Momentary off Decora Switch

I was looking around to see if there were any switches I could use for things like fans and lights that do not have physical switches (fan controllers, hue lights, etc.). The closest I found was a momentary on that is generally used for a garbage disposal, so I decided to make my own. It’s actually super simple and cheap. The benefit of this is if you have say a fan controller in the canopy and want to be able to reset it, this switch will allow you to momentarily interrupt the power to the controller. You may also be able to use the power interrupt to trigger a toggle if you capture the power on update. The reason for the switch is to keep people from turning off your smart devices so they’re no longer connected to the network.

What you need:
Standard decora switch
clicking pen with a spring
hot glue gun
plastic pry tools
wire cutters

The hardest part is pulling the switch out of the housing. For mine (Leviton), I had to pry both sides from the back to release the switch pivot point. Once the switch is out, hot glue the spring to the bottom of the switch and make sure it’s straight out.


Depending on the size and pressure of the spring, you may need to cut some of it off. I used about 2/3 of my spring. I had to soften the latching mechanism a little as well so my spring would reactivate the switch.