0844 870 4807 info@hadleyav.co.uk
London | Herts | Beds | Bucks
0844 870 4807 info@hadleyav.co.uk
London | Herts | Beds | Bucks

RIP Control4 Mini-touch screen

Recently one of our clients asked us to upgrade his old Control4 Mini-Touch screen for the latest model, the Infinity Edge.  Here’s how to fit the new model in place of the poor old slightly yellowing but still functional touchpanel.

Kalsi 1The old one. Not much screen, too much plastic.  And that volume dial is turning yellow.  Errgh!

Kalsi2Yeah, it’s not much better looking under the hood.  They were fitted with a small speaker and I think even a microphone, but unfortunately these were never activated.
The new ones have full intercom though, and it works really well so ideal for a large house, especially when you need to tell the kids to get off the X-box and come down for dinner!

Kalsi3Right, so this is still the old panel.  Note the audio outputs on the back – they were useful if you needed to use another audio stream into the system, just had to remember to run extra cables to get the audio back to the amp!  The new ones also have these.
The previous installers had run two Cat5′s and a power flex, just to be on the safe side, although you can run these touchpanels on a single Cat5 and power them over the Ethernet jack with a POE switch or injector.  I find its much better than using mains as some of the panels can get quite hot due to the transformer sitting on the back of the unit.

Kalsi 4This is the adapter plate needed if you are going to use the old backbox.  It’s a neat one-piece solution and makes the process very fast.  Just two screws to fit it to the old backbox and we’re nearly there.

Kalsi 5You can’t really tell due to my bad photo but this the new touchpanel connection unit.  It’s got an RJ45 jack on the back for data and POE, as well as the usual mains flex for local mains connection if no POE available.
It fits perfectly into the space, and takes two screws to fix into place.

Kalsi 6And here’s the new panel.

Kalsi 7Loading – always a good sign.
The new panel sits perfectly on the metal frame, allowing some space for the built-in speaker and mic used for the intercom.  Magnets hold the screen to the connection unit, and there is an option to use security tabs to make it difficult for somebody to walk off with one.

Kalsi 8And here we are.  It took me about 20 minutes in total, including faffing about with the iPhone and tidying up afterwards.This touchpanel can be used to browse digital music, movies, TV channels, radio stations, control lighting systems, CCTV cameras, view your photos as screensavers, intercom, set alarm clocks, security alarms, heating, air con, downloadable apps, it goes on and on.