WiFi Touch Switch-1 Gang

A WiFi touch switch 1 gang in tempered glass that replaces the light switch on your wall and puts one circuit on your phone. No hub, no gateway: it joins your Wi-Fi on its own and appears in the Smart Life app.

• Before anything else: the neutral wire
• Why a WiFi touch switch 1 gang uses glass, not plastic
• One gang, and when that is the right one
• What it does once it is in
• What to check with us

It needs a neutral wire at the switch box.

Before anything else: the neutral wire

This is the question that decides whether a WiFi touch switch 1 gang can be fitted at all, and it is worth settling before you spend anything. A smart switch has to power itself continuously, even when the light it controls is off, so it needs a neutral at the back box. A great deal of older wiring in this city runs only the live and the switched live up to the plate, with the neutral going straight to the fitting. Ask your electrician to take the existing plate off and look. Five minutes then saves a wasted purchase.

Why a WiFi touch switch 1 gang uses glass, not plastic

There is no mechanism in a touch panel, so there is nothing to wear out and nothing to snap. Tempered glass wipes clean, which matters on the switch by a kitchen door that everybody touches with whatever is on their hands, and it does not scratch from a key or a ring the way a painted plastic rocker does. It is treated to resist damp, so a bathroom or a kitchen is fine.

One gang, and when that is the right one

One circuit from one plate: a bedroom light, a passage light, a bathroom, an outside lamp. Count the buttons on the switch you are replacing, not the lights in the room. Two lamps on one switch is still one gang; two switches side by side on one plate is two.

What it does once it is in

It joins your Wi-Fi on its own and appears in the Smart Life app, with no hub and no gateway to buy. Schedules bring the light on at dusk and off at bedtime whether anybody is home or not, and it joins scenes with the rest of your Smart Life devices so one tap runs a whole room. Alexa and Google Assistant both answer to it.

What to check with us

Whether there is a neutral at the box, and how many gangs the existing plate has. Send a photograph of the inside of the plate if your electrician has it open and we will tell you before you order.

For two circuits from the same plate there is the 2 gang version, and for a fan there is the fan speed controller in the same glass. If there is no neutral, a battery RF wireless switch with a relay at the fitting is the way round it. Tuya, whose platform runs the app, is at tuya.com.