Absolutely. The monitor I got came with a stylus, too, so now we also use it as a notepad. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, it really was like a "where has this been all my life?!" kind of moment. LOL
As far as tablet mounting goes, looks pretty good. I never understood people doing this though. If I wanted to get off my ass to turn a light off I would use the light switch.
Lol make no mistake, I certainly don't get off my ass from the parlor and walk to the kitchen to flip a lightswitch. But in the kitchen, I'm usually on my feet cooking or doing something else, so having it mounted up out of the way and not taking up any counter space is very convenient. Plus, guests use it CONSTANTLY. I'd say that's the single biggest benefit of it, for guests. Especially if you have small kids and a babysitter, for example.
@@fasthowto interesting point. I could see it with the babysitter. But otherwise, Guests really don't have any business messing with stuff like that IMO.
The QR code for the guests wifi, man.. It's either that, or I'm constantly fishing my phone out of my pocket. You can also limit what's seen on that dashboard - which is a good point that I should have mentioned in the video. Dammit. I designed a dashboard specifically for the tablet, and hid a lot of the stuff that I didn't want guests to have access to, like my home office and the bedrooms. But it's super convenient if I'm in the kitchen cooking and a couple buddies are over for drinks, and someone rings the doorbell. They can go over to the tablet and tap it and see who's at the door, then tap to let them in if I say to. The door will unlock, or the garage door will open, whatever you want. It's not for everyone, I'll give you that, but for the basics of turn on lights in the ground floor, handle media players (allows guests to play music from my collection or stream it from UA-cam music), stuff like that.
Thanks for another great video Jeff! As a retired electrician I got that electrical work covered. I have needed the HA advice as that is the area I am a tad slow in. Also i loved your pronunciation of Microwave!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol thanks! Hopefully you found something of value in this video. If you're a retired electrician, then something tells me that nothing you saw in this video came as news to you - recessesed outlet, mounting bracket.. All pretty basic stuff. Thinking back to "clock outlets", right?
I like checking out these mounting ideas. I need to mount a couple tablets as well. One of them will be in the wall just like yours, but I don't have a viable wall option so I have to use the Google tablet with its own table top cradle. It will keep the tablet at a nice angle and always charged. Good luck with the new name!
That's always a solid option. I have a tablet in the parlor that's in a case that props it up and it just remains plugged in. In the kitchen though, even though we have a goodly amount of counter space, there just never seems to be enough once one of us breaks out the ingredients and really gets to cooking. It's amazing how quickly it disappears with a mixer, a toaster, a couple knife blocks, a cutting board or two, and all the ingredients... These are the things that make this hobby so much fun, though - the fact that each of us face our own unique challenges to solve for, and the exact solution that is heaven-sent for one person won't work at all for someone else. I love a good challenge!
Have you thought about simply running an Ethernet cable (low voltage in-wall from a closet that has a POE injector or POE switch) and using an Ethernet to USB adapter for power to the tablet? I’ve used the one from Ubiquiti to power a tablet for a corporate office.
While that is certainly a possibility (and may be a great solution for some viewers), it has far more cons than pros. Not everyone has poe available, or knows what poe is for starters. Lots of people don't even have robust wired networks, and instead rely on consumer-grade wireless solutions for their entire homes. The other is that poe will severely limit what devices can be placed there in the future. I have a sneaking suspicion that as my needs continue to increase, I'll wind up with that touchscreen pc mounted there, and that needs much more power than even poe++ is able to provide. Lastly, running brand new cable for poe really doesn't save you any work vs installing an outlet - you still have to cut the wall, you still need a j-box, and in the case of someone wanting to install a wall mounted tablet, say, in their bedroom on the second floor of their house, it would be a lot more difficult to get cat6 back to their closet than it would be to simply jump a couple feet of 14/2 from an outlet below the tablet. Tl;Dr - poe injection has its use cases, but I think installing a proper outlet is a far more universal and future proof solution when speaking in generalities. Great question though, and thanks for watching!
Great vid, thanks. What OS did you use on the touchscreen to facilitate Home Assistant as I never had any joy with 5 different SBC Android versions because of Webview versions issues preventing cameras from working properly.
Whatever version of Android was on it when I took it out of the box is what it's running. When you say "cameras"... Do you mean the cameras on the tablet, or are you referring to displaying camera feeds?
@@fasthowto The PC you linked to is the Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q which it says is running Windows 10 which is why I asked how you got Home Assistant on it. My experience with Android on PC's and SBC's is poor in regards to displaying camera feeds and touch screen compatibility so it'd be great to know what OS is underlying your Android version if yours is working well.
I'm a bit confused as to what you're asking about, exactly... The PC is running Windows 10, yes. No other software is installed on it aside from the drivers for the monitor. Home Assistant does not run on this machine. The tablet is running whatever version of Android came out of the box, and has the companion app installed on it. Does this help?
