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General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: amitmishra4 on May 27, 2014, 04:48:58 pm

Title: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: amitmishra4 on May 27, 2014, 04:48:58 pm
Hi,

Has anyone thought of any wall mounting ideas for the Almond+ yet? I have a Nest thermostat mounted clean on the wall on my middle level(Basement below and bedrooms above) and I would ideally like to mount it flush on the wall under my Nest. I would obviously not want cables dangling underneath or around the router so I would like to see if anyone has any other ideas on how the power and the ethernet cable can be concealed to give a clean appearance.

I have thought of somehow using Powerline adapters but they need a power point too and so does the router. Anyone ever done anything like this or have any ideas they would like to share?

Thanks,
Amit
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: LGNilsson on May 27, 2014, 11:06:06 pm
You could get a power over Ethernet type device for power, but note that the Ethernet connection that goes along with the power would be limited to 10/100Mbps rather than full Gigabit speed as some of the wires are being used for the power.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on May 28, 2014, 01:52:43 am
There is a wall mount included in the box. And the ports are placed in such a way that you can connect them without them being visible.

The issue here I guess is where are your cables going, if you have the possibility to make a hole in the wall and then have the cable run inside the wall then it should be easy to have the Almond+ on the wall.
If you want, you can have a look at my unboxing video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmcpi46sUeA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmcpi46sUeA)
If you forward to the 06:30 mark, I start taking out the parts of the box including the wall mount, and you also get to see the back of the unit where the ports are.

Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on May 29, 2014, 09:41:28 am
Very nice video eldaria!

Over the years have played a bit with in wall / on wall touch screens. 

Currently all of my main floor touchscreens utilize POE except for one (17" 3M Capacitance LCD).

You can mount the Almond + in the wall by cutting the wall the size or nearly the size of the circumference of the Almond +.

Inside of the wall you can offset a support bracket for the back mounting piece on the Almond plus.  This could be a small 1/2" X 1" furring strip mounted a couple of inches inside of the wall using little pieces of wood to offset it a bit.

Attached is a quickie drawing. The two screws could be hidden by a plastic or wood frame and are utilized to hold the back in wall support pieces.  You could also make a plastic "clam" shell with an open bottom to it and mount the Almond + in the shell.

Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on May 29, 2014, 01:38:29 pm
Hmm, interesting idea to put it in the wall, could be tricky to get a nice cut around. If it was possible to get a front that is bigger around, then it would be easier to hide the cut in the wall.
Hmm I wonder if one could have just the screen visible. ;-)

But if you have a frame around it like that, would you not get trouble with ventilation and heat build up?
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on May 29, 2014, 02:50:31 pm
Yeah; if the front piece had a bit of a "lip" to it; it would be easier.

Here in the Midwest most homes do not have insulation on the inside walls such that they are open from the ceiling to the floor.  In Florida home has a fire break in the middle of the wall which would make it more work but doable.

I have sort of tested a similar shaped touchscreen tablet with a rounded edge.  It looks better with some sort of frame around the round edges.  The touchscreen does stick out some 1/4" as it has the same sort of edge that the Almond + has.  Its thinner though and the connectivity (USB, Power and NIC) are in the back.

Better yet a custom Securifi open plastic clam shell to hold the Almond + in place.  It would be just an open back piece of plastic with a lip in the front and some means to attach the Almond + to it. 

The Almond + would snap into the plastic shell.  Removing it would just be as easy as sliding a little plastic flat credit card or something similiar.

The very first touchscreen installed in current home (10 years ago?) was of this type.  It was for automotive in the head rest mounting of an LCD.  I used the open clam shell in the wall.  Worked perfectly.

Geez; just noticed that the drawing came from a patent relating to said mounting clam shell mounting mechanism.  I didn't even realize this when I posted the image.

Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: LGNilsson on May 29, 2014, 10:09:07 pm
Actually, as the screen and the PCB is mounted to the front of the Almond+, you could simply remove the back and this should be quite easy to do, as long as you leave sufficient space around the sides for cooling. The only slightly tricky thing would be mounting it nicely without it falling out.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on May 31, 2014, 08:04:22 am
I tried to open mine, and it will be tricky to put it without the back on. Since the antennas are rather close to the edge.

But I will probably not mount it in the wall, but rather on the wall, will be tricky to oull the cables in the wall anyway.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: LGNilsson on May 31, 2014, 12:03:44 pm
Yeah, it might require different antennas, not impossible to get, but it'll make it all a bit of a mess.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on June 02, 2014, 06:34:02 am
Over the weekend saw a new device which fits in a single gang box. 

