What should I do if the weak current box is too small to fit the optical modem router? I have gone through all four processes including changing boxes, opening holes, moving machines, and surface packing.

It was the mother-in-law's family who broke up the matter first. When her home was installed with broadband, the master came to her home to install the optical modem, stuffed the router into the weak current box, and barely locked the door. After using it for half a year, the WiFi at home wilts when summer comes. I scroll around while watching videos at night, and the router is so hot to the touch that I dare not touch it for a long time. When I went back and opened the door of the box, I understood: It was a small iron box, less than 20 centimeters wide. The optical modem, router, and a one-to-three power strip were stuffed inside. The network cable squeezed out of the cracks, and the door could not be closed tightly.

My own family encountered this problem two years ago, and later helped a friend deal with it a third time. After three attempts, the problem of "the weak current box cannot be plugged in" has been basically solved. Put the conclusion first: Being unable to block the wall is not a dead end. In 90% of cases, there is no need to smash the wall. The four paths are arranged in order of cost from low to high. We will talk about them one by one later. . The box is already in a mess, let’s take a look first Weak current box sorting That article sorted out the family affairs, but this article only talks about the fact that the box cannot physically fit in it, and that it is difficult to live well even if it is packed in it.

judge first: Is your box "messy" or "small"?」

Measure three knives before taking action. Take the width, depth of the box, and the total thickness from the box door to the plaster layer on the wall. Pull the measuring tape and note it down. The older weak current boxes installed in batches by developers on the market are mostly tin boxes measuring 20 by 30 centimeters and seven or eight centimeters deep. New communities generally provide boxes that start at 30 by 40 centimeters. The physical size of the box determines which way you can go - if the depth is less than 8 centimeters, you can't even think about panel equipment, and even a machine with a tail like a optical modem can't be leveled.

Count things after measuring them. One optical fiber entering the home, one optical modem from the operator, and one router are the basic configuration. Add down: If you have an IPTV, most of them will need a switch outlet. What you want to plug into the NAS, the adapter for the smart doorbell, and the 4G module for the charging pile, each family has different needs. In the box at my mother-in-law’s house, there is still a coaxial distributor from a cable television system from ten years ago. It occupies an area larger than the router and should have been retired long ago.

There is only one criterion for judging: The list of equipment is spread out on the table. Check to see if it can be placed in the box without overlapping each other, leaving a two-finger-wide gap around it. Just let it go, it's a mess, just sort out the wiring and that's it. ； If you can't put it down or have to stack it up, it's really small. Go down four ways. Don’t underestimate the words “Stacked Arhat”. Router gets hot In that article, I actually measured that when the machine is stacked on other heat sources, the temperature is more than ten degrees higher than when it is placed flat. When stacked in an unventilated iron can such as a weak current box, the temperature inside the box is 40 to 50 degrees in summer, and the equipment is soaked in a sauna room for work.

first road: Don’t buy anything, please take the router out of the box

The lowest cost and the quickest results. This is the road that my mother-in-law’s family took after going round and round. The idea is very simple: Only keep things in the box that "must stay in place" and everything that can be moved away. Which ones must stay? The optical modem connected to the end where the optical fiber enters the box makes a lot of noise because the fiber optic cable has to be cold-connected or the master is called when the fiber is moved. optical modem moves position In that article, I wrote about the trouble of the yellow line. It would be most troublesome to not move it. It is also recommended to keep the switch. It is not wireless, generates little heat, and fits perfectly in the box.

The router is the first thing that should be taken out. There are two reasons, one of which many people know: As soon as the metal box door is closed, the WiFi signal of the router is cut off by a large amount. I have actually measured the difference between the inside and outside of the same machine box. The complete actual measurement of the placement is here Where is the router? That article. The other one is more hidden: The router is the one that generates the most heat in the box. Taking it out is equivalent to reducing the biggest heat source for the remaining equipment, and the life of the optical modem will immediately become easier.

How to get out? There is a network port in the box to the living room or corridor. Take a network cable to connect the WAN port of the router to the switch or optical modem LAN port in the box. Place the machine body on the TV cabinet in the living room or the aisle cabinet. When pulling the network cable out of the box, be careful not to bend the fiber optic cable along the way. If the bending radius of the optical fiber is less than 5 centimeters, the light will fall down. This is an old problem that causes the network speed to fluctuate. After moving the router out, I measured the temperature in the box with a thermometer gun. With the door closed, it dropped from just over 45 degrees to around 38 degrees. The light attenuation reading of the optical modem stabilized accordingly. For 0 yuan, a network cable was readily available at home, and the WiFi at my mother-in-law’s house was restored that night.

second way: The door of the box is opened, and a few dozen yuan can be exchanged for a box of vitality.

If the equipment really has to be left in the box, or if you just want to lower the overall environment inside the box, open the door. The original door of the tin box is a solid iron plate. When closed, it becomes a stuffy tank. Heat cannot escape, and neither can WiFi. The two reform laws are ranked according to their degree of ruthlessness.

The milder version is to replace the shutter door. Search online for "louver door of weak current box" or "ventilation door of network box" and buy according to the size of the outer frame of the box. They cost dozens of dollars each and you can replace them with a screwdriver yourself. Two major advantages of shutter doors: It is breathable and heat-dissipating, and the gap itself can leak a lot of WiFi signals, making it much more wireless-friendly than a solid iron door. Measure the dimensions before installation. Boxes from different manufacturers have different hole positions, and even if they differ by even one centimeter, they won’t be able to be screwed on. When I replaced the door at my friend's house, I also found a corner of the box that was rusty. I sanded it with sandpaper and applied a layer of anti-rust paint. The more than ten-year-old box deserves this treatment.

