Wallmounted the $250 Fujitsu 3400 remote control

[IVB]

So I got my wood photo frame in from the custom framing shop this past week, and finally wallmounted that $250 Fujitsu stylistic 3400 that I'm going to use as a wifi remote control around the house. Here's the story:

Picture 1: Here's most of the parts; photo frame sawed in half, Fujitsu, sitting on a 1/8" x24"x24" handypanel (basically MDF) from HomeDepot. Only thiing not shown is the foam, velcro, and black permanent magic marker I decided to use at the end to make it a little better.

Picture 2: Here's the thickness of the photo frame. I had to get the deepest frame they had at the frame shop in order to fit the 3400. Good thing I got that extra room - I needed it at the end. Keep reading for why.

Picture 3: Here's the thickness of the handypanel. It's 1/8", pretty dang thing.

I cut the handypanel to the size of the bottom half of the photo frame, and nailed it to the back of the frame.

Picture 4: Here's what it looked like after it was cut & nailed to the frame:

Picture 5: Mounted the handypanel to the wall using screws.

Picture 6: I was initially planning on leaving it like this. [getting an electrician in to punch a hole in the wall & put an A/C outlet in the closet directly behind this wall]

Doesn't look bad; you can pull that A/C cord out and walk around with the tablet.

Alas, wife didn't like the half-frame look. Hence,
Picture 7: I put some foam behind the tablet to get it stiff/up against the front part of the frame [remember it was too deep]

Picture 8: Put the top half of the frame there. Used industrial velcro where I cut it, and also to attach to the wall on top so it doesn't fall off. Had to cut out a section on the right side so that wifi card could fit, no biggie. Yes, I know the screen has fingerprints. It's a touchscreen damnit, we've been touching it!

Only thing left is running that A/C cord through the wall to the closet behind it, and all will be invisible.

Et voila! A $250+$50 photo frame + $10 parts, $310 wifi tablet remote control for your HA/TPC!

 

[BraveSirRobbin]

IVB;

Very cool project! I was thinking of doing something similar with an old Elo touch screen LCD monitor that I purchased used. It doesn't have a "conventional" wall mount, but I purchased a small mount as shown HERE and HERE. I wanted to then frame it in using techniques as you shown here.

This gives me a few ideas so thanks again for posting!

 

[Mike]

Nice project. Looks like a great fit. After using that tablet, would you recommend ita again? Any things you would do different?

The price point is nice, and I would probably use it similar to how you have yours (a CQC control panel).

 

[IVB]

Nice project. Looks like a great fit. After using that tablet, would you recommend ita again? Any things you would do different?

The price point is nice, and I would probably use it similar to how you have yours (a CQC control panel).

Waited a few days to respond to see how I really felt; the first day, i had a bunch of network cxn dropouts. I took the foam out of the back [just in case there was some weird heat thing going on], i haven't had any network dropouts lately. No idea if it's related, the foam was somewhat hot. However, I now have an issue where it's not tight inside the frame. I'm going to look for some 1"wide, 1/4" thick styrofoam that I can line the edges with, to see if that helps the tightness without impacting anything.

I have noticed that it's not the easiest to use touch-wise, as I have to use my fingernail, but frankly, for $310 all-in and no RDP, I can't see spending more to get something better.

I'll report back in 2 weeks once it's been through more "burn-in" testing, but i'll leave you with a quote that my wife gave me on Monday night [recall, i only installed it this weekend]

"I used your touchpanel instead of the HTPC today to put XM on in the kitchen. Worked well - that was pretty cool."

 

[smee]

Take a look at the closed-cell foam weatherstripping that places like HomeDepot sell. It's basically a thick foam tape. It's self-adhesive on one side (just like tape) and you can get different widths and thicknesses. It's very convenient for holding things like this in place. The only downside is that it may be difficult to slide the tablet into the holder with the tape in place (you may need to experiment). It works much better when it's just being compressed with no shear.

 

[DavidL]

Like smee says, HomeDepot has quite a few different stick on gaskets and weatherstripping options. You can get the kind that is a vinyl V where there is adhesive on one of the legs of the V. The other edge would slide against the tablet to tighten up the fit, but without the stickiness of foam.

 

[IVB]

10 days in, and with daily usage I can say that we've had no issues with network connectivity/dropouts. Plus, we're getting quite good at using fingernails to press the buttons.

I still haven't done squat with securing it, i even have some of that weatherstripping 10' away in the wiring closet, i'm just too damn lazy.

net net - very good purchase, we instantly listen to much more music in the L/R and kitchen than we did before, really taking advantage of the XM sub.

That doesn't stop me from wanting RedRadio/UTMA in the bedrooms, but that'll happen in a while when we got more $$

 

[Waynedb]

I bought a 3400 after reading your posts on these tablets and just wanted to thank you. I am using mine with XLOBBY now but I want to
try out CQC also, I would of never bought one with out the positive
experiences of others and now I want a couple more thanks.

 

[WayneW]

Welcome to CocoonTech! Nice name :blink:

 

[IVB]

Thanks for the props.

Man, I hope these things work out for everybody - 4 CQC'ers also just bought them, one guy bought 2, a 5th is bidding today.

If this stuff starts dying on folks in a few months, nobody better be throwing engine blocks through my window :blink:

 

[jwilson56]

My two 3400's have been online 24/7 for a couple of years now...


http://www.cocoontech.com/index.php?act=At...e=post&id=12174

John

 

[Waynedb]

I think I better hurry and order more quick before they are all gone and if they die I will just buy something newer because now I am hooked.

I paid $250 for mine and another $34 for a WiFi card so the risk is not too bad.

Also thanks for the welcome.

 

[IVB]

FYI: I bought a 2nd one ($160, with 192MB RAM, 6GB HD, W2K Pro).

Just tested out the 3400 rendering my CCTV image via IE. It works fine, which I'm sure will make many folks happy.

1 Caveat though: I'm currently sitting in front of my 2.6GHz P4 desktop with the 3400 next to it, both connected via a hardwired cxn. The desktop reports anywhere from 4.9->5.1 frames/second, but the 3400 is holding steady at 3.12 Frames/sec. I'm not sure if this is a computer thing or a CCTV server thing. Regardless, I think it's "good enough for me" as the purpose is not to see smooth streaming TV on it, but rather to see who's at the front-door.

Maybe once I hit the lotto i'll go get a houseful of TouchTronix UTMA/UMPCs. For now, for $160, this is proving yet again to be a worthwhile investment.

 

[TCIII]

IVB,

I recently purchased a Fujitsu docking station for my 3400 and noticed that there are two 1/4" raised rails spaced about 1/3 the way across from each side of the the dock that press against the back of the 3400 when it is sitting in the dock.

I think that the purpose of the rails is to provide an air gap between the back of the 3400 and the back of the dock slot allowing air to carry off heat that is generated by the 3400 processor and ram.

If anyone builds their own frame for their 3400, I suggest that you provide an air gap between the back of the 3400 and the back wall of the frame to help air cool the back of the 3400.

Just a thought.

Regards,
TCIII

 

[IVB]

yeah, i noticed that too. I put weather stripping along the perimeter on the back, so it sits off by about 1/4" from the frame.