Here we salute Westford, Mass.-based Cutting Edge Systems Corp. for going the extra mile for a client who wanted to use a Crestron touchpanel for the night stand. Crestron’s own mount wasn’t the right angle, for the application, so Cutting Edge fabricated one that worked. We were going to write a little piece about the mount, but when we asked Cutting Edge for more information, they pretty much wrote it for us. In the words of Craig Heim, VP operations, here’s the background on the project that included the custom mount.

We were brought into this project last summer to replace [another] system that did not meet the client’s expectations. We started by switching over the controls to Crestron including 11 touchpanels, five Crestron handheld remote controls for TV rooms, and a Crestron Sonnex music distribution system with Autonomic Control sources. We also upgraded the wired and wireless network to Pakedge enterprise-grade managed switches and wireless access points. That was phase I.

In phase II, we retrofit-wired 10 exterior 3-megapixel surveillance cameras and added a camera at the gate with an interface that flips the touchpanels to the gate view when the gate call button is pressed. This was a challenge in itself as the house had wallpaper throughout. We managed to wire it and only make two interior wall penetrations.

It turns out that the biggest challenge was providing the client a baby monitor function using internal cameras and hidden surveillance microphones. The client demanded a clear view of their young kids, one in a crib, even at night with the lights completely off. We went through a couple of cameras and finally landed on ones that provided enough IR illumination while being discreet interior cameras.

We placed two Crestron TSW-752 tabletop touchpanels next to the bed on the clients’ nightstands, which they use every single night to monitor the two kids. We combined the audio so they can hear both children at the same time.

The final issue that we needed to solve was that the only Crestron tabletop stand for the TSW-752 touchpanel has a fixed 38-degree operating angle which is unacceptable for a night-stand application.

Our project manager went to work and fabricated a triangular shape from MDF and Bondo, and used multiple stages of primer and finish paint to come as close as possible to match Crestron white. We mounted the Crestron tabletop kit to the stand, and the touchpanel is now upright and readable from bed.

The end result came out great and the client is thrilled.

Crestron’s own mount (left) and Cutting Edge’s version for the bedside.

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