Have you ever been struggling to complete an installation until you finally figured something out and suddenly it was no longer a struggle? You know, those “Now, I’ve got it!” moments.

Let other integrators benefit from your experience/expertise.

Please post your best, unique installation tips.

While you’re at it, please also post your best business tips.

Shared knowledge can only be good for the custom integration industry.

Here’s one, let’s see if it inspires others.

When wall mounting a large flat panel TV within a cabinet or niche, always push to use a swing mount.  Every time I’ve come across a cabinet with a TV on it’s stand, the shelf or unit the TV is sitting on is always scratched due to moving the TV to Move.Add.Change cable connections.  Or, if it is wall mounted on a flat or tilt mount, working around the mill work to get at the connections can be an excercise in being a contortionist.

Articulate those big TV’s!

-Morgan

Here’s one we learned this week.

VGA to CAT5 baluns require sheilded CAT5e & connectors. VGA over CAT5e needs 10 conductors. Of course the sheilding helps with noise ingress. Thank god the wire is conduits, which is another good tip for in-wall video cables.

Early on I thought I would get rich from inventing the solution for attaching IR emitters.  Then someone showed me the concept of super gluing them on.  Darn, I was so close.  Electric tape (or other tape) really steps down the perceived professionalism of your install.  And the provided double sided adhesive is a guaranteed service call in about 1-3 months depending on cabinet temperature.

This one is really a gem if it’s new to you.

-Morgan

Superglue works well until you have to take that IR device off to reposition or replace it.  (i.e. Direct TV boxes are quite fussy) When you pry off the IR repeater, the superglue remains stuck to the faceplate of the gear and the prying force will sometimes break the IR repeater itself.  I have found that a Hot Glue Gun holds the IR repeater in place while giving you the ability to remove it without permanent damage to the faceplate.  I recommend testing several different brands of �hot glue sticks� to determine what works the best for you for they are not all the same.

True, you do need to be carefull about how much glue you use.  Another solution is the plastic cover piece that holds the emitter in place.  Xantech makes them, part # MS1.  Sold as a shield.

This is a cool topic. Just recently I installed 60+ Leviton VIziaRF light switches in a customers home. I had done this in my own home and a family members home for testing purposes and this was my first Z-Wave install as a pro. I never has a single issue with communication and reliability during my trials but sure enough I ran into a major issue with the customers home. I must have sat in the home for 10 hours one day trying everything I possibly could to improve the RF signal and then it dawned on me. Most of the NEW home was built with stone counter tops and many of the floors were also stone. This was a basic install and the customer wanted a simple USB controller with software installed on their personal PC. Guess where the PC was located? Underneath one of the nice granite countertops. I ran to the store and purchased a 6’ USB extender for the controller and relocated it high above the counter top. I ran a little utility to rebuild the routing tables and like magic everything worked.

This one is obvious to the veteran, but is a good reminder and something to absolutely consider a priority for the new installer.

Make sure you take into consideration these two major cabinet issues.

Depth and heat.

Your main concern will be fitting the a/v receiver in the cabinet so the door doesn’t hit the volume control and stay ajar.  If a cabinet is being built or purchased, be sure to get the depth of the receiver and make an accomodation for the cable connections in the back.  I usually push for at least 24” of depth.

Next is heat.  Make sure air can flow and vent in and out!  Allow components to have space where venting is available in the unit itself.

As a bonus third issue - PULL OUT RACK.  There is nothing more annoying than having to lift a stack of equipment in and out of a cabinet, particularly when they are spread across a few shelves.  Speck a pull out rack, try to insist on it, or charge more for the inevitable labor.

-Morgan

We put all IR emitters inside the components. It is time consuming but the installs looks clean and no chance of the IR emitters falling off.
We use Middle Atlantic face plates for all installs, no IR emitters on the front of any components (installs look clean and professional)
We use equipment racks for all our systems, we build, program and test all racks in advance.
All racks get consideration for cooling, venting and future service.
We use serial contral for all flatpanels and TVs

We use the client’s network to access almost 100% of our systems to allow for trouble shooting and offsite service. We charge a fee for this service. Many times this involves an extensive amount of hardware for us to do so. Client’s may pay 450.00 per year to 1,000.00+ per month for this value added service

We prebuild as much of the system as we can offsite. We remove many products from the oem boxes and have built bins to hold inwall speakers and the such. This allows the installer to pull equipment and install them immediately. We have installed a standard surround system in a family room, Russound cav6.6, 6 rooms of audio, 19/16/14 structured cabling system, 16 zone security and fire system and a small computer network with 2 guys (16 man hours) in a single trip. This cuts our onsite labor hours by almost 65% as compared to not using this procedure. This has saved our company around 80-120 hours of “unbilled hours per week, around 3 full time guys and has more than doubled our efficientcy)

We spend around 34-36% of all our labor budget on project management and site accessments. Again this saves us a ton of actual manual labor hours for our installers and return trips

every call to/from the client and ANY client interaction is documented - any employee can see this activity on the web

PAPERWORK - PAPERWORK - PAPERWORK
100% of all paperwork and pertinent cleint information is available to techs 24/7 via the WEB. techs can access any client info via the web, login info, CAD diagrams, pervious service calls. original proposals and billing.

On our IR Emitters we use clear silicone to attach them. We tape the flasher briefly to the device, while the silicone dries. Afterwards, it holds very well, but can be removed without leaving any marks on the device.

CCTV getting it online quick and simple

When I am installing a CCTV system and putting it online for the customer to access it over the internet I like to bypass all the manufactories B/S and go to DYDNS.com get a free domain. Put all the DYDNS settings in the router then take the ip address on the DVR and do a DHCP reservation on it and add that ip address to the DMZ of the router.  For myself I found that I can get any DVR online in under 30min even the one’s I have never worked with before.

For installs where you are setting up Wifi, here’s a must.

InSSIDer from metageek.com

Seriously, it’s free.  And here’s a novel thought - OPEN SOURCE.  Ya, crazy.