How It Works

Polar Shades offers a number of different manual and motorized control options for your shades or awnings:

Exterior Manual Shades

Exterior manual shades come with either a clutch system (light duty exterior shade) or a manual crank using a worm gear for ease of operation. The manual crank has an eyelet that a crank wand is inserted into, that raises or lowers the shade to the desired height. The crank is rotated in one direction to raise and then reverse the rotation lower the shade.

Motorization

Not only does window covering motorization offer your customers comfort, convenience and control, it also provides solutions to problems they face every day.

Easily Adjust Hard-To-Reach Window Coverings
Conveniently Manage Glare
Effortlessly Adjust Window Coverings
Automatically Protect Furnishings
Instantly Create Privacy
Reduce Energy Costs
Increase Security

Interior Manual Shades

Interior Manual Shades have a clutch system that is operated by a continuous loop bead chain, which makes opening and closing the shade as easy as pulling a chain. Simply pull down on one side of the chain to raise the shade and then down again on the opposite side to lower it. Different size clutches allow the smallest shades to the largest shades to be lifted with very little effort. All of our interior manual shades are available with a fascia option that is offered in 5 standard colors. Polar Shades also offers custom colors for an upcharge. The fascia also has a fabric wrapped option available.

3” Fascia L-Shaped
4” Fascia L-Shaped
5” Fascia L-Shaped
7” Fascia L-Shaped
Curved Cassette

Motorized Interior or Exterior shades come with several different motor and control options. When choosing a motor for your shade you can use either a Low Voltage 24 V Sonesse (quiet) Motor or a 12V LT30 Somfy Battery Powered Motor for your smaller sized shades.

When the size of the shade becomes too large for the low voltage or battery powered motors, we offer the 110V Somfy motors for increased lifting capacity. Regardless of the size or type of shade you are motorizing, all motors can be integrated with home automation systems. Simplify your way of living with a Polar Shades Select Interior or Exterior shade that is powered by Somfy, the worldwide leader in tubular motors.

The Standard Motor is a hard wired motor that comes with two different wall switch options. You can choose a Toggle Switch or a Paddle Switch. Each switch comes in either Ivory or White and they are both pictured below:

If you chose the Altus RTS Motor or the Sonesse 504 (quiet) Motor you are eligible to use a Telis Remote Control or Wireless Wall Switch and other wireless control devices. The Telis Remote Control comes in a Multi-Channel or a Single Channel model as well as a new 16 Channel model. The Single and Multi Channel models can be ordered in Pure (standard white colored), Lounge (black colored), Patio (blue colored) or Silver (silver colored). The 16 Channel remote control is available in Silver or Black. The Wireless Wall Switch or Decoflex Switch is essentially a remote that can be mounted to the wall for radio frequency motors. It comes in a Single Channel or Multi-Channel model and is available in Black, White or Ivory.

Somfy ILT motor is the next generation of motors for homes , offices, hospitality and health care facilities. The ILT motor provides intelligent 2 way communication through a Cat 5 cable. The ILT motor allows up to 16 intermediate positions, 16 group assignments and is near silent operation at 44dba. This motor was designed for complete automation and control through various automation systems, including the Somfy Digital Network. Please contact a Polar Shades representative for more information on this revolutionary motor.

Basic infrared remote control

Simply add an IR transmitter and receiver
Compatible with universal learning remotes
RS232 / RS485 interface
Allows bi-directional communication
Interface with virtually all commercially available control systems
Motor can be instructed to move to any position within it’s limit range
Motor can be queried for it’s current position
Compatible with serial/ethernet gateways
Modular connection interface
Simultaneously connect a single active control device such as IR, RF or RS232 and multiple passive devices such as wall switches, key switches and dry contacts.
Terminal block for connection of CAT5 cabling or other standard cable.

The most intelligent motor system made by Somfy

Easy to wire
Simple power connection, just plug it in.
In many cases an electrician is not needed for hookup.
Integrated low voltage controller natively supports dry contacts and IR remote control.
Embedded com port for bi-di- rectional data communication

Simplest control

Somfy three button wall switch
Only two dry contacts are needed for operation.
The motor limits are set from the wall switch, no ladder required.

The Controls...

Smart Switch
Contact closure interface (via Smart Switch)
IR receiver (Stand alone and via Smart Switch)
RF receiver
Wind / Sun / Occupancy sensors
RS232 / RS485 interface

The Benefits...

Embedded electronics, no external motor controller required
Encoder based positioning, more accurate than timing
Bus line communication
Bus connected controls
1000’s of motors and controls on a single network
No routers are required
Lower installation cost
Faster troubleshooting
Faster configuration