Saturday 29 January 2011

Home Theater - wall plate, low voltage


I purchased a bunch of these to provide a clean professional look for my wall mounted TV's and computer stations.



The quality is good, but I did run into a problem - they to not fit properly over some "old work" electrical boxes. I purchased a bunch of low tension electrical boxes from The Home Depot and found these will not lay flush against them. When you tighten it down (on these boxes at least) the wall plate will stick out on the bottom left corner about a ¼" away from the wall. I was able to remedy the situation by cutting off one of the two anchor pieces that hold the wire hiding part of this devise to the wall piece portion. It is still plenty strong with this piece removed, and will now sit flush. You can't see the portion that has been removed (it's on the backside).



I had this problem with 2 different Home Depot Plastic electrical "old work" boxes. It fit perfectly on "new work" boxes (these are the ones that get nailed to the studs before the sheetrock is installed. (The old work boxes are the ones that anchor to the sheetrock with plastic tabs that lock down when tightening 2 set screws).



I do recommend these, but just keep in mind that you may need to make some minor adjustments to get them to look perfect (sit flush). PowerBridge PBBWP-WH Wall Plate for Low-Voltage Bulk-Wire Cabling (Each, White)

This wall plate is well made and attractive, but the description is misleading. The items I received were Quest Technology VHT-8101 wall plates, and they DO NOT HAVE DRYWALL WINGS as described. So you will need to attach the wall plate to an electrical box or to a low voltage mounting bracket.

This is a great product for bulk cabling. Two issues though:

1) My outlet is behind a bookcase and since this plate extends from the wall, I can't push the bookcase close as close as I like. For this reason I suggest buying the same type plate that extends inside the wall and is therefore flush (except for the cables)

2) The plate provides a nice sized hole for cables, but also provides a nice entry point for bugs (as noted by my wife). I used duct tape to plug the hole as best I could. - Low Voltage - Wall Plate'


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