# Building Media Closet ... Am I Covering Everything?



## copenhagen69 (Oct 14, 2018)

So I am remodelling the house and have a dedicated media closet now for receivers/nas/UPS etc etc ... I am curious if I am leaving anything off or is there anything I should look into?

So far my electronics include:

DirectTV HR54 x2
Synology DS918+ 4-Bay NAS (drives undecided yet) 
IP 1080P Cameras x2 (will be adding 1-2 more)
Netgear JGS524PE 24 port (managed)
APC UPS 1500VA / 900W Sinewave UPS





I got the wire management in the back of and I will have however many shelves I need to store things. Holes are drilled all the way up.

Thoughts?


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## Solaris17 (Oct 14, 2018)

Make sure it has active ventilation and make sure there are easy ways to do wire maintenance/additions. Not sure your current route plan but I personally route out via the top with an air gap to the ceiling of a few feet so Its easier for me to snake wires into my conduit. 

The initial build out is always easy once you have the

Money 
Tools
Time

I've made the mistake on several occasions of not making the consideration for maintenance because I never imagine the finished product with TVs, kids toys entertainment systems, weightlifting gear etc around. I always looked at the finished rack in an empty incomplete room or building.

Never did me any favors when I need to increase the drops in the living room. Or add a Sonos speaker to the bathroom. Maintenance always turns into a hot dirty mess. I cant reach things, I mar a wall, I lose my shit because I cant get a good angle to push something through conduit, my exhaust fan is in the way etc etc.

Want a new AP? You didnt plan for that run and you know it. Oh you did? what about that smart TV? that too? damn lucky, but you didnt plan on that xbox for the new TV did you? your gonna want to wire that. Dont need to you can use wifi? haha you already forgot I started this paragraph with a new AP.


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## copenhagen69 (Oct 14, 2018)

LOL! Thanks! 

As for active ventilation I have a vent fan set to turn on once a certain temp is reached in the closet. It is tough to see, but it is the white light looking thing at the top of the closet. This can be easily removed if I need to poke my head up there too. Otherwise I can access from the attic stairs about 10' away. I have 3 conduit holes piped through the ceiling to run wires as well. I am planning on having that wired or not dilemma a lot that is why I am going with a 24 port switch to hopefully future proof as much as I can for awhile. I know at minimum I will be taking 8-10 spots for initial setup of known devices.

so far, I have the money tools and time for this build once the painters are done. Just making sure I am not over looking something, like that ease of maintenance you brought up or some extra hardware somewhere.


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## Solaris17 (Oct 14, 2018)

copenhagen69 said:


> LOL! Thanks!
> 
> As for active ventilation I have a vent fan set to turn on once a certain temp is reached in the closet. It is tough to see, but it is the white light looking thing at the top of the closet. This can be easily removed if I need to poke my head up there too. Otherwise I can access from the attic stairs about 10' away. I have 3 conduit holes piped through the ceiling to run wires as well. I am planning on having that wired or not dilemma a lot that is why I am going with a 24 port switch to hopefully future proof as much as I can for awhile. I know at minimum I will be taking 8-10 spots for initial setup of known devices.
> 
> so far, I have the money tools and time for this build once the painters are done. Just making sure I am not over looking something, like that ease of maintenance you brought up or some extra hardware somewhere.



Since you already seem so knowledgeable with this I probably shouldn't mention it but you never know. Make sure your drops are into keystones so that you can jack things into them, as opposed to running 75+ft runs of cat6a out of wire grommets bolted to your wall.

I've seen some pretty crazy shit so just wanted to make sure.


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## Bill_Bright (Oct 14, 2018)

So is that a bathroom exhaust fan? That will likely help but they do tend to make a lot of noise. In fact, they can cause a resonating rumble that can be heard (even felt) rooms away. You say "receivers", do you mean for an audio video home theater? They can generate a lot of heat. And if so, then fan noise might be even more objectionable when listening to a quiet passage in a song or movie. Just something to think about. 

Also, exhaust fans are worthless unless they can pull cool air in from someplace. What's under the floor of that closet? A cool basement perhaps? That would be a good place for a large floor vent. If not, I recommend intake vents as low on the door or side wall as possible. And make sure the intake vents are filtered. A good furnace filter can fitted and actually not look bad. Same with a floor (or basement ceiling) intake vent. Furnace filters are inexpensive and specifically designed to trap dust, dander and pet hair while allowing the maximum amount of air through. 

What I did in a similar setup was configure 4 x 140mm "quality" (read: "quiet") case fans in a side wall down by the floor to pull cool air in. From the outside, a simple, but effective filtered return air grill was seen. This was acceptable to "Momma" and we all know, _"If Momma ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!_ " . Then, instead of an exhaust fan in the ceiling, there was just an exhaust vent. These fans were powered by a spare PC PSU and were totally silent outside the closet. 

Shelves are nice and convenient, but they can also block cool air from the bottom and trap heated air trying to escape. So I would urge the use of vented shelves.

I might also consider an over temp alarm. There are many available at various prices. In this case, the owner had a marine version that was designed for a boat's engine box. This was nice because it also ran off 12V from the PC PSU. 

I saw no mention of a proper "Earth" ground.


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