NP16260_0104 Schneider Unica KNX Four Inch Touch Panel Colour Display Room Control Flush Mounted Unit

The NP16260_0104 is a four inch touch panel from the Unica KNX range, and it is a different class of device from the key panels in the same family: instead of a fixed set of rockers it presents a 480 by 480 pixel LCD touch screen with 16.7 million colours, driven by an ARM Cortex-A7 processor with 64 MB of flash and 128 MB of RAM. The screen is the control surface, so the functions are defined in the project rather than by the hardware, and the panel can present floor plans, room lists or grouped controls that would need several key panels to reproduce.

Mechanically it is an 86 by 86 millimetre flush mounted device, 32.1 millimetres deep, made of glass and plastic and installed horizontally. It runs from a 24 volt DC supply and consumes 2 watts at that connection, and it communicates on KNX. Proximity sensing wakes the interface at a distance of 12 centimetres, which is published by Schneider Electric and varies with ambient conditions.

A touch panel changes the commissioning sequence rather than the wiring. The device is a single KNX participant on the bus and a single 24 volt DC load, but the functions that used to live on eight physical keys now live in a project file, which means the screen layout is a deliverable in its own right: the pages, the group addresses behind them and the wording on each button all have to be documented, or the panel becomes a screen that only the original programmer can interpret.

The 24 volt DC supply is a separate consideration from the bus, and on a project where the panel is remote from the power supply the volt drop at 2 watts should be checked rather than assumed. The proximity sensor needs the same judgement as a backlit key panel: at 12 centimetres it will wake as a person reaches for the plate, and in a corridor that is an advantage while in a bedroom it may not be.

Hotel guest rooms are the clearest application, where one screen replaces a multi key panel and can present the lighting scenes, the room temperature and the service requests in the guest's own language. High end residential projects use it where the client expects a graphical interface for lighting, blinds and climate rather than a row of keys, and boardrooms and function rooms apply it where the room is reconfigured between uses and the control surface has to change with it.

Reception areas and lobbies specify it because the screen can show building information as well as controls, and premium retail and hospitality interiors use it where the device is part of the design.