I am amazed at what can be put into such a small device.  Guess I am just posting here relating to a tiny footprint device with a very tiny footprint; IE: its all touchscreen.

Maybe its my age; but technology is really moving fast these days.

Check out this footprint for a new automation device.



Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on June 02, 2014, 07:24:58 am
That was one massive PSU for such a small circuit. (number 2 in the first image.) I wonder how much electricity it will be using.
Otherwise that is one very nice looking panel.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: amitmishra4 on June 02, 2014, 10:16:23 am
Wow,

Those are a lot of interesting ideas. Here are my concerns:

Cooling may be an issue if its mounted inside, but I think most people will settle for an outside mount in the end.

As far as getting it power over ethernet, so as far as i understand you will need a POE adapter that will sit in the wall, which will feed the router with both power as well as an ethernet input for internet. But, how will it be connected to the ethernet on the other end "inside" the wall? That is more my concern.

Right now, I have powerlines, but they are still mounted to the power sockets outside. Am I missing the obvious here? Sorry.  ???

Thanks.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on June 02, 2014, 04:52:05 pm
Quote
As far as getting it power over ethernet, so as far as i understand you will need a POE adapter that will sit in the wall, which will feed the router with both power as well as an ethernet input for internet. But, how will it be connected to the ethernet on the other end "inside" the wall? That is more my concern.

Here I have been playing with little power POE splitters from TP-Link.

Its been a couple of years here and powering IP HD cameras without POE connections and Table top tablets.  Tiny things.

(http://www.tp-link.com/resources/images/products/gallery/TL-POE150S_3.0-01.jpg)

http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?categoryid=234&model=TL-POE150S#spec (http://www.tp-link.com/en/products/details/?categoryid=234&model=TL-POE150S#spec)

Noticed though a maximum of 1 AMP for the draw on the POE splitter.  That said the Almond + power supply is 2 AMPs such that it wor

I also utilize Tycon midstream power injectors and power splitters here.

I am not sure though on the draw of the Almond +.  I guess I could just measure it.

My little play around touchscreen tablets come with a 5VDC 4 AMP power supply and only draw 1.24A/6.2W on start up.

Looking a bit found an Axis high power injector and power splitter which could do up to 2 amps at 12VDC.

- Axis T8123 PoE injector
- Axis T8126 PoE Splitter

http://www.axis.com/en/products/pol/high_poe/index.htm (http://www.axis.com/en/products/pol/high_poe/index.htm)
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on June 03, 2014, 02:20:36 am
I think I saw in another thread that the Almond+ has quite some power to spare. so as long as you don't have to much USB stuff like USB powered harddrives and similar connected I think you will be good running with POE.
You could probably spare some additional power by turning of stuff you don't use, (If possible) like If you don't use z-wave, turn that off, if you don't use 5GHz turn that off.
I don't have the router here (I'm at work)

As far as getting it power over ethernet, so as far as i understand you will need a POE adapter that will sit in the wall, which will feed the router with both power as well as an ethernet input for internet. But, how will it be connected to the ethernet on the other end "inside" the wall? That is more my concern.

POE will run along the whole length of the Ethernet cable, although I think it has some limits on how long it can be. But the idea is that you have power on the other end, so for example where you have your DSL modem or Fiber converter or whatever you connect the Almond+ to, you will likely have a plug, so this is where you inject the power to the POE.

I will like I said before probably not make a hole to insert the whole Almond+ into the wall, but I will probably try to hide the cables in the wall. I was also planning on having a battery pack close to the Almond+ to ensure power during a blackout so that the security and alarm functions continue to work when the power is out.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on June 03, 2014, 08:00:11 am
Quote
I have thought of somehow using Powerline adapters

Powerline as in "Powerline" network communiction....

A powerline adapter utilized for network transport has been getting better and faster in the last few years.  Obviously the first choice if possible is the use of a network cable.  Secondarily the use of a powerline network adapter has become popular.  It involves the injection of the network transport into the powerline. 

Quote
Basics

Power-line communications systems operate by adding a modulated carrier signal to the wiring system. Different types of power-line communications use different frequency bands. Since the power distribution system was originally intended for transmission of AC power at typical frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz, power wire circuits have only a limited ability to carry higher frequencies. The propagation problem is a limiting factor for each type of power-line communications.

The main issue determining the frequencies of power-line communication is laws to limit interference with radio services. Many nations regulate unshielded wired emissions as if they were radio transmitters. These jurisdictions usually require unlicensed uses to be below 500 KHz or in unlicensed radio bands. Some jurisdictions (such as the EU), regulate wire-line transmissions further. The U.S. is a notable exception, permitting limited-power wide-band signals to be injected into unshielded wiring, as long as the wiring is not designed to propagate radio waves in free space.

