits into the existing back box, so the wall does not have to be opened up.

• Toggle or momentary, set per button
• Nine association groups, so it can work without the hub
• The Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang is built for the conditions
• It strengthens the mesh
• What it needs

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

Toggle or momentary, set per button

This is the setting that makes a Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang more useful than it looks. Each button can be set to toggle, holding a circuit on until it is pressed again, or to momentary, firing and springing back. Momentary is what you want for a scene: press it, the whole room changes, and the button does not sit there latched. One plate can therefore carry one real light circuit and one scene trigger.

Nine association groups, so it can work without the hub

Z-Wave associations let one device tell another directly, with no controller in the middle. Nine groups is generous, and the practical effect is that the switch keeps driving the lights it is associated with even while the hub is rebooting after an update or has been unplugged by somebody tidying. On a wall switch, that is worth understanding before you choose one.

The Hogar Touch Switch 2 Gang is built for the conditions

Capacitive sensors under a single sheet of glass with a metal bezel, and the panel is built heat, humidity and shock proof. A single sheet of glass with no seams also means nothing for kitchen grease or bathroom damp to work its way into, which is where cheaper multi part plates fail first here.

It strengthens the mesh

Mains powered, so it repeats for every other Z-Wave device around it. Inclusion is a touch and hold of any button for more than five seconds, and it handles ELV, fluorescent, incandescent and LED loads.

What it needs

A neutral wire at the switch box, and a Z-Wave controller, which is not included. It retrofits into the existing back box so the wall does not have to be opened up. The controllers we carry are the Fibaro Home Center Lite, the Fibaro Home Center 2 and the Homey Pro.

For four circuits, the Hogar Touch Switch 4 Gang. If the room has a ceiling fan, the Hogar fan regulator matches it. Hogar Controls are at hogarcontrols.com.