Screen Innovations Releases Fontus, Enabling Motorized Screen and Shade Control
Screen Innovations has announced the immediate availability of Fontus. This new product enables the company’s low-voltage motorized screens and shades to be powered and controlled via any traditional two-conductor wiring. SI’s Fontus allows integrators to utilize wire that may already exist inside a commercial building or home to connect screens and shades to a modern control system.
No bigger than a pack of gum and easily mounted to a DIN rail, Fontus can make a two-conductor wire perform 485 communication as if it were an eight-conductor wire, significantly simplifying the installation. As long as there is a two-conductor wire available near the screen or shade location, Fontus — a dongle that plugs into SI’s new Janus power and control hub — converts low-voltage communications signals and power from a five-conductor system for distribution over two-conductor wire. The signal is decoded for reception at the screen or shade via a second Fontus dongle with no loss of signal.
Fontus can also be used to enable basic control of screens over two-conductor wire through dry and wet contact closures. IR input, and 485 signals. For example, when a door opens or a projector is activated, a contact closure or 12-volt trigger can signal a motorized screen to deploy.