2 Gang Retractive Light Switch - Plum

A retractive rocker plate in plum, with chrome rockers and a screwless front. Both rockers are momentary: press one and it makes contact, release it and it springs straight back, so the switch sends a brief pulse rather than holding a circuit open or closed. That suits lighting run through a relay, an impulse module or a home automation controller, where the instruction is given by a tap and the load is handled somewhere else. Two gangs mean two separate pulses from a single plate.

We reach for switches like this on jobs where the lighting is driven by a controller rather than switched directly at the wall, and they earn their place in a hallway, on a landing or beside a bed where one plate needs to speak to two circuits or two scenes. Anyone fitting automation into a house that is already lived in usually wants the plates to read as ordinary switches, and this one does, right up to the moment the rocker returns to centre. The plum reads warm and deep, and it sits well against greys, greens and darker paint.

The plate is moulded polycarbonate with metal working parts inside, double insulated and made to the British standard for switches. Wired to a normal household supply, it belongs in dry indoor rooms well away from splashes. Rated at 10AX, it takes the small switching duty an automation input asks of it. Cleaning asks very little: a dry cloth over the rockers now and then, with no sprays or cream cleaners, which will haze chrome and mark a coloured plate. It carries a ten year warranty. Supplied as a single plate, and it is the one we would choose where a colour scheme is already settled and a white switch would look like an afterthought.

What does retractive mean?

The rocker only makes contact while you hold it. Let go and it springs back, sending a momentary pulse instead of latching on or off.

Can I use it as a normal light switch?

No. A retractive switch needs something to receive the pulse, such as a relay, an impulse module or a home automation input. For a standard lighting circuit you want a conventional latching rocker.

What is the switch rated at?

10AX, for a 220-250V, 50/60Hz domestic supply, and it is manufactured to BS EN 60669.

What size is the plate?

It is a square plate measuring 88mm by 88mm, with fixing centres at 60.3mm.

What is it made from?

Polycarbonate for the plate and rockers, with metal internals. It is Class 2, double insulated.

How should I clean it?

A dry cloth is enough. Keep solvents, bleach and cream cleaners away from both the plum finish and the chrome rockers.