Cooper RF9500 Addition

Other Devices & Integrations Lighting & Load Control
#1

Hi,

I just completed a mod that I would like to share. I live in a house in the US that was built in the early '30s. One of the disadvantages is that there are very few light switches and with plaster walls it is difficult to add new boxes. I have a 3 gang wall switch that is located next to my front door. One switch controls the ceiling light in the Living Room, One controls the outdoor lights by the door and the third controls the outdoor porch lights. I have always wanted to have another light switch to light additional lights inside. I really like the Lutron Connected Bulb Remote but have been unable to get it to work with Vera. it does work with a bulb directly and it works if paired with my Wink Hub. The Lutron Remote is available for $30 dollars at Home Depot. I looked around for an atlernative and came across the Cooper RF9500 Zwave RF remote. It is available for $50 dollars at Amazon. It is meant to be added to a wall that has no box at all. Lutron does sell the RFBS-22 that allows it to be mounted to existing Decora light switches. The problem is the RFBS-22 is difficult to find, and you need one for each of the existing light switches. The RFBS-allows the RF9500 to be snapped to it. My solution was to modify an existing Cooper 4 gang screwless wall plate so that it could be used instead.

Here are pictures of the before and after.

-bob

#2

Here is a picture of the Cooper RF9500 without the wall plate.

-bob

#3

Here are pictures of the 4 gang wall plate, both modified and unmodified. You can see that the only thing that was needed was to cut off one quarter of the base plate. The RF9500 is snapped into the top plate and then the assembly is snapped onto the base plate that was attached to the existing switches.

-bob

#4

Last photos. This is the RF9500 snapped into the wall plate before being snapped onto the wall.

-bob

#5

Here is a picture of the Lutron Connected Bulb Remote installed into a Cooper 2 gang screwless wall plate with an existing GE wall dimmer… The Lutron installs differently than the Cooper. With the Lutron, you screw the base of the wall plate to the existing swich and then snap the cover over the base. Then you remove the adhesive double stick tape from the back of the remote and place it into the blank opening. The remote ends up actually stuck to the wall behind the face plate.

-bob

#6

Here is a link to the RFBS22 on Amazon. They sell for 15.30 each. So for my wall plate it would cost nearly 46 dollars just for the mount.

Here is a link to the RF9500 on Amazon.

-bob

#7

Nice post. The pictures tell the story and I’m sure that this will be very helpful to people needing a switch without a wall box and a clean and professional looking installation.

#8

Thanks Zwaver,

Amazon now has the Cooper RF switch on sale for $40.95.

-bob