A thread about "best" mounting for a Tablet

[drozwood90]

So, I know that there is IN wall, and there are ON wall, and CUSTOM mounts for things like IPADS, but this is not for any of them.

My...interest? in touchscreens has been growing, and was mostly started out by the Domotica In-switch housing touchscreens. They were little Windows Mobile screens that were form-factored to replace the switch in the wall. The best part, they ran Homeseer Touch, which I use.

I have been buying from a vendor on E-bay about a year. Bought multiple Wii controllers, etc.
Recently, he linked me an ad:
http://www.ahappydeal.com/product-102803.html?utm_source=yblmail.1029&utm_medium=mail&utm_campaign=regular.1029
4.3" for $38. 4.3" is perfect for a light switch, or next to a light switch. They also have a 7" for $60.

My wife and I have been going back and forth on what touchscreens we want for the house, and more importantly HOW we will use them.
We've tried large screens (19") all the way down to 11". These have met with limited interest because of the touch technology, feel, or just being too large. My wife does not embrace technology as quickly as I do, so I tend to have to sell the idea about what CAN happen, or how it CAN be used. Once she starts with it, my wife tends to get used to the technology and actually enjoys it.

My wife has not tried anything smaller, mostly because she has not had time, and I do not have anything mounted anywhere to try. Also, the small guys I have now are just our old Cellphones that have been laying around. They make highly cheap Touchscreens running HSTouch. I've setup a few with some test code to mess with, nothing that is too useable.

This Monday-ish we are planning on getting together and really hashing this out.

In preparation, I am trying to figure out what the best...as close to code way to mount these. These being, either purchased 4.3" touchpads and/or the repurposed cellphones.

My thought is, I can cut a hole next to a switch box, put a LV opening or something in the hole. Then "magic" get power from the switch box, where I can plug a 5V mini-USB wall adapter INTO the wall, then put solid wall plate over that with only the mini-usb sticking out. say dremel a little of the lip away from the bottom, to allow the cable to come out. Then "magic" the device is mounted to the wall plate.

I thought of double sided tape, or velcro, but those lose their appeal when you try to figure out how to get the phone back OFF the wall plate to unscrew it to work on something.

Basically, I need help on the two "magic" sections. I am not sure what is code to embed a wall plug into a wall. I always thought that was a no-no. I also looked into possibly using a HV box that is super deep, but that makes things awkward if I have to move as well as trying to mount the phone/tablet over top of the hole. The embedded boxes are also very expensive.

The nice part about this, if I have to move, and I do this right, I only have to remove my custom wall plate and replace with a new blank.

I am not afraid to dremel, cut holes, or somewhat custom-cut plastic "things".

Thoughts? Comments? Questions? Most importantly, feedback?

--Dan

 

[tmbrown97]

My thought on this is that it'd be a great application for the new 3D printers that are starting to hit mainstream - you could potentially print out a back-box that holds whatever custom touchscreen you come up with. When I have some money to waste, I'll probably get my hands on one to start playing.

My other general thought on the whole touchscreen thing in general though is that I really like the idea of the iPad mounts with inductive charging so you can grab it and head over to the couch/table/kitchen/wherever and sort through music, browse the web, then dock it when you're done.

And yet one last idea I've been playing with - somewhere in the house, getting a big screen - like 32" minimum, maybe up to a 42" - and having a full house dashboard - shows who's coming, who's going - weather, some status screens, etc - a real at-a-glance station, and yet still touchscreen so you can interact with it. That would be my favorite long-term goal to accomplish.

 

[drozwood90]

Work, neat ideas.

Anyone with any thoughts on putting the power supply embedded into the wall?

--Dan

 

[potts.mike]

Why not put the power supply someplace central and distribute out the LV to each location.

 

[drozwood90]

potts.mike,

Good thought. If I am going to do that, my brain tells me, I might as well use hard-wired touchscreens.

Not against it, but that is what went through my head. That is not to say, that if I actually hard wire my zoned audio, I couldn't use something like Cat5, and use the extra pairs to send power to these units. I would just have to mount the speakers and the speaker's power carefully to also access the other files. FYI, speakers are just PC speakers.

--Dan

 

[drozwood90]

So, I've been looking online for some moldable plastic. I think, if I pre-mold around the tablet using clay, let that harden to make a negative. Then, using that make a positive. Finally make the outside shape, I end up with a mold of the shape of the thing I wanted.

If I then use something like:
https://www.inventables.com/technologies/hand-moldable-plastic

I should be able to mold the plastic into the "mold".

My thought is to make a case, the tablet could be inserted into. Something similar to a case you would buy to put your phone into for a car.
The next step would be to "create" something similar to what you get for mounting a phone on the wall.
http://rsk.imageg.net/graphics/product_images/pRS1-6954409w345.jpg
Got that image from Radio shack. Notice the little metal protrusions on the top and bottom? If I were to get something like that and screw it into the "back" of the tablet holder. Then, use a BLANK wall plate, I can drill a hole and cut a slot (similar to what would be ON the phone that mates to the telephone plate image linked above).

Basically, I would be replicating how a telephone attaches to the wall, except in reverse (the tablet would have the pin, instead of the wall plate).

I had considered this for putting something together for my phone for my car. However "Melting Point 60-62 °C" (140F - 144F ) when on average
http://www.mydogiscool.com/x_car_study.php
cars CAN get a bit warmer than that (160F?). Maybe more.

--Dan

 

[dgage]

I thought I'd share a little side project for the kitchen while we are remodeling the kitchen. Similar to Work2Play, I have wanted a touchscreen monitor in the house so I mounted an Acer T232HL 23" 10-Point Touchscreen monitor in the wall of our kitchen. I was originally planning a 27" until I realized the wall wasn't big enough. The good thing about this location is that the coat closet (currently pantry) is right behind it so I put in an electrical outlet and two CAT6 ethernet drops in the top of the closet as well as the access panel (not installed) you see in the attached picture. The mounting hole also has an electrical outlet in the bottom left and enough room on the right to mount a Mac Mini or similar machine with an air gap at the top.

David

 

[dgage]

And here is it with the monitor mounted. The wall hasn't been painted, it is still drywall joint compound white, it just looks painted because the white balance was off on my phone's camera. Actually after mounting the monitor, it looks like I need to do a little more drywall work to make the hole square. I haven't used the monitor much but it is nice with Windows 8 and think it will be great for managing the family's calendar, some quick web surfing, email, recipes, etc. Now to finish the rest of the kitchen.

David

 

[tmbrown97]

Looks great David - hope you can share some better detail pics when all complete!

Windows 8 has some awesome looking pages for weather and some other widgets - hopefully either HA designers will follow suit, or there'll be a nice way to tie the pieces together for a true home information dashboard in the near future!