Hiding a WiFi device inside a wall

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neb

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#284610 4-May-2021 15:49

Part of the finishing-up work at the Casa involves hiding this power monitor, currently temporarily installed on the power board while the wall around it is painted:

The idea is to have it as out-of-sight as possible, with the current front-runner idea being to cut a small square hole in the gib next to the power board, push the monitor up inside the hole, and run the cabling through a hole in the stud next to the power board to the monitor, with some sort of access panel over the top of the monitor, probably transparent to allow checking of the blinkenlights.

Before chopping up bits of the wall, does anyone have any better ideas?

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#2701768 4-May-2021 15:58

If you put it inside the wall I would put it on a hinged access panel, making it easier to replace when it fails.

decibel

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#2701774 4-May-2021 16:05

More importantly, does your better half have better ideas?

frankv

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#2701789 4-May-2021 16:27

I think a hole in the gib will be ugly (although you're probably better at cutting gib than me). If the monitor is smaller than a light switch faceplate, I'd be inclined to mount it behind a faceplate or similar, which in turn can have holes drilled in it for the LEDs. The antenna might mean you can't mount it to the faceplate itself, so you might need some kind of bracket inside the wall to mount it on and hold it in the right place relative to the plate. If you don't have ants, possibly remove the case so you get some mounting holes to attach to.

I'd try to put in the same cavity as the power board if I could. Your monitor may die, or in 5 years your monitor may be obsolete. So you'll need/want to replace it. Maybe the replacement will have the same plug on it, but probably not. Maybe it'll have LEDs in the same place, probably not. At least leave yourself plenty of length on the cables so that you aren't trying to crimp the new connector on the 1cm protruding from the wall.

neb

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#2701792 4-May-2021 16:37

I was actually thinking something like this. I'm not overly fussed about swapping it out, it's not an IoT device so has run nonstop for close to a decade without any problems, and there's no reason to replace it. Unfortunately it won't go into the power board cavity, the few open areas around that are full of power cables running in and out, the idea was to put it into the next cavity along.

The other option was mounting it on top of the wall, which looks a bit more intrusive once you take the cabling into account.

Edited to add: The case is 130x90, but then you need room at the top and both sides for the antenna and connections. I was thinking of milling slots into the base of the enclosure so you could just slide it into place and put the clear cover on top. Or get something like a transparent cover on a Hibox, some of which have knockouts at the side already set up, e.g. this or this.

gregmcc

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#2701803 4-May-2021 16:55

What you really need is a recessed wall box you can put right next to you distribution board

https://www.google.com/aclk?sa=L&ai=DChcSEwilldr-nK_wAhVbPa0GHed0CnIYABAhGgJwdg&sig=AOD64_1FFh_2JxO2Y_u8LiACrSqMITK0zA&ctype=5&q=&ved=0ahUKEwjVpNX-nK_wAhXaFjQIHWBtAQ8QpysIJg&adurl=

the issue will be getting the wiring between the 2 of them, you will find that one side of the distribution board is mounted to a stud and you will have to get the wiring through this. Next issue is, from a legal standpoint you are not allowed to do any work in a distribution board - this is electrician only work.

neb

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#2701813 4-May-2021 17:10

Just to provide some context, here's the current setup. There's a wall corner to the right of the power board, a bit hard to see with the lighting but you can see it if you look down to the masked-off shelf at the right. The original plan was to surface-mount the power monitor to the right of the power board with the cabling run inside the wall cavity, alternative suggestion was inside the wall with a transparent cover over it. This seemed like a good idea, but an obvious electronic device may be less intrusive than a strange plastic block embedded in the wall.

MadEngineer

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#2701826 4-May-2021 17:35

http://www.dynamix.co.nz/content/images/PDF/hwsx03wrv2_19xx.pdf

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neb

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#2701876 4-May-2021 17:42

MadEngineer: http://www.dynamix.co.nz/content/images/PDF/hwsx03wrv2_19xx.pdf

Recessed enclosure would be perfect, but they all tend to be enormous. I'd looked at AV enclosures but they're (a) huge and (b) black, because you can't run audio through something that isn't black.

Oh, and a recessed wall box would be perfect, but then they're on the too-small side, e.g. this one would be perfect but has the exact dimensions of the power monitor, excluding space for the connections.

decibel

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#2701877 4-May-2021 17:42

There are some very small power monitors available from Shelly - have you looked at them? A lot smaller than what you have there.

kiwifidget

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#2701880 4-May-2021 18:03

What does that doofery taped to the power board do?

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neb

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#2701881 4-May-2021 18:04

kiwifidget:
What does that doofery taped to the power board do?

Monitor power and water use in various parts of the house.

While Googling around I think I've found the solution, a 150x150 ABS wall access panel. Gives plenty of room for access to cables and whatnot, and hides it from sight otherwise.

MadEngineer

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#2702547 5-May-2021 19:39

Trust me that thing will be crap. They always look reasonable in the photos but when you get the product you'll be questioning yourself before cutting a hole to fit it.

Another alternative:

https://dynamix.co.nz/avb300

Picture of DYNAMIX Recessed Entertainment Box Delivering AV, data & power in Wall

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neb

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#2702552 5-May-2021 20:00

Saw that, but it's nearly four times the size I need. Not to mention extremely pricey.

From the photo of the Ali one it looks about the same quality as the Vynco one I've got now for power, meaning cheap and flimsy in both cases. I'm not expecting much, but as long as it's no worse than the power board next to it I'll be fine.

timmmay

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#2702555 5-May-2021 20:16

When I was skimming the thread list I thought you were going to hide your wife inside the wall. Don't do that, they don't like it!

Bung

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#2702615 5-May-2021 21:18

Traditionally done with a brick wall.

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