A more ruthless version is to make the hole yourself. If you have an electric drill at home, remove the box door, drill a few rows of round holes on the door panel and the side box, the hole diameter is about one centimeter, drill it densely, and put it back to create a homemade cooling hole array. There are two things to pay attention to when drilling holes: First, it hits the side of the box and the lower half of the door panel, so that the hot air moves upward, and the cold air comes in from the bottom and the hot air comes out from the top. Only then can the convection be established. ； Second, before drilling holes, make sure there are no traces attached to the back or sides of the box. There is a wall behind the iron sheet. Don't hit the embedded pipelines in the wall with the drill bit. After making the hole, it is best to add a dust-proof net to the inside, otherwise a layer of dusty blanket will accumulate in the box after half a year.

The next best way is to install a small USB fan in the box and connect it to the USB port or charging head in the box to force convection. The fan costs a few yuan, but the disadvantage is that it is a bit noisy all year round. You can hear the buzzing sound when passing by the entrance in the dead of night, which is a hindrance for light sleepers. Only consider it when it is hot enough to slow down the speed. Generally, adding a router to a shutter door in a home is enough.

third way: Replacing a large box costs more than 100 yuan, but there are three hurdles.

The box is really small, about twenty centimeters wide, and the equipment list is long. Changing the box is the right way to go. Buy an "Internet Information Box" online, made of 304 stainless steel or cold-rolled plate, with sizes ranging from 30 by 40 to 40 by 60, for a hundred to two hundred yuan. It sounds like a big project, but actually Changing boxes does not move the wall ——Buy a new box that is slightly larger than the old one, and cover it directly on the outside of the old box. The old box should be left in the wall as an inner liner. The mounting ears around the new box can be fixed with expansion screws against the wall.

Let’s talk about the three hurdles one by one. The first step is to pass the optical fiber through the box. The entrance cord must be passed from the old box to the new box. Most new boxes have knock-out holes on the back, and the optical fiber must be passed through the holes in the old box and the new box. You need to be gentle in this step, and don't bend the optical fiber into a dead bend. If the space is tight, make a circle first and fix it before routing. The second step is the depth of the new box. The old box in the wall was seven or eight centimeters deep, and the protruding part of the new box was the net profit space. But the box that protruded four or five centimeters from the wall would leave a shadow on the painted wall. Places like the entrance corridor should either hang a decorative painting to block it, or recognize it. Third, the whole family was disconnected from the Internet during the half hour of changing the box. Choose a broad daylight, and if the optical modem is powered off and restarted, you need to register again. It will come back after a few minutes. Recovery sequence of equipment after power outage The article wrote about this period of waiting, and I knew it well enough not to panic.

Pay attention to the timing of changing boxes: If your family is planning to buy an AC plus AP solution, just buy a large box that can hold an 8-port POE all-in-one machine in one step, starting at 40 x 50. Don’t replace it again in two years just to save 50 yuan. I've done the math for AC plus AP. Selection comparison In that article, the size of the weak current box was one of the invisible thresholds for that plan.

fourth way: Exposed weak current box, hanging a cabinet outside the wall

In extreme situations where none of the first three options work - the box is small, the wall is still a load-bearing wall and you dare not move it, and there are a lot of equipment - surface mounting is the solution. The so-called exposed weak current box is a metal cabinet or plastic cabinet that is hung on the wall or attached to a cabinet. The switch, router, and plug strips are all hung outside the box. The optical fiber is led out from the old box to connect the optical modem, and the optical modem is moved into the exposed cabinet along with the equipment.

The advantage of surface mounting is free space, you can buy a cabinet of any size, it is bright and open for heat dissipation, and you can easily add equipment later. The shortcomings are also straightforward: It is hung externally on the wall, and you can see an equipment cabinet as soon as you enter the door. Choose carefully because of its appearance. A compromise at my friend's house is to hang the exposed cabinets on the wall inside the storage room. Once the cabinet door is closed, nothing can be seen. A pipe is run from the old cabinet to the new cabinet to lead the network cables and optical fibers there. There is no visual damage to the walls of the whole house. The man in his family was originally opposed to "hanging an iron box on the wall", but he approved it on the spot when he saw the plan hanging in the storage room.

There is also a hidden benefit to being exposed: The cabinet is large, and a small UPS can be inserted into it to extend the life of the optical modem switch and router. The WiFi at home is still alive during the power outage. I will pay for this. UPS with network three-piece set I calculated in that article that a small UPS worth 100 yuan can carry a 14-watt load for a long time. A UPS stuffed in a small box in the wall is a luxury, but it is standard in exposed cabinets.

ending: A check list plus three reminders

Three reminders. The first sentence, the old saying about the decoration stage, I will read it again.: If you are renovating, don't skip this. Just ask the master to install a large box, leave sockets in the box, and leave extra network ports in each room. It all adds up to a few hundred yuan. If you move in and add it, it will be ten times the price. Decoration wiring list That article has a complete account. The second sentence is, don’t be cheap on the plug-in strips in the box. They are all devices with 24-hour power supply. I don’t dare to use them from other brands. This is Organize weak current box Rules set down from time to time. The third sentence is to take pictures before moving any line. Once the box door is opened, take two panoramic views before starting. This was earned in an afternoon.

Let me finish by telling the truth.: If there is no room for this problem, the best solution for 80% of families is the first way - move the router out and replace the shutter door. The total cost is dozens of yuan. The box will be cool, the signal will be restored, and the life of the router will be extended. When it comes to breaking down walls and replacing boxes, first think about whether the equipment list itself should be slimmed down. How to choose a switch The solution in that article is often better than changing boxes to solve the anxiety of "not enough mouth". The box is for network services, don't let the whole family settle for an iron box.