Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity?

Posted on
Mon Oct 18, 2021 4:47 am
DaveL17 offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

GlennNZ wrote:
I have just experienced a lightning strike ...


Dang son. That stinks. We had one here not too long ago and by comparison, we got off easy. We lost a clock radio (and at least one other thing I don't recall at the moment). We have whole-home lightning suppression which didn't sacrifice itself then--I suspect that the surge wasn't severe enough. You raise a great point about a fiber gap. I hadn't ever considered that benefit before. Also, while I prefer copper, WiFi has a similar benefit.

I have been looking at this one which comes highly rated (it's 120/240 @ 60hz, so this specific one wouldn't work for you):
https://www.amazon.com/Siemens-FS140-Whole-House-Protection/dp/B013WINMK6

Good luck getting all that sorted. Hopefully, the insurance company will help!

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Posted on
Wed Oct 20, 2021 10:34 pm
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Glenn! That is horrible! I admire how you are calmly taking it in stride; i pretended to do the same thing when I learned my house needed to get gutted, but i was freaking out.

Your advice is well timed; the other forum I live on is avsforums, and i am trying to keep up with an in depth discussion of surge protection and battery backups. One of the strong community members there legitimately is planning around cases where a solar flare or emp hits his home theater.

Does your homeowners insurance play nice with electricity?

Posted on
Thu Oct 21, 2021 4:36 am
GlennNZ offline
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Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity?

Thanks for the commiserations! Your scenario seems a lot worse, I sure I would be freaking out more! Mines just a whole lot of time, and some money…

My summary of surge research is:
1. UPS - okay, but not great for surges. Still ideally surge protection prior to UPS
2. Modems very exposed; limit damage with fibre buffer out of modem before network. Separate areas with more fibre better.. (have a back up modem in cupboard)
3. Mains board; surge protection is a thing, seems relatively cheap in scheme of things and does work. (Still looking into this as option)

Insurance — remains to be seen how nice they will play. Sent some ‘assessors’, imagine ex-high school sports ‘stars’, vest/walkie talkie wearing guys; with very little understanding of electricity. Prior to arriving seem most interested by the fact that there wasn’t any carpet damage. ?? I just walked them around and said - that’s broken, and that, and that. They took photos, some details and left. Since then discovered more and more and more. They really arrived to soon as hadn’t had change to take stock - and I was more interested in trying to fix internet.... Yet to hear anything further from insurance - hopefully they don’t need to come back for the other stuff as was a complete waste of their time.

Commiserations back to you - and good luck getting thorough your event!


Glenn


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Posted on
Sun Mar 27, 2022 1:40 pm
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Hey brain trust!

The drywall is finally up and mudded!

I swallowed my pride and paid the electricians to run cat six and speaker wire pretty much everywhere.

The question: what is the current state of integration for doorbells? Are used to have a doorbell wire it up to an Insteon door trigger and a poe cam above the door, but the WAF was low.

I have an ethernet drop where the doorbell goes, so ideally I would like something hardwired using power over ethernet, that I can also use that cable to run 24 V AC power if needed.

Posted on
Sun Mar 27, 2022 5:05 pm
Korey offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Congrats!!

Ubiquiti has a "Pro" version of their G4 doorbell in the early access store that can be POE with an Adaptor, supplies power and a gigabit connection, or it can just use 24V AC and WiFi. For use with their Protect system.


:D :D

--
Korey

Posted on
Mon Mar 28, 2022 12:06 pm
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Korey wrote:
Congrats!!

Ubiquiti has a "Pro" version of their G4 doorbell in the early access store that can be POE with an Adaptor, supplies power and a gigabit connection, or it can just use 24V AC and WiFi. For use with their Protect system.


:D :D
Thanks Korey- This was my first thought. It’s not inexpensive, but it’s less than more professional poe products. I know unify didn’t initially nail it with their IP cameras, do you know anybody who has used this model? I plan to get a UDM Pro, So I will have Unifi friendly recording hardware (in addition to Blue Iris).

