NP16162_01MS Schneider Unica KNX 4 Key Push Button Metallic Silver Backlit Scene Control Panel Unit

The NP16162_01MS is a four-key Unica KNX push button in a metallic silver finish. This variant of the four-key panel is chosen where the device is visible against a metal or light surface, and the design intent is that the control should read as part of the architecture. Four keys with a backlit face suit rooms where the lighting is layered and the blinds are also controlled, because it allows lighting, curtains and a scene to sit on separate keys without the occupant having to remember a combination.

The panel is a bus device with its own coupling unit and is commissioned in ETS. Each key supports both a short and a long operation, so the four visible keys represent eight possible functions. The idle surface is a uniform plane, and the key symbols appear only through the backlighting, using the foils supplied with the device.

On a metallic finish, the frame is the part that most often lets an installation down, because the panel is supplied as the push button alone and a frame ordered in a different shade is immediately obvious against metal.

The second consideration is the function layout, which at four keys becomes a project decision: the same layout should be applied in every room of a type so that the panel is predictable, and the layout should be recorded with the group addresses so that a panel replaced years later can be commissioned to match.

Where the panel controls blinds as well as lighting, the orientation of the blind keys should follow the direction of travel rather than the position of the window, because the occupant reads the key as up and down.

The proximity function is best evaluated in the final location, and the night brightness should be set by looking at the panel in darkness rather than in the commissioning light.

• Boardrooms and executive offices are the strongest application, where four functions cover the room and the metal finish matches the joinery.
• Hotels use it in suites and public rooms where the lighting and curtains are operated from one position and the wall device is part of the interior.
• Restaurants apply it where the room is set to a scene before service.
• Showrooms and retail environments specify it where a large open area is divided into zones that are controlled from a small number of places.
• Residential projects use it in living and dining areas where the lighting is arranged in layers.

Because the finish is available across the whole key count range, it is also used to keep a single visual language across a building whose rooms differ in complexity.