Automated home 2.0 – #21 wall mounting Our Loxone iPad with PoE Texas Adaptor – part 1
All building work stopped on the 24th March, due to the Covid-19 lockdown, but there’s still some things we can be getting on with, especially around plans for the electrical 2nd fix.
Wall Mounted iPad
I don’t think wall mounted touch screens are the way many of us would really choose to control our homes many of the time. However, I did want to make sure we have one controller, sited centrally in the house, which we’ll be able to use to access the entire smart home system. This is easily achievable using the Loxone app running on an iPad.
Just as we were going to purchase the tablet, Apple announced a new model. This was an opportunity to get one of the outgoing 6th gen iPads from the Apple refurb store and save a few quid.
We also picked up one of the last 9.7″ Loxone Wallmounts (they have because released an updated model for the most recent 10.2″ iPads). I chose the Anthracite version over the Silver one as I much choose the way its dark frame blends with the black bezels of the iPad.
PoE to iPad
Next it was time to examine how to connect the tablet to offer data as well as charging while on the wall.
Thankfully keeping an iPad plugged into the mains all day no longer kills its battery. because iOS 11.3 Apple have added a feature to safeguard cells that are continuously being charged…
iOS includes a charge management feature to maintain battery health when iPad or iphone XS, iphone XS Max, or iphone XR is connected to power for prolonged periods of time, such as when used in a kiosk or a point of sales system, or stored in a charge cart.
Apple
With all our UniFi PoE kit, Power over Ethernet seemed optimal for the task, a single cable television to offer power and data to the iPad. This is not the most affordable option, but potentially worth it for simplicity plus a very stable data connection and no chance of any WiFi funny business.
Options here are limited, but this niche product fitted the bill perfectly so we purchased one of these GAF-Lightning-PD from PoE Texas.
It’s around $90 and supports 802.3af PoE to power the iPad whilst delivering 10/100 Ethernet over the same single cable.
You can now use one Ethernet cable television to extend power and data to your iPad up to 328 ft away at fast data speeds! This PoE adapter is developed to deliver both 5 volts 12 watts of continuous power plus wired 10/100 data to iPad.
PoE Texas
It is relatively small (6″ x 1″ x 1.5″) and we will be able to site it in a narrow void behind the block wall that the iPad mounts to (check out this page on how to set it up).
It works well in testing offering power and data while simplifying the cabling. The best angled Lightning cable television fits into the Loxone frame with a little room to spare. all in all the Texas PoE device is a terrific solution.
iPad PoE Alternatives
I also considered the Gigabit + PoE Adapter for iPad (L6-NETPOE) from Redpark. The USB2 flavour of Ethernet it employs maxes out at around 225 mbps. It’s much more expensive than the PoE Texas device once you add the required cabled too, but some may choose the extra speed it offers.
Other Options
And here are some less expensive options which may be worth considering too. These services still send power and data to your iPad over a Lightning cable, however they do not use PoE, but require an external power supply instead.
iPad wall Mounts
If you are not a Loxone household but still fancy the idea of a top quality touch screen mount then check out these smart things sDocks.
If you are searching for a much more budget option for your diy smart home touch screen then there are other economical wall mount services too.
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Preview
Product
Rating
Price
1
Beelta tablet wall mount for 10.2 inch iPad 7th/8th/9th Generation, Anti Theft iPad Kiosk wall Mount…
7 Reviews
£43.99
purchase on Amazon
2Dockem Koala tablet wall Mount: universal Damage-free Adhesive wall Dock for iPads, iPad Airs,…
3,408 Reviews
£10.99
purchase on Amazon
3
elago home Hub mount developed for iPad wall mount – tablet wall mount Compatible with iPad, iPad…
1,119 Reviews
£17.99
purchase on Amazon
Next Time
In a future follow-up post we’ll look at the tablet installation once we’re in the house. That’s still a while away though so in the meantime remember to check out our Instagram to follow the project, read the rest of the Automated home 2.0 blog messages and find the links to all the products we’ve used in our self-build.
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Last update on 2021-10-04 / affiliate links / images from Amazon product advertising API