How to install Lutron switch - question for the sparkies

[Alan Lightstone]

I'm getting stumped by this. I have a number of Lutron RadioRA Maestro switches that I want to install in the workshop I am building. Right now, there are a number of light switches installed in metal conduit boxes (it's a converted garage area). The Lutron switches are larger than the simple light switches that are presently installed.

Here's a look at the size discrepancy:
Conduit switches double.jpg

As you can see, the switch on the right has the large metal parts with the screw holes on the top and bottom.

I bought a double mud ring that allows the switches to be mounted to the conduit box, but how to you get a cover plate on them? Typical metal ones don't have the clearance on the top and bottom corners to fit the larger amount of metal:
Conduit Switches - Plate Double.jpg

It looks like the metal cover plate will work in a single switch location:
Conduit switch - Single installed.jpg

It's just the double ones I think that are giving me fits.

What is the solution to this?

[John Lanciani]

Tin snips, trim to fit. The dimmers have the larger mounting flange to act as a heat sink, but in a metal box with a metal raised cover you’ll be fine.

for the record, that’s a raised cover, (also called a Mulberry cover regionally) not a plaster ring which is used behind wallboard. First pic is a two gang raised cover, second pic is a two gang mud ring.

[Alan Lightstone]

Seriously? No manufacturer has come up with an off the shelf solution to these bigger switches / dimmers?

Seems crazy to have to go after them with tin snips.

Are dimmers just not used in these locations?

[Jim Becker]

Box spacing for mounting switches and outlets is "standard" but the type of metal box you have is physically smaller than a plastic or square metal box that goes in the wall. That's why things are "hanging over". That type of box is best suited to traditional toggle switches and outlets where you can break off the corner tabs. You need to change the box, itself, to something that has a larger dimension that can contain the entire switch plate inside the boundary for a multi-switch setup.

[Tim Bridge]

You need the cover that doesn’t have the crushed corners.
https://www.hubbell.com/raco/en/Prod.../809/p/1670695

809_1200.jpg

You will I’ll need to break off the fins on the side next to the adjacent switch.
With these covers, you may have to break both sides.

The fins are heat sinks, they aren’t needed in a metal cover.

[Alan Lightstone]

Well, I went to HD and Lowes and neither one had those in stock (you can order them in quantities of 10 from HD online.)

I saw this at Lowes and thought it worth a shot:

Sigma Electric 4 and one half inch electrical box cover.jpg

Well, good news and bad news. The dimmers fit in them great with the correct screw hole locations. The bad news, is that they are 4-1/2" boxes, not 4" boxes like are on the house.

While it would be tempting just to remove all the boxes, there are quite a number of them, and they are stuccoed to the walls inside the garage. I'm thinking I would have to chisel them out (is that correct?)

I never knew there were two sizes of the metal double boxes. Should I try to find the larger boxes if I need to change them out?

So is chiseling going to be necessary if Tim's idea of the RACO covers without the crushed corners doesn't work? I really don't want to use tin snips, and I'm still not sure they would fit or have screw holes for attachment after that.

[Ed Edwards]

Alan,
Try these on for size. the shipping is the only downside here
Ed

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-5-RA...xw9:rk:37:pf:0

[Ed Edwards]

Alan.
Please disregard my previous entry!! Totally misdirected.

Ed

[ray grundhoefer]

I believe the boxes you got at lowes are meant to be surface mounted for use with surface wire mold . You could put them over the top of the wall box but they are not listed to be installed flush. If you try to put 2 dimmers in a 2 gang box you may have overheating problems, they are made with the heat sinks for a reason

[Alan Lightstone]

These are surface mount metal 4" double boxes with metal conduit. Unfortunately, someone tried to make them look neat by stuccoing the outside corners to the stuccoed walls.

[Julie Moriarty]

To get the Maestro dimmers to work with a Garvin cover (or Mulberry cover or whatever they call it in your area) you will probably have to do some trimming on the edges of the switch. Even the full raised covers are rounded at the corners and probably won't allow the switch to sit flush. The reason Lutron did not make the Maestro dimmer to work with a Garvin cover is they never imagined it would be used in that kind of application. They are too expensive.

[Alan Lightstone]

They are too expensive.

Boy, no kidding.

Thanks, Julie.

I'll try that when the covers come in a few days. For my particular house / workshop setup, those switches will be great, and cost a fraction of what a full-fledged home automation system like a Savant or Crestron would cost. So for me, even though they are crazy expensive, they are still the lesser of two evils.

[Julie Moriarty]

Boy, no kidding.

Even though the cost seemed crazy, that didn't stop me from putting them in the last two houses. I've already installed 25 in the present house and still have a few more rooms to go. I know all about the insanity.

[Alan Lightstone]

Even though the cost seemed crazy, that didn't stop me from putting them in the last two houses. I've already installed 25 in the present house and still have a few more rooms to go. I know all about the insanity.

Julie, have you been using them with Amazon Echos? Over the past few days, I’ve gotten a number of routines programmed (a little wonky, but they do work), and I’ve rarely used a light switch over the past few days. I just talk to my Echos. Things like “Alexa, I’m going to work” work great turning off multiple lights. Really getting to like the combo.

[Julie Moriarty]

Julie, have you been using them with Amazon Echos? Over the past few days, I’ve gotten a number of routines programmed (a little wonky, but they do work), and I’ve rarely used a light switch over the past few days. I just talk to my Echos. Things like “Alexa, I’m going to work” work great turning off multiple lights. Really getting to like the combo.

I just have the standard Maestro, not the wireless. Besides, I can't talk to an electronic device. Feels too much like a Space Odyssey.