Posted on
Tue Mar 29, 2022 10:59 am
Doctor Q offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

:D :D[/quote] I know unify didn’t initially nail it with their IP cameras, do you know anybody who has used this model? I plan to get a UDM Pro, So I will have Unifi friendly recording hardware (in addition to Blue Iris).[/quote]

Ubiquiti has recently firmed up their firmware (ha!), they’re quite a bit better these days. I’m running Security Spy on the same Mac that Indigo is, and it makes a nice backup to UniFi Protect. It’s also a lot easier to get footage off of than Protect, and I bet that holds true for Blue Iris as well.

I’ve had problems with my OG UniFi doorbell going offline and am looking at the new one to the point of exploring ways to get a network cable to the front door. Watch for my video on r/therewasanattempt.


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Posted on
Tue Mar 29, 2022 12:38 pm
kw123 offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

I used the UniFi doorbell camera.

it worked well. Used it with a transformer

On the testbench I used 12+v dc that also worked fine

It detected people and cars well

I now live in a new house that came with a build in camera and remote door opener
So no use for the door bell anymore.

Karl


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Posted on
Thu Mar 31, 2022 3:58 pm
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

kw123 wrote:
I used the UniFi doorbell camera.

it worked well. Used it with a transformer

On the testbench I used 12+v dc that also worked fine

It detected people and cars well

I now live in a new house that came with a build in camera and remote door opener
So no use for the door bell anymore.

Karl


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I saw some videos where people got it to work with DC instead of AC! I may just use my existing wiring there to run it on whatever is easiest, so I wish there was something that utilized a wired connection for data, because I like wires.

Posted on
Thu Mar 31, 2022 3:59 pm
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Doctor Q wrote:
:D :D
I know unify didn’t initially nail it with their IP cameras, do you know anybody who has used this model? I plan to get a UDM Pro, So I will have Unifi friendly recording hardware (in addition to Blue Iris).[/quote]

Ubiquiti has recently firmed up their firmware (ha!), they’re quite a bit better these days. I’m running Security Spy on the same Mac that Indigo is, and it makes a nice backup to UniFi Protect. It’s also a lot easier to get footage off of than Protect, and I bet that holds true for Blue Iris as well.

I’ve had problems with my OG UniFi doorbell going offline and am looking at the new one to the point of exploring ways to get a network cable to the front door. Watch for my video on r/therewasanattempt.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk[/quote]I will certainly check that out!

Posted on
Thu Mar 31, 2022 9:31 pm
kw123 offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Getting it to work with dc:

during setup you must make sure that you configure it with dc = no chime connected = stand alone. If that is setup wrong then the camera will short the dc supply during a ring. It is to simulate the original button short to ring the chime.

Don’t use the little white block - it is a 5 ohm resistor that is used in parallel to the chime To supply enough current to the camera.

If used with the chime you need likely a more powerful transformer than you have right now: >=16 v 2 amp instead of 12v 1amp

Karl


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Posted on
Mon Apr 04, 2022 8:01 am
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Thanks Karl!
I am trying to skip the direct wired connection from button to bell
1) Which specific model did you use?
2) Recommendations for an actual bell that plays nice with the Unifi ecosystem?

Posted on
Mon Apr 04, 2022 10:22 am
kw123 offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Well my setup was complicated as the OLD transformer (12V 1amp) was somewhere hidden in the wall. And I could not change the wiring needed

I added a second 20 v transformer (2.5Amp) + some electronics+ relay just for the UniFi latest doorbell. The added relay then did the job of the old button at the door. I left the chime as is.

Was a fun job, but I moved out of the house and disassembled everything. The new owner was not a techie.

I published the electric Schema somewhere in the UniFi section. I am on the road and can not look right now.

Karl


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Posted on
Wed Apr 13, 2022 10:37 am
mundmc offline
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Re: Gutted House = Low Voltage structural wiring opportunity

Thanks Karl!

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