AV Rack

[Lawnboy1]

I installed an AV rack about a year ago. It's in our mud/wash room. Not anbideal place, but it works. It's an open area and has A/C cooling. It still warms up a bit though when the dryer is running. I have my server which gets hot, the cable modem is a heat exchanger, the Marantz and Outlaw make tons of heat and the Nvidia makes a lot of heat as well. I manage that heat with AC Infinity fans. Some are behind a blank plate out of site and some you can see. If had to do it all over again, I'd get a swing out rack because when I have an issue or want to change something it is difficult getting to things. I started with decent wire management but that's out the window now! Do you guys have AV racks? How do you manage your cables?
( One pic is of my rack and one that would be nice to have.)

 

[DsineR]

Recommend a stand-alone rack with caster base, with a cable leash from the rack into the wall.
Rack can be pulled out as needed for front-side-rear access.
Leave enough cable service loop from the rack to allow for easy pull out & rear access.
Great selection of racks and options here.

 

[samplenhold]

I have a simple rack just for the home LAN and the Cam LAN. No AV equipment.

 

[Flintstone61]

I got an IBM rack from a local guy on Craigslist. had University of Wisconsin sticker on it. had casters. I had to go pick it up, $55 bucks. I didn't go for all the dress in, I went for home runs to the switch. It's not in a home, so it's not a big deal. It's in the main office of the Condo.
I once had a job punching down cable to Keystone jack panels and labeling everything. But for this use case scenario, I didn't bother. I could qualify for the ugly rack award.

 

[Flintstone61]

Here's day one about 2 years ago. 1 Camera up. Now 18....lemme see if there a picture of the current spaghetti.

 

[sebastiantombs]

I just have my switches rack mounted along with a shelf for the VoIP modems and MOCA adapter. I bought a pair of 8U rack rails, made a couple of brackets out of 1x12 to mount the rails to. Stained and put a couple of coats of clear satin on the brackets. Then hung the whole thing off the bottom of a wall mounted shelf that's over my desk. I did have to take it down and change how the shelf is mounted because the weight pulled the molly bolts right out of the sheetrock.

 

[Lawnboy1]

I have a simple rack just for the home LAN and the Cam LAN. No AV equipment.

View attachment 124920

View attachment 124919

Nice

 

[Lawnboy1]

I just have my switches rack mounted along with a shelf for the VoIP modems and MOCA adapter. I bought a pair of 8U rack rails, made a couple of brackets out of 1x12 to mount the rails to. Stained and put a couple of coats of clear satin on the brackets. Then hung the whole thing off the bottom of a wall mounted shelf that's over my desk. I did have to take it down and change how the shelf is mounted because the weight pulled the molly bolts right out of the sheetrock.

I had to go behind mine to swapp out a copper HDMI cable with a fiber cable. And I also swapped server cases and added AC Infinity. If it weren't for those things, I'd never mess with it. Except for the occasional reboot of Nvidia because Netflix seems to give it fits every now and then.

 

[Lawnboy1]

I have a simple rack just for the home LAN and the Cam LAN. No AV equipment.

View attachment 124920

View attachment 124919

All of my friends keep things simple, like you. But I always do more than necessary. Lol

 

[Lawnboy1]

Here's day one about 2 years ago. 1 Camera up. Now 18....lemme see if there a picture of the current spaghetti.

View attachment 124929

Man! That's a lot of posta back there.

 

[Lawnboy1]

I got an IBM rack from a local guy on Craigslist. had University of Wisconsin sticker on it. had casters. I had to go pick it up, $55 bucks. I didn't go for all the dress in, I went for home runs to the switch. It's not in a home, so it's not a big deal. It's in the main office of the Condo.
I once had a job punching down cable to Keystone jack panels and labeling everything. But for this use case scenario, I didn't bother. I could qualify for the ugly rack award.

Lol! I got one wire out 10 wrong and my punch down days were OVER!

 

[Lawnboy1]

Recommend a stand-alone rack with caster base, with a cable leash from the rack into the wall.
Rack can be pulled out as needed for front-side-rear access.
Leave enough cable service loop from the rack to allow for easy pull out & rear access.
Great selection of racks and options here.

Nah. That won't fit the bill for me.

 

[Lawnboy1]

Nah. That won't fit the bill for me. Other than the tv and speakers, I didn't want any av equipment in the room.

 

[Lawnboy1]

Here's day one about 2 years ago. 1 Camera up. Now 18....lemme see if there a picture of the current spaghetti.

View attachment 124929

I started with a small monitor and things grew from there to what I have today. I only have 10 cams though.

 

[Flintstone61]

I took a picture today of the current rack. Nothing too exciting. We did get friggin internet finally. I have to run a line from the Spa room back to my office to get a hard wire connection. Then I might be tasked with Double NIC. I just keep making more work for myself....

 

[Lawnboy1]

I took a picture today of the current rack. Nothing too exciting. We did get friggin internet finally. I have to run a line from the Spa room back to my office to get a hard wire connection. Then I might be tasked with Double NIC. I just keep making more work for myself....
View attachment 125034
Ohh la la! What a nice tool box you have there!

 

[Lawnboy1]

I have Gigabit internet and get a Gig some of the time but, wifi is slow! My Nvidia Pro gives me fits at times. It's actually Netflix that's the culprit. It'll freeze up and won't allow me to exit without rebooting the Shield. Problem is, the Shield and power supply is tucked away and is not so easy to access. My thought is to buy this re-boot controller and mount it into the rack. That way, I can reboot the Shield without having to reach for the power cord. I may also remap that Netflix button that's on the remote.

 

[Flintstone61]

What device is managing the wifi? Like an Asus router? or? My verizon 5g is 322 down, and 22 up. if i switch from ethernet to the TP-link wifi adapter, it's 195-200 down , and 17-18 up. nevermind. i just checked it today. now they match. with a heavy thunderstorm and wind in the area. and I see some new Verizon 5g SSID's in my hood . thats new. They're robbing my bandwidth!!! dammit all!

 

[Lawnboy1]

What device is managing the wifi? Like an Asus router? or? My verizon 5g is 322 down, and 22 up. if i switch from ethernet to the TP-link wifi adapter, it's 195-200 down , and 17-18 up.

I have to standard router that comes with AT&T. I believe it's a Pace Router. I get 800 to 900 up, occasionally hitting the 1Gig mark. It's about the same on downloads too. Wifi is another story. It's slow. I don't use it much anyway. Other than a Fire Stick in my kids room and the wifi light switches everything else is hardwired. The alarm system and locks are Z Wave.

 

[Lawnboy1]

I have to standard router that comes with AT&T. I believe it's a Pace Router. I get 800 to 900 up, occasionally hitting the 1Gig mark. It's about the same on downloads too. Wifi is another story. It's slow. I don't use it much anyway. Other than a Fire Stick in my kids room and the wifi light switches everything else is hardwired. The alarm system and locks are Z Wave. So, wifi is of little consequence to us. Fiber Internet is the way to go! I made all cables for my cams; Cat 6. They are not super fast anyway. I bought Cat 7 shielded twisted pair cables for the modem, switch, HD HomeRun, Gaming Rig and Nvidia. That also helps with speed and bandwidth.