Well I am not a big fan of the universal projector mount I got in the package for my projector and screen. It was part of the package and the only one the company offered so I thought I would give it a shot. Well I can't get to be as stable as I like and it isn't quite as short as I had hoped. It is a generic unbranded mount. As a replacement I ordered a Chief RPA Custom Mount. It should be here sometime next week. It has a much more fine adjustment for pitch, yaw and roll. I will evaluate it more once I get it.
Recently in Wiring Category
This weekend I finished everything I could think of prior to drywall being installed. Mostly it was finishing and testing wiring. I started on Friday by working on the lights inside the riser. The wiring wasn't tough, it was cutting the holes in the 2x10 and 2x6 side walls of the riser. I tried a couple of different techniques that involved drills, keyhole saws, sanders and handheld jigsaws. None of the holes are what I would call pretty, but hopefully will look fine once the covers are on them.
Saturday I decided to test all the stereo wires. I hooked up my stereo in the rack and then tested each wire with one of my speakers. It was challenging at times since some of the wire are 6 ft in the air for speakers that will be on shelves. I had to hook up speaker and hold it up to test. All the wires tested fine which is good, don't have to worry about re-running. I also labeled them all so I could easily hook them up later.
On Sunday I worked on all the Ethernet and Satellite lines. There were 7 Ethernet and 7 Satellite that I needed to terminate and test on both ends. As I went I tested each cable to make sure that is terminated properly and didn't have any breaks in it. Everything worked fine except for one wire. One of the Ethernet wires kept failing the tests, in the end I got two of the four pairs to work, which is plent for phone. That jack will just be phones I guess. I have two other working ethernet at that plate so I should be good.
At this point I have finished everything I can think of prior to drywall. I even spent a while cleaning and straightening up in the basement. Today the drywall supplies were supposed to be delivered but weren't. Hopefully they will be tomorrow and then the drywall will begin getting installed shortly.
I have finished all the wiring I can at this point. I finished and tested the fifth circuit along with my square lights. The only thing left to do is the sconces and the switch for the lights in the riser.
After the wiring I went back to insulation. I worked on the insulation in ceiling joists. I got about 60% of the ceiling insulation done. It isn't hard but very time consuming work. Measure, cut, stuff, pull and repeat. Hopefully I can get it done tomorrow as it is the last thing that needs to be done prior to drywall install. Speakng of which I will hope to find someone next week to do the install.
This morning I installed my five circuits into the main electrical panel. I first tested my three relatively normal circuits which are just outlets. They all worked. Then I tested the grafik eye circuit which has no less 30 individual wires running into it. Once it came on I then tested the lights. When they the lights literally came up it was a great feeling to see that I had done it all right. I then tested each zone individually. I can't test zone 1 as it is the sconces which can't be mounted until the drywall is in. The other five zones I could test. Four of the five worked perfectly. Zone four wouldn't light up. I first checked the bulbs and got no difference. Then I checked the wiring at each can and still nothing. I called my dad for ideas then. He gave me two things to try. First I switched the hot wires from zone 4 and 6. It made no difference so I knew the dimmer was good. Next I wired each can to an outlet by themselves to test and they were both good. Then I wired them together and still good. Finally I went back to test the wiring from the dimmer to the lights and found the problem. I had not tied the zone 4 ground and neutral into the common ground and neutral, this meant there was no power getting to the zone. I fixed that problem by joining them into the existing wire nut mess. After that zone four worked perfectly as well. I guess that isn't too bad forgetting one set of wires, considering I managed to avoid any short circuits or anything.
I need to install one more outlet in my last circuit that will power the stereo rack, sub woofer and projector. Once that is done I can test that circuit and all the electrical wiring will be done and verified. With that done I just need to finish installing insulation before drywall can be installed. I will also probably test the speaker wires and the Ethernet and satellite wires as well.
Last night and today I installed my 12 recessed lights. I also finished the wiring from the lights to the location for the grafik eye. After I finished the lights I installed all the receptacales. The last thing I did tonight was terminate all the wiring and screw it into the grafik eye. Tomorrow morning I will do the wiring in the panel when I am more awake and there is natural light. Then I can test everything to make sure it works before the drywall gets installed. My biggest fear is some of the electrical is messed up and I don't find it while I can fix it.
On Monday I received my shipment of 12 recessed IC cans. Also the trims and bulbs came as well. There were two small problems. One they forgot to send my black trim rings and two at least one or two of the bulbs they sent seem to have been damaged in transit.
On Tuesday I got the lights that I will be mounting in the riser to illuminate the edges of it. I am still waiting for my receptacles to come in. Luckily I called the place I ordered them from and corrected the order. It seems that when correcting my mistake on wall plates they added 10 more receptacles instead of 10 wall plates. Most of these items I don't need until after the drywall so thankfully it won't postpone that any further.
Today I worked on wiring again for about 6-7 hours. At this point I have all electrical back to the panel. I also have all but the front right and sub speaker wires run. I finished up the Satellite and Ethernet wires as well. I had just enough of one Ethernet spool, the dual coax and the dual coax / dual Ethernet combo for the runs I needed. Each spool ran out with a few feet extra, which worked out well. I only have one Ethernet and a single coax spool left. The only wiring I have left is for the individual lights, which is still a bit. I am waiting for the lights to come in so I can place them and then run wires. Luckily none of the runs left have to go all the way back to the panel which makes it easier.
I also cut all the shelving I am going to place into the wall in various places. I am going to have a shelf in the column for the gas meter to hold TV DVD's. Then I will have a shelf near the front door for recent DVD's. Lastly will be a shelf near the front row of seating for game controllers, which will also have a hole to route cables through.
I spent about 12 hours today working on wiring. I got all the conduit run and all but one of the speaker wires run. I am waiting to find a longer subwoofer cable to go along with the last speaker wire. Some of today's conduit didn't flow quite as well as my first few. More turns today which makes it harder to go through. The only thing left to run through the conduit is video cables, which I won't do until the drywall is up. I started running some Ethernet and satellite lines to some other locations in basement before stopping for the day.
Last night and tonight I continued working on the electrical wiring mostly and a little time on speaker wiring. I have run 3 of the 5 circuits back to the panel. I have extended them to all their locations to prep for drywall. I am about 30% done with electrical, since I haven't started on the 12-15 recessed lights I need to do. However many of the lighting runs will be much shorter.
This week in preparation for my dad to return I began working on electrical wiring and insulation on outer walls. I first began by deciding where to put all my gang boxes for both electrical and stereo wiring. I also measured out and planned the location of the screen, projector, speakers and chairs.
I found some gang boxes that are depth adjustable. I am using these in all the locations that will behind the drywall and linacoustic combo. I used normal gang boxes in all the locations that will only be behind drywall. I also started figuring out what size conduit I need to run around the room for various stereo wires.
I also began placing the insulation on the outer walls. I did all the cavities that don't have wiring in them. Once I finish wiring I will add the insulation in those as well. I was kind of amazed how easy it was to do the insulation. I am not sure why I thought it would be hard. The insulation I bought comes with a vapor barrier attached, that way I don't have to worry about doing my own after ward.
I started running the electrical as well. I ran the circuit for the sconces and over to where the dimmer control will be. I also ran one circuit all the way back to the panel. I will extend that circuit for the chairs, arcade and just normal outlets.