I have been wanting to do this. I would need to have it portrait mounted, want to include our family Google Calendar (either directly or via a HA connection), and I would need to have a place to mount our fan remote to it. I just am not sure if the place I have in mind would accommodate a receptacle or if I would need something else.
Portrait mode would work just fine, all modern tablets have auto-rotate built into them. Best way to figure out if you can install a recep is to use a stud finder to see what's behind the wall. As I mentioned the easiest way to do it is to mount it above an existing recep, since then you just need a few feet of 14/2 to jump from the lower recep up to the new addition. Of course, my location had no recep below it, so I had to drill through the footer into the basement and pull wire. It was lots of fun - but it works great now, and was totally worth it!! What type of fan? Is it not possible to add the fan to Home Assistant?
@@fasthowto There is an old switch box with power but it might be too close to the door frame. It also has the older cloth wrapped MC wire from the mid-1930s. The ceiling fan is a Hunter HunterExpress 54" ceiling fan with 433 MHz remote. I don't have a bridge yet. I also have a lower SAF, Spousal Approval Factor, when it come to integrating Tech into the house. I am working on raising it by trying to make their life easier and better.
@@mike_realityi Like I mentioned in the video, I'm no electrician, but given what you've told me so far, if I were a bettering man, I'd say you probably don't have the correct power. A lot of those old switches were just cut hots, and had no neutral in the box. You need neutral for a recep. Is there no recep on that wall anywhere that you can get power from? Drilling horizontally across stud bays is still not that bad with the correct tools.
@@fasthowto I can easily check. I believe other switch boxes had soldered and taped neutrals. If I see that I can always call my electrician. I want to avoid drilling due to plaster walls and the SAF. There is a recep about 3' away.
@mike_realityi if you have the ability to get an electrician that can do it for you, that would definitely be the best bet. Let me know how you get on. My wife loves the dashboard, it's very convenient - just be sure to pick the right location!
"apple products are not allowed in my household", subscribed.
Lol! Outstanding, thanks for the sub, and thank you for watching!
I did exactly the same thing in my kitchen. Touch screen monitor with a PC sat behind it in the place of a microwave. It's genius.
Absolutely. The monitor I got came with a stylus, too, so now we also use it as a notepad. I can't believe I didn't think of this sooner, it really was like a "where has this been all my life?!" kind of moment. LOL
As far as tablet mounting goes, looks pretty good. I never understood people doing this though. If I wanted to get off my ass to turn a light off I would use the light switch.
Lol make no mistake, I certainly don't get off my ass from the parlor and walk to the kitchen to flip a lightswitch. But in the kitchen, I'm usually on my feet cooking or doing something else, so having it mounted up out of the way and not taking up any counter space is very convenient. Plus, guests use it CONSTANTLY. I'd say that's the single biggest benefit of it, for guests. Especially if you have small kids and a babysitter, for example.
@@fasthowto interesting point. I could see it with the babysitter. But otherwise, Guests really don't have any business messing with stuff like that IMO.
The QR code for the guests wifi, man.. It's either that, or I'm constantly fishing my phone out of my pocket.
You can also limit what's seen on that dashboard - which is a good point that I should have mentioned in the video. Dammit.
I designed a dashboard specifically for the tablet, and hid a lot of the stuff that I didn't want guests to have access to, like my home office and the bedrooms. But it's super convenient if I'm in the kitchen cooking and a couple buddies are over for drinks, and someone rings the doorbell. They can go over to the tablet and tap it and see who's at the door, then tap to let them in if I say to. The door will unlock, or the garage door will open, whatever you want. It's not for everyone, I'll give you that, but for the basics of turn on lights in the ground floor, handle media players (allows guests to play music from my collection or stream it from UA-cam music), stuff like that.
Definitely name the channel the eager beaver!
Thanks for another great video Jeff! As a retired electrician I got that electrical work covered. I have needed the HA advice as that is the area I am a tad slow in. Also i loved your pronunciation of Microwave!🤣🤣🤣🤣
Lol thanks! Hopefully you found something of value in this video. If you're a retired electrician, then something tells me that nothing you saw in this video came as news to you - recessesed outlet, mounting bracket.. All pretty basic stuff. Thinking back to "clock outlets", right?
@@fasthowto Yes, but the outlet with the USB is a nice touch.
I like checking out these mounting ideas. I need to mount a couple tablets as well. One of them will be in the wall just like yours, but I don't have a viable wall option so I have to use the Google tablet with its own table top cradle. It will keep the tablet at a nice angle and always charged.
Good luck with the new name!
That's always a solid option. I have a tablet in the parlor that's in a case that props it up and it just remains plugged in. In the kitchen though, even though we have a goodly amount of counter space, there just never seems to be enough once one of us breaks out the ingredients and really gets to cooking. It's amazing how quickly it disappears with a mixer, a toaster, a couple knife blocks, a cutting board or two, and all the ingredients...
