NP16164_01BK_E1 Schneider Unica Range KNX Wall Station with Eight Keys Black Status LEDs Bus Coupler

The NP16164_01BK_E1 is the eight-key version of the Unica KNX wall station, supplied in black. With eight keys on an 86 millimetre plate, it is the largest configuration in this family and behaves more like a dedicated controller than a switch plate.

The design principle behind the device is that the face should not advertise its complexity. In idle state the surface is a uniform plane, and the key symbols appear only through the backlighting, which is why the panel looks simpler than the number of functions attached to it. The symbols are applied from the prefabricated foils supplied with the device, so a panel stocked for one room can be relabelled for another.

Underneath, the wall station is a KNX device with an integrated bus coupling unit, connected to the line through a bus connecting terminal and commissioned in ETS5 or higher. It draws approximately 18 milliamperes from the bus with no mains supply. Every key distinguishes a short operation from a long one, giving sixteen usable functions from eight keys.

At eight keys the plate is doing enough that an undisciplined layout will be misused. The practical answer is a written layout convention that groups the keys by what they operate and applies the same order in every room of a type, held with the group addresses so that a replacement plate can be commissioned to match.

On a black finish the symbols are legible only because they are backlit, which makes the day and night brightness settings more important than they are on a light plate. Both should be set with the device installed and the room in its normal lighting condition.

The fixing frame and the cover frame are ordered separately. On a black wall station, a shade difference in the frame is visible across a room.

The proximity function should be judged against the position of the plate, since an eight-key panel emits considerably more light than a two-key one. A sensor that wakes the symbols as people pass is an irritation in a corridor and an advantage in an unlit room.

• Hotel presidential and executive suites — the clearest application, where lighting, curtains and several stored conditions are all operated from one position.
• Residential projects — used in living areas where the lighting is arranged in layers and the client expects a comprehensive control plate rather than a switch.
• Ballrooms and function rooms — applied where the room is set to different conditions through the day and the black finish suits a dark fitted interior.
• High-end boardrooms — specified where the lighting, blinds and presentation equipment are controlled from the table side.

Where a building uses the same design at two, four, six and eight keys, the eight-key version is reserved for the rooms that genuinely need it, which keeps the rest of the installation simpler and easier to use.