C2E616103_MB_C1 Schneider Cuadro H Glass Faceplate Keypad Twofold Black SELV Bus Node ETS 86mm Square

The C2E616103_MB_C1 is the glass-faced version of the two-gang Cuadro H keypad. Glass is a different proposition from the plastic and metal plates that share its dimensions. The article number identifies it in the third digit from the end, where 03 means a glass face rather than the 01 plastic or the 02 metal of the same two-gang device, and the MB suffix is the black colour.

What sits behind the glass is the familiar bus node: 21 to 30 volts DC from the KNX line, about 13 milliamperes at 24 volts, an integrated coupling unit, a two-core connector with red and black cores, and no mains connection. The plate imposes no load limit and can control lighting, a blind, or a stored scene from the same article number. The envelope stays at 86 by 86 millimetres and 29 millimetres deep, and the metal retaining ring is limited to 6 kgf.cm.

A glass front changes the sensing calibration more than any other finish in the range. Proximity detection is by microwave, and the instructions are explicit that sensitivity is closely related to the panel material. The material and one of two sensitivity levels are configured in ETS, so the glass parameter has to be selected rather than left at a plastic default.

Two further details follow from the surface itself. Glass is the easiest of the three finishes to wipe clean and the hardest to keep clean in a busy room, because a black glass face records every touch. The instructions restrict cleaning to a soft dry cloth with no solvents or corrosives. And glass is brittle in a way that polymer is not: the plate is not a structural element and nothing should be leaned against it, which is worth saying to a client who has chosen the finish for a corridor where trolleys pass. Keep the dust cover on through decoration for the same reason, and clip the plate on last.

The black glass two-gang plate is chosen where the wall itself is a design element. Hotel guest rooms use it on dark lacquered or stone-finished walls where the plate reads as a black rectangle rather than as a switch, and the two gangs cover the entrance lighting and the bedside circuit.

Residential hallways and staircases apply it where a run of plates would otherwise break up a decorated wall, and the black glass visually merges with a dark paint finish. Premium offices and meeting rooms specify it where the interior designer has requested a glass surface to match a glass partition, and show flats and sales suites use it because the finish photographs better than plastic.

Where the same scheme uses the four- and six-gang glass plates in the larger rooms, this version keeps the smaller rooms consistent, which on a reflective finish matters more than on a matte one because the eye picks up any difference in sheen immediately.