These are the things that make this hobby so much fun, though - the fact that each of us face our own unique challenges to solve for, and the exact solution that is heaven-sent for one person won't work at all for someone else. I love a good challenge!
Have you thought about simply running an Ethernet cable (low voltage in-wall from a closet that has a POE injector or POE switch) and using an Ethernet to USB adapter for power to the tablet? I’ve used the one from Ubiquiti to power a tablet for a corporate office.
While that is certainly a possibility (and may be a great solution for some viewers), it has far more cons than pros. Not everyone has poe available, or knows what poe is for starters. Lots of people don't even have robust wired networks, and instead rely on consumer-grade wireless solutions for their entire homes. The other is that poe will severely limit what devices can be placed there in the future. I have a sneaking suspicion that as my needs continue to increase, I'll wind up with that touchscreen pc mounted there, and that needs much more power than even poe++ is able to provide.
Lastly, running brand new cable for poe really doesn't save you any work vs installing an outlet - you still have to cut the wall, you still need a j-box, and in the case of someone wanting to install a wall mounted tablet, say, in their bedroom on the second floor of their house, it would be a lot more difficult to get cat6 back to their closet than it would be to simply jump a couple feet of 14/2 from an outlet below the tablet.
Tl;Dr - poe injection has its use cases, but I think installing a proper outlet is a far more universal and future proof solution when speaking in generalities.
Great question though, and thanks for watching!
Great thoughts on future proofing a setup.
Great vid, thanks. What OS did you use on the touchscreen to facilitate Home Assistant as I never had any joy with 5 different SBC Android versions because of Webview versions issues preventing cameras from working properly.
Whatever version of Android was on it when I took it out of the box is what it's running. When you say "cameras"... Do you mean the cameras on the tablet, or are you referring to displaying camera feeds?
@@fasthowto The PC you linked to is the Lenovo ThinkCentre M920q which it says is running Windows 10 which is why I asked how you got Home Assistant on it. My experience with Android on PC's and SBC's is poor in regards to displaying camera feeds and touch screen compatibility so it'd be great to know what OS is underlying your Android version if yours is working well.
I'm a bit confused as to what you're asking about, exactly...
The PC is running Windows 10, yes. No other software is installed on it aside from the drivers for the monitor. Home Assistant does not run on this machine.
The tablet is running whatever version of Android came out of the box, and has the companion app installed on it.
Does this help?
@@fasthowto So you just display Home Assistant in a browser window under Windows?
How else would you do it?
I have been wanting to do this. I would need to have it portrait mounted, want to include our family Google Calendar (either directly or via a HA connection), and I would need to have a place to mount our fan remote to it.
I just am not sure if the place I have in mind would accommodate a receptacle or if I would need something else.
Portrait mode would work just fine, all modern tablets have auto-rotate built into them.
Best way to figure out if you can install a recep is to use a stud finder to see what's behind the wall. As I mentioned the easiest way to do it is to mount it above an existing recep, since then you just need a few feet of 14/2 to jump from the lower recep up to the new addition. Of course, my location had no recep below it, so I had to drill through the footer into the basement and pull wire. It was lots of fun - but it works great now, and was totally worth it!!
What type of fan? Is it not possible to add the fan to Home Assistant?
@@fasthowto There is an old switch box with power but it might be too close to the door frame. It also has the older cloth wrapped MC wire from the mid-1930s.
The ceiling fan is a Hunter HunterExpress 54" ceiling fan with 433 MHz remote. I don't have a bridge yet.
I also have a lower SAF, Spousal Approval Factor, when it come to integrating Tech into the house. I am working on raising it by trying to make their life easier and better.
@@mike_realityi Like I mentioned in the video, I'm no electrician, but given what you've told me so far, if I were a bettering man, I'd say you probably don't have the correct power. A lot of those old switches were just cut hots, and had no neutral in the box. You need neutral for a recep. Is there no recep on that wall anywhere that you can get power from? Drilling horizontally across stud bays is still not that bad with the correct tools.
@@fasthowto I can easily check. I believe other switch boxes had soldered and taped neutrals. If I see that I can always call my electrician. I want to avoid drilling due to plaster walls and the SAF. There is a recep about 3' away.
@mike_realityi if you have the ability to get an electrician that can do it for you, that would definitely be the best bet. Let me know how you get on. My wife loves the dashboard, it's very convenient - just be sure to pick the right location!
Amen. Time is money. We have better shxt to do than save a few bucks or frustrate over something that "sort of" works.
Preach!
Thanks for watching! :)
How about "HAwk Eye" or "the HAmster Wheel"
How about "The Smart Guy"
Microwave 😂🤣