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Found a sneaky spot for hiding sensors in metal door frames
Last Tuesday I was doing a commercial install over in Kent and kept running into trouble with surface mount contacts on these narrow aluminum frames. Client didn't want anything visible. I remembered an old timer showing me this years ago so I drilled a small hole inside the frame channel and slid a recessed sensor right in. Took maybe 20 minutes per door instead of fighting with adhesive or ugly boxes. Has anyone else tried hiding sensors inside hollow metal frames like that?
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paige3311mo agoMost Upvoted
Buddy of mine tried this on a storefront last winter and ended up with ice buildup in the channel that killed the sensor by February. He said the hole let in just enough moisture to bridge the contacts and it took him longer to clean it out than it would have to just mount it right. A good trick if you seal it proper but skipping that step is a bad day waiting to happen.
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max_torres441mo ago
Nice work reinventing a trick that's probably older than half the people on this forum. Pretty sure I saw my grandpa do this with a hinge pin and a piece of gum back in '87. Just make sure that little hole doesn't turn into a moisture magnet or you'll be back there with a can of contact cleaner and a lot of cursing.
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the_jennifer1mo ago
Hot take, but there's a difference between a hack job and actually cleaning up the execution. Yeah the hole thing is fair, but a dab of silicone or tape solves that easy.
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