@april.brandt (April Brandt) posted a new topic, subject "Organized Chaos and The Magic Box". It read:

   I joined Hubitat two years ago when we bought this house. There's been one thing that kept getting put off in place of something more important. Anything is more important than cleaning up my "hub" room. I call it a hub room because my server is actually in my office. Everything else smart or entertainment related is located in my hub room in the center of our home under the steps. I'd have to say that it's a pretty sweet spot to have. This is actually the only unfinished spot in our house. So, last weekend I shut everything down. Yah.. hubs wasn't happy, football was on. Oops ... We'll just .. turn .... this back on. Crisis averted. I still feel that this is absolutely chaotic because the house was built in 1994 and definitely not set up for technology. But I did the best that I could with what I have. We have drop ceilings, so it was easy to get some Ethernet pulled to other rooms from this area. What I have to chuckle about is that little box mounted to the 2x4 that runs the entire operation for me. That one little thing. (sigh) I decied to post this because others will appreciate that I don't have a big expensive server rack or box to show off my equipment. Homemade shelves and 2x4 framing. The area is enclosed and has a doorway. And a power washer stored to the left. Ha!  
    
    
    image.jpg1135×529 195 KB
    
      
    The living room is on the other side of the wall. All of the entertainment equipment is kept here. So no visible electronics in the living room. I like that clean look.  
      
    View from my office.  
    
    
    image.jpg1132×538 261 KB
    
      
    
    
    image.jpg388×610 103 KB
    
      
    
    
    image.jpg965×531 224 KB
    
      
    (Hey! Don't be hatin' on the piggy piggy bank.)

So @aaiyar (Ashok Aiyar) replied

    april.brandt:
    
    > Don't be hatin' on the piggy piggy bank
    
    Won't do that. But I'm recommending you put your Hubitat on a UPS. Don't know how stable your power situation is in IA, but around here, a breeze seems to take power-lines down. And Hubitat doesn't like that .....

Then @april.brandt (April Brandt) said

    aaiyar:
    
    > Won't do that. But I'm recommending you put your Hubitat on a UPS.
    
    One power outage in 2 years. It's on my laundry list.

After which, @snell (Snell) added

    I like the large nail holding whatever the black roundish thing (cannot make out the label) is in front of your switch and jack panel.
    
    The one thing I would worry about is the giant sheet metal ducting (I assume your furnace) blocking signal in that direction. Although it could be reflecting it better the other way. Guess it depends on your house layout and if you have repeaters to "work around it".
    
    Either way, far neater than my various areas of our house.

So @april.brandt (April Brandt) replied

    snell:
    
    > I like the large nail holding whatever the black roundish thing (cannot make out the label) is in front of your switch and jack panel.
    
    image.jpg1130×493 266 KB
    
      
    Thanks! The Harmony hub is actually adhered to the wall with Styrofoam pads. The IR wasn't long enough to reach the tv through the port on the other side of the wall from the shelf. I just set it above the nail to keep it from falling should the sticky let loose. The roku is stuck to the wall with the same foam tape. #mcgyverstyle
    
    Actually, reception and performance isn't suffering from location. I actually moved it to the current location after the fact which improved my mesh communication. That placement is literally in the center of the house. Basement level.
    
    The roku and cable boxes run on hdmi over ethernet.

Then @snell (Snell) said

    Thanks for the labeling! I did not even notice the cable box or Google in the original pictures. Nothing wrong with double sided tape... I have many projects (including outdoor ones) that have survived much longer than expected and stayed in place much longer due to some good old tape.

Then @Eric.C.Miller (Eric) said

    I use 3M Command Strips for many of my sensors and 3M Dual Lock for things as heavy as 8 port POE switches (well, OK, just one of those but still . . .)! It makes it easy to move things around and, in the case of sensors, to take them down in order to change batteries.

So @bobbyD (Hubitat Support) replied

    


{'source': 'discourse', 'url': 'https://community.hubitat.com/t/organized-chaos-and-the-magic-box/28011', 'title': 'Organized Chaos and The Magic Box', 'views': 376, 'has_accepted_answer': False, 'word_count': 751, 'like_count': 16, 'reply_count': 2, 'participant_count': 4, 'posts': 8, 'tags': '', 'author': '@april.brandt (April Brandt)', 'participants': '@april.brandt (April Brandt), @aaiyar (Ashok Aiyar), @snell (Snell), @Eric.C.Miller (Eric), @bobbyD (Hubitat Support)', 'image_url': ['https://community.hubitat.com/uploads/default/optimized/3X/d/3/d3bb52ef79c1d68df3c7c271bc0f0fe97edeee44_2_1024x477.jpeg'], 'created_at': '2019-11-27T17:35:53.070Z', 'last_posted_at': '2022-09-17T12:52:50.567Z'}