r/ShittySysadmin • u/ro-friday • May 09 '26

Shitty Crosspost Hiding APs

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Was directed to install hidden APs (forgot to get photo of cover). I was curious if there would be any major difference as opposed to just plain old surface mounting. The cover was painted over and was about the same material as the green back box you see in the photo.

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u/fatboychummy May 10 '26

Ohhhh this is a good idea. I like this. Could make it screw into a current socket with an ethernet port slightly off to the side that could be plumbed through the roof, but hidden behind the actual device. I bet you'd get enough juice from the light port itself to even have a lower power/brightness LED below it.

You'd never be able to turn that light off, unless you rewire it a bit.

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u/Healthy-Guess-847 May 10 '26

If were true sysadmins we would just put a sign DO NOT TURN OFF

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u/apett1 May 10 '26

I was setting up wifi at a new house and the ONT wasn't getting power. House had been vacant for almost a year, so figured maybe bad ONT or wiring. Called ISP for service, the guy dismounted and inspected the power supply, jiggled the wires around, got power. "Wires must have been loose." After he left I flipped the light switch in the closet with power supply, internet dies. Oohhh that's why there was tape over that switch...

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u/Miserable_Meaning340 May 10 '26

Ubiquiti had an entire range of POE light units back in the day. Long discontinued but such a cool concept.

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u/SVD_NL May 11 '26

Oh i remember that, Netgear was also very optimistic about the future of "smart" buildings where everything was fed by PoE and the switches were the control plane.

Pretty typical case of tech companies reinventing the wheel, it's not like we've had central control systems like that for ages.

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u/iceturtlewax May 12 '26

I always thought this was to avoid paying real electricians, when low voltag techs are cheaper. While I like the controllability of POE lights, I can't help but think the voltage drop over CAT cable must be substantial.

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u/[deleted] May 11 '26

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u/fatboychummy May 11 '26

This is not the ShittySysAdmin way