Data rates and distance limits vary widely over many power-line communication standards. Low-frequency (about 100–200 kHz) carriers impressed on high-voltage transmission lines may carry one or two analog voice circuits, or telemetry and control circuits with an equivalent data rate of a few hundred bits per second; however, these circuits may be many miles long. Higher data rates generally imply shorter ranges; a local area network operating at millions of bits per second may only cover one floor of an office building, but eliminates the need for installation of dedicated network cabling.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-line_communication (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-line_communication)

Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: eldaria on June 03, 2014, 08:10:00 am
Powerline as in "Powerline" network communiction....

A powerline adapter utilized for network transport has been getting better and faster in the last few years.  Obviously the first choice if possible is the use of a network cable.  Secondarily the use of a powerline network adapter has become popular.  It involves the injection of the network transport into the powerline. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-line_communication (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power-line_communication)

Hehe, funny how the topic came back to what the OP asked. I completely missed that part about powerline network.

From what I have seen they are handy in certain situations like where it is not possible to have a cable and wireless does not work, but they sometimes suffer from interference, low throughput and the worst depending on your installation it might not work if your electrical installation is divided into different phases in different parts of the house.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on June 03, 2014, 05:02:31 pm
Yup; I tried a powerline interface a few years back.  It worked but the throughput was very low.

They are supposed to be better these days.

Did try a test of 300 feet between buildings on the same electric phase.  It did not work.

Personally have put a lot of devices on POE and its working fine.  I had installed many cables over 10 years ago and they worked well for POE.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: Pestus on June 30, 2014, 07:50:32 am
There's always HPNA and MoAC.   Coaxial lines are robust stuff.  These devices work like tiny cable modems, which mean you can't use a real cable modem on lines also used for an HPNA network.  It can share TV signal though as these are different frequencies.  Beyond that though, you can get upwards of 300Mbps on the quality stuff.  The really good ones come with a coax pass through, two ethernet ports, and a WiFi AP to extend your wireless network.

Then there's doing the same thing over phone lines.  Cat3 or voice grade 4 conductor can handle this stuff too, but don't expect much out of that.  It can work reliably, but it will be slow.  My father has a decent one of these running, and I think he said upwards of 30Mbps between the nodes.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: pete on June 30, 2014, 08:53:00 am
Yup it does work well.  Today I have FIOS fiber in one home.  Personally like fiber connection better than the coaxial or the network cable connection to the home.  (personal ISP preference here is Verizon over ATT or Comcast)  In one home have the choice of the three and have moved over to Verizon fiber when it became available.  I did actually help the tech install it as I was wanting to know every piece of it going to my home and I had prewired the new home build for just about any means of internet connectivity years before.

I have divided up the network where as all of the Motorola STB boxes connect via cable rather than catXX (even though its there) and have the main modem/router box separated out into two different networks.  HD runs just fine off of the MoAC.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: TS on August 24, 2014, 09:09:21 pm
For anyone trying to figure out POE splitter/injectors, I bought these for the Almond+ and it works great:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZLSRJC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Note that you I'm not using USB connections as it would exceed the amps probably.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: j8048188 on August 24, 2014, 09:50:04 pm
For anyone trying to figure out POE splitter/injectors, I bought these for the Almond+ and it works great:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DZLSRJC/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Note that you I'm not using USB connections as it would exceed the amps probably.
If you use those passive injector/splitters, you can only get a max of 100Mbps instead of the 1000. Gigabit ethernet uses all 4 pairs (8 wires,) whereas 100Mbps only uses 2 pairs.
Passive splitters use the 2 pairs that Gigabit would use for data to pass power only.
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: thepeel on September 07, 2014, 12:45:03 pm
I'm about to mount my Almond+ and came across this and some similar threads talking about POE. I hadn't initially considered it as an option and I wanted to make sure I understand the Almonds' features before proceeding.

The Almond+ doesn't support 802.3 itself does it? That is, I'll need both an injector and splitter to utilize POE and as such I'm not technically using POE, I'm just using an ethernet cable to extend the AC Adapter correct? If it supported POE then I'd just get an injector and be done, but if it needs both, then I'll just extend the cable from wall wart and be done.

Thanks,

-peel
Title: Re: Almond+ wall mounting
Post by: LGNilsson on September 12, 2014, 10:31:51 pm
The Almond+ does not support 802.3.