In one of the other threads we started a conversation on how we’d each deployed our Alarm wiring, this started a bit of broader chat about setups, wiring closets (etc)
So, just for fun, I’m starting this thread for people to post pictures of their setups, or the contents of their wiring closet (if they have one). I used the “Initial Setup” board, so that the new people can see how messy we all keep our installs (and so-as not to have them lose hope)
… everything is always in a work-in-progress state, even when you’ve been doing it for years. And yes, that really is a Vera2 and Vera3 unceremoniously dangling below the closet (I look longingly back at the days of the USB Dongle’d Vera 1 units)
Feel free to post/share pics of your deployment, just for grins.
wow look at that, hats off says a lot about someone when you see just how organized they are. respect.
let me get all my assault rifles out off the wall in my real life mock up of the gun shed Arnold had in commando and then i will snap some pics.
very interesting. Thanks for sharing. I plan to put together a wiring closet when time permits. Out of curiosity, where is this located? is it in the basement or garage?
The Alarm Panel itself was already there, and wired in, so I can’t claim that crazy-neat wiring that’s in there… I wouldn’t put this in the garage, since you want it somewhere away from prying fingers, and preferably well inside an Armed Zone preferably.
For those interested in the details…
The house was pre-wired, and all the cabling was brought up to a central unit upstairs (no basement in CA). Everything inside the closet is new, and it was like playing 3D Tetris to make it all fit. It’s all stuff specifically selected to be 12V so I could run the Battery and Switchmode 12v “Battery-backed” power supply (eliminating all the wall-warts). The wired part of the Network runs for about 12+ hrs when the house loses power.
Inside the closet I have the following bits:
[ul][li]2 Netgear 8x Port Gigabit GS-108 Ethernet switches, Linksys Router/Firewall, DLink DSL 2540B Router/Firewall[/li]
[li]Paradox APR-PRT3 Home Automation interface board[/li]
[li]18Ah SLA Battery, Mean Well AD-155A 12v Battery-backed Power supply[/li]
[li]Cradlepoint MBR800 (never got around to wiring it in)[/li][/ul]
It’s minimalist post-modern art. You should really put it on display.
I worked on my 3rd-floor wiring closet a few weeks ago. I have a patch panel where all coax, phone, and ethernet cabling is terminated. My cable modem, VDSL box, and a network switch are located there, along with a Z-wave plug-in module to (mainly) provide some Z-wave network integrity to that floor. I’m cleaning things up, but until I figure out a solution for the alarm power supply (24V, probably) that has a wall wart with the wires going back into the wall behind the wall plate, as well as a couple of other details, mine is not photo-worthy.
Does anyone recommend a cheap spacious panel to house my vera, ups, router, cable modem and a few switches? something that can mount on the wall? All the panels that I have found are either way to expensive or mount inside the wall. Plastic would be preferable to not cut down on the rf.
garrettwp,
Depending on the size you may also need to worry about heat build up if the
enclosure is too small. You may need some ventilation. The lifetime of electronics goes down as the ambient temp goes up.
I have everything in a designed Network/AV Closet in the center of the house with ceiling exhaust fans and Air conditioning vents. (I close it in the Winter), and LOTS of wall plugs. The closet has it’s own breaker. Some people do not understand how I could waste a closet! Of course I think of it as a wise investment for some of my toys!
I had not thought about a centralized 12v power system. Might be a little constraining for that cool device that does not run on 12V. With a power supply problem you loose everything at once … unless you have some redundancy.
I think most manufactures store the smoke in the power management components
[quote=“RichardTSchaefer, post:10, topic:171678”]I had not thought about a centralized 12v power system. Might be a little constraining for that cool device that does not run on 12V. With a power supply problem you loose everything at once … unless you have some redundancy.[/quote]I’ve not looked to see how my PS fails over to it’s attached battery, but it does so without a glitch to any of the attached gear. I use the Ping Sensor to poll one of my mains-powered WiFi devices and it sends me alerts when the power goes down. I suppose I could build a backup-to-the-backup (using a relay) but haven’t needed to do that just yet. 8)
Problem in the past was a myriad of wall-warts crammed into the space and, in some cases, when any one of them failed the whole thing went down due to the network chain (DSL->Router->Router->Switches->Devices). The new model runs a lot cooler, and I suspect has a higher efficiency rating than what I was doing prior.
Dual and Tri voltage versions of this PS are also available, but it certainly makes you realize how many odd variations voltage all these devices require. Anything 5v I just hang off one of the USB ports in the closet.
PS: What type of Alarm system do you have that uses 24v?
Ditto on the 24v AC supply (Ademco) with a 12v battery backup. Fortunately I have 24v in my structured panel from the A/C's feeding my zone dampers, haven't done it yet but it's on my list to utilize the same power supply and ditch the alarm PS, leaving enough room in the lower right corner for Vera.
[quote="garrettwp, post:8, topic:171678"]Does anyone recommend a cheap spacious panel to house my vera, ups, router, cable modem and a few switches?[/quote]I use an ELK structured wiring panel and the Leviton structured network switches, CATV wiring & distribution amp and two 12v distribution rails for my cameras. It also houses the CCTV wiring, telephone wiring/distribution box, alarm stuff / battery backup and 2 x 10A power supplies. It seemed big enough at the time. The outlet in the panel is being fed via an external UPS through a home built receptacle.
The loose wiring is......being tightened up, one of these days.
Great pic JOD! You’ve got a ton of wiring in (and not in) that closet. Loving the AV rack on the left, mine’s a little tinker-toy (1/3 rack) compared to that.
What’s the Panasonic device on the right?
BTW: My Alarm (box on left) still runs on it’s AC plugpack (on wall below), it’s battery is a standard 12v one.
It's a KX-T61610 telephone KSU that I've had since the late 80's, now being fed from MagicJacks for the C.O's. All the wiring ties into the structured panel.
BTW: My Alarm (box on left) still runs on it's AC plugpack (on wall below)
I assumed it was tied into your panel, but now I see the PS, 16.5VAC? I just threw a meter on mine and it's putting out 18.96VAC, I'll have to unplug it (another day) to check the label but I'm 50% sure it's 24VAC.
*Edit.
Anything 5v I just hang off one of the USB ports in the closet.
That was just a shot in the dark. It could be 12v. I haven’t put a meter on it… and I have no idea what kind it is, actually, the alarm hasn’t been activated/tested since long before I purchased the place. It’s far down the list of things I want to start playing with, but I’ve gotten through most of that list, so it could be right around the corner…
[url=http://cocoontech.com/forums/gallery/image/485-bench-testing-m1-gold/]http://cocoontech.com/forums/gallery/image/485-bench-testing-m1-gold/[/url]
This is my set up as I bench test. Then the board will just mount on the wall of my server room once I’m ready to install it. No cans for me. I will also have a 7’ open rack sitting next to it and terminate all home run wiring via patch panels. All wiring to my “panel board” will run from the server rack alone.
I see a lot of nice set-ups, but I think I may have gone overboard with mine LOL,
I am about to relocate my Vera II box into the cabinet, all the devices are on UPS, including the Fibre Modem, which I will show pictures of later, and I am using some POE Cameras (Panasonic) in my Vera Set-Up, what I need now is to get my WHS Boxes to talk to Vera and vice versa.
says a lot about someone when you see just how organized they are. respect.