Dana Innovations, parent of Sonance and iPort, launched a new company whose products are designed to eliminate a visual hodgepodge of on-wall light switches, electrical outlets, audio/video wall plates, keypads and touchscreens.
Dana’s Trufig startup debuted at the CEDIA Expo with installation kits that enable installers to flush-mount light switches, keypads and other such devices into walls without visually obtrusive flanges and with a uniform industrial design within a room and throughout the house. The kits were in beta testing for several months in select markets and went national at the Expo.
The kits build upon a design introduced in 2006 by sister company Sonance in its Architectural series of speakers, which deliver a near-invisible look because they lack on-wall flanges and don’t protrude from the wall.
Likewise, Trufig kits keep keypads, data ports and the like completely flush with the wall and flange-less. The kits also eliminate inconsistencies in color and design from one brand of in-wall device to another, said Jason Sloan, Trufig sales VP. One supplier’s white differs from another supplier’s white, he noted.
“We are the aesthetic treatments for other manufacturers’ devices,” Sloan added.
The kits consist of rigid flat panels with integrated recessed back boxes. A panel is secured to a wall’s studs, and sheetrock is installed around it. A contractor tapes off the seams, muds over the seams, and feathers the mud so the panel disappears after painting. Installers use spacers to place a device into a box. The device is then covered by a flush-mount fascia held in place by magnets, eliminating visible screws.
Fascias are available in three colors — white, brown and almond — but are also paintable on site.
Kits are available for Crestron’s 6L and 12L in-wall touchscreens, Sonance in-wall volume controls and multi-room-A/V keypads, Lutron lighting controls, and Leviton power and data outlets. The price of a single-gang kit for such applications as lighting controls and keypads is $300, and double-gang kits are $400, Supran said. The Creston touchscreen applications are $1,000 and $3,000. Prices exclude installation.
