New guy here, just getting into HA, my hubs on the way, in the mean time trying to work out a decent switch to control Aeotecs micro controllers. Found these very nice Adorned switches at home depot of all things, anyway no pushbutton.
Bought one, took it apart and turned it into a momentary contact rocker switch.
Here’s a video of it working:cheesy video
I couldn’t believe how simple it was.
Few small flat jewelers screwdrivers are all you need
-pry off the rocker cover (from the ends, not the sides)
-remove the rocker assembly by gently prying the pivot supports away from the rocker, note how the spring and switch arm connect to each other.
-Remove the internal switch lever.
-pry the inner switch contact (the one closest to the LED port) away from the outside wall towards the center of the switch. (by doing this you’re preventing the switch from traveling over the center line and thus locking on the on position)
-put the thing back together.
If the switch still latches, open it up again and pry the contact a little more.
Anyway, if this is of interest to you all, next time I do one I’ll take some pictures.
Sorry I know this is a little old, but I ran into this while looking at the best way to do in wall switches and achieve high WAF factor. This seems to be the best solution so far, so if you’re willing to snap a few pictures on the next one you do I’d be very appreciative.
Sure will do, I’ll try to do one tonight.
OK, here’s the video of how I did this. No audio for some stupid reason, but it’s not that tough.
switch-hack-how-to
Awesome! Thank you for the video, I’ll hopefully be giving this a try this weekend.
MIke,
I’ve been reading your post(s) on connecting Legrand Adrone switches with Aeotecs micro controlers and am interested in trying this. In short, I have an entry way light which is controlled by a downstairs switch and an upstairs switch (both Legrand Paddle switches). I live in a very old house and have been told by multiple electricians that the wiring for my upstairs switch is faulty and would need to be replaced (tear open walls) if I want the second switch to work. There is still power going to the upstairs switch however, so my thought was to connect a micro controller there and a second to the fully functioning downstairs switch which would in effect enable me to control the light from both switches via z-wave by grouping together- yes? Along with this I’d try your hack to modify the paddle to a push button.
Appreciate any thoughts or recommendations you might have on this scenario.
I can’t say the plan will work or not without having a schematic diagram of the existing wiring.
But it sounds to me like it’s supposed to be a three way setup, but there’s a missing traveler between the upper and lower switch. Meaning that the lower switch can turn the light on and off, but only if the upper switch is on, is this correct?, or maybe it’s the other way around.
If that’s the case then two micros aren’t going to be able to turn that into a three way.
You could use one of the switches to control a micro (this micro wouldn’t be connected to a load), then have ST control the other one which is connected to the load. That would work as long as ST is online…
How do these work for dimming at the actual device using a dimmer micro controller?
@Coldair tap hold release, then tap hold release to go the other direction.
Awesome, Thank you for the quick response! I’ll be installing 10 plus of these devices in this configuration in the next month, so thankyou for the detailed info and videos.
@Mike_Maxwell how do these feel after you modify them? I assume they don’t have a click or anything like that.
Does a quick press just turn on at whatever the last dim level was? Another to turn it off?
There is still a click, though it’s not as prominent once the paddle is hacked.
All dimmers when turned on via their respective switches will default to the last level they were at when turned off.
Hi Mike - I just implemented (at least trying to) your adorne switch hack in concert with an aeotec micro dimmer V2. The micro dimmer works but only if I press the button on the device itself. The lights do not turn on if I press the adorne switch (yes It clicks momentarily and goes right back to it’s starting position). Any idea why the switch is not working? The aeotec device is on a simple single-pole circuit - hot and neutral are connected to respective slots and the load is connected to L. There is nothing connected to N. The switch is wired to the aeotec switch slots and go to the corresponding terminals on the adorne switch (hot and 1-pole). Did I do something wrong? Thanks so much in advance and also for your posts on how to do this.
The aeon needs to be set to momentary, by default it’s expecting to be connected to a toggle.
This can be done via the button on the device or by using the device type I wrote for them and selecting momentary in the preferences.
The instructions on how to change thus via hardware are in the aeon manual for the device.
I’m assuming that the light stays on white the switch is pressed, if not then the hack wasn’t sucessful.
Thanks - I’ll check if the light stays on when holding down the button (i want to say it did not work but can’t remember if I tried it this way). I’ll let you know. Thanks for the heads up on the momentary setting.
Have you tried using the adorne locator status light with an aeotec micro switch? I’m wondering if it’s possible to wire the led locator light in as well…?
I use the locator lights, but they are wired permanent on, there isn’t any way to have them controlled via the aeon modules, unless you want them to come on with the lights…
did you wire the locator lights to the aeon terminals? Wondering how best to connect it all up…
Yea, those terminals are too small, I pig tailed the hot one connection to the aeon, and another the lead from the indicator
@Mike_Maxwell Thanks for posting on this cool hack of a switch. There was a request in another thread on the H801 RGB LED Controller very cool modifications by @erocm1231 asking how the switch conversion was done on a Decora paddle because the H801 can take a momentary input to control the lights. So I made a simple video to hopefully help out anyone wanting to modify a Decora style.