I need to wall mount a 2010 Airport Extreme and am having trouble finding a bracket. Best I have found is a current Airport Express wall mount that may be a mm or two too narrow and is 20mm too deep. Anyone know if a better bracket available?

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ascott2000 Author

Level 1

8 points

I need to wall mount a 2010 Airport Extreme and am having trouble finding a bracket. Best I have found is a current Airport Express wall mount that may be a mm or two too narrow and is 20mm too deep. Anyone know if a better bracket available?

I need to wall mount a 2010 Airport Extreme and am having trouble finding a bracket. Best I have found is a current Innovelis TotalMount Airport Express wall mount that may be a mm or two too narrow and is 20mm too deep. Anyone know if a better bracket available and where I can get one? I am in Perth Australia but happy to get online from offshore if necessary. The mounting position for the router in in a prominent position in the house and I want it to be as inconspicuous as possible.

2010 Airport Extreme-OTHER

Posted on Mar 8, 2015 7:19 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 8, 2015 7:38 PM in response to ascott2000

How are the cables going to handled?? It is difficult with ethernet to hide them.. !!

If you are using it wireless only.. vertical mount is not particularly good from antenna location point of view.. the AE is designed to run flat.. The antennas are around the 3 edges.. with very little radiation pattern top and bottom.

My solution would be ceiling mount.. perhaps if it works.. with the bottom removed and screw the metal plate straight in.. the outer white case just clicks on..

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Apple+AirPort+Extreme+Model+A1354+Antenna+Replaceme nt/8881

Since it is now fairly old.. perhaps gen4 I think you can do some good work.. without more than a drill and a couple of screws.. 😮

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Answer 2

ascott2000 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2015 8:02 PM in response to LaPastenague

Hi that is really helpful, but raises a simple question ...Is it the grey rubbery bit at the bottom that comes off? (I thought about putting it on the roof but I wasn't game to pop the case off to see if there was anything I could mount to.)

Cabling is not an issue as I have a drop ceiling plus lots of hatches and downlights all the way from where my NBN termination box will go (fibre to home in case you are not in Oz) to where the router would optimally be sited. I believe I just need to run Cat6 internet with RJ45 plugs to the router (and TV and computer etc) where I want direct couple rather than WiFi.

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Answer 3

ascott2000 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 8, 2015 8:03 PM in response to ascott2000

Cat6 internet should obviously have been Cat6 ethernet

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Answer 4

Mar 8, 2015 11:16 PM in response to ascott2000

Is it the grey rubbery bit at the bottom that comes off? (I thought about putting it on the roof but I wasn't game to pop the case off to see if there was anything I could mount to.)

Yes, heat it a bit with a heat gun and peel it off.. but if you have a false ceiling you are made.. you can just leave it on the roof side. A bit of thin sound board or whatever the false ceiling uses will be fine and you will get almost no loss.. the right way to do it is run the AE upside down though.. so you get the best radiation pattern and removing the rubber will help ventilation.

I believe I just need to run Cat6 internet with RJ45 plugs to the router (and TV and computer etc) where I want direct couple rather than WiFi.

Ideal.. and I wish I was getting NBN sometime soon.. no date for any upgrade here even.. with the philistines in charge in Canberra I suspect NBN will get here about when h e l l freezes over. 👿

On your other question about UPS.. you can power the Airport over ethernet by using injectors.. so you can have the UPS located with the rest of the network and routing equipment..

It is easy to do with a cable as well if you are running a cable bundle through the ceiling run a bit of medium security fig8 20x0.2mm to provide DC for the units.. it is cheaper than using ethernet injectors with gigabit.. if you only need 100mbit then you can use spare pairs in the ethernet cable very cheaply.

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Answer 5

ascott2000 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 9, 2015 12:19 AM in response to LaPastenague

Really helpful. I think I will go to the trouble of ceiling mounting it upside down as the three broadcast side each face one of the three home zones from the point I will install it. Also, the drop ceiling sections of the apartment are crammed with steel air-con ducting plaster barriers for aircon zoning, aluminium framing for the ceiling and heavy 35 year old ceiling plaster like is no longer made.

Your battery solution for a UPS was way over my head, but I will do some more reading if I don't find a cheap off the shelf solution if 12 watts is all I have to back up and I only net back up for say five hours (or until the iPad and wife MacAir ran out) then we are not talking a big unit it seems to me?

However, you have added VOIP phone backup into the equation which I hadn't thought of as I don't currently use, but might in future. Maybe worth thinking through some more what my minimum UPS needs are.

Will email if I run into any more problems. Thank you very much for all your advice it was spot on. Going to order a couple of pre terminated Cat6 leads and get them in before the NBN man comes. I don't think I will have to hurry, the fibre to outside each apartment has been in for 8 months and we have only got the news that we will be finally going live a couple of weeks back. Nothing works fast with the NBN!

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Answer 6

Mar 9, 2015 3:57 AM in response to ascott2000

You need enough power to run the whole network.. so it is not just the Extreme .. it is ONT, and routers and switches and voip gear.. whatever you consider essential services.

ONT gives you connection to fibre but the ISP will give you a router.. and that will also need to be powered.. It can get pretty heavy.

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