Articles · 2026-07-08
Inside the Roller: Tubular Motors and What Somfy, Gaposa, and Dooya Each Bring
The motor in a motorized screen or awning lives inside the roller tube itself. What that means, and how the motor brands we install differ on safety features and speed.
What a tubular motor is
Look at a motorized screen or awning and you will not find the motor — it is inside the roller tube the fabric wraps around. A tubular motor is a long, slender electric motor and gearbox assembly that slides into the tube and turns it directly from within. The design has powered European rolling shutters for decades and is the reason a 20-foot screen can operate with nothing visible but fabric and housing.
Inside the assembly, limit systems tell the motor exactly where fully open and fully closed are, so the screen stops at the same points every cycle. Modern units take radio commands directly, which is what makes handheld remotes, wall switches, and app or smart-home control possible without extra hardware.
The brands we install, and why the differences matter
On MagnaTrack screens, the workhorse is Gaposa, with obstacle detection: if the bottom bar meets resistance on the way down — patio furniture, a pet, a forgotten grill cover — the motor stops and reverses instead of driving through. The Sense tubular motor adds wind-gust awareness, stopping and reversing when it detects gust loading on the screen. And for wide commercial openings or anyone who values speed, the SHSM high-speed motor turns at 90 RPM, deploying big screens in a fraction of the usual time.
V-Track systems run Somfy or Alfa tubular motors — Somfy being the most widely deployed motor brand in the world, with the myLink app bridging to Alexa and Google Home. Our awning line uses Dooya or Somfy units sized for the heavier work of driving fabric and folding arms together. Across all three lines the practical takeaway is the same: motor choice is part of the design conversation at your consultation, matched to opening size, use pattern, and the controls you want.
Controls, from one remote to a whole home
The simplest setup is a handheld remote — MagnaTrack's Sidekick Gen 2 controls screens individually or in groups — or a flush-mounted wall switch by the patio door. From there it scales: the Bond Home app runs up to 32 MagnaTrack screens from a phone, and full smart-home integration reaches Control4, ELAN, RTI, URC, Savant, Crestron, Lutron, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant, SmartThings, and Josh.ai.
Motors are also where warranty coverage is worth checking before you buy. On MagnaTrack systems, motors carry a 5-year warranty within a package that includes limited-lifetime aluminum and 15-year screen coverage; our awning motors are covered by the same 10-year non-prorated, transferable warranty as the rest of the awning (5-year on Open-Roll). Whatever the brand, a motor professionally sized, installed, and programmed is the difference between a system that cycles smoothly for a decade and one that strains from day one.
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