DIY Control Panels

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Control Panels for managing your smart home

Touchscreen control panels offer you, your loved ones, and your guests easy and convenient access to your smart home. Companies such as Control4 offer several touchscreens variations, including wall-mounted and tabletop devices. However, there are several drawbacks to these:

  • Cost
  • Proprietary ecosystem
  • Control

For me, the last one is the biggest. If you want to make a change, such as adding a new device, you need to go through a sytems integrator to make the change for you. This drawback can be particularly annoying if you’re tech-savvy enough to make the changes yourself. 

I use Home Assistant (HA) as a smart home controller in our house. HA has a built-in dashboard called Lovelace, which allows you to build web-enabled interfaces for controlling your smart home. So for me, jumping into a propriety ecosystem also didn’t make sense. 

I need a device with a touch screen that can access my smart home controller via a wifi network. After much research, I couldn’t find a cost-effective, open-source control panel. So I did what any sound engineer would; I built my own. 

I developed a solution consisting of a Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8″ tablet mounted to the wall using a VidaMount On-Wall Tablet Mount. My biggest challenge was getting power to the tablet. I solved this by installing a recessed outlet with a USB port and wiring it to a light switch in the room where the control panel was going. I then installed the VidoMount over the recessed outlet, connected the tablet to the USB port of the outlet, and installed the tablet.

Here is a list of the parts I used for the control panels and installation. I’ll provide the steps I took to do the installation and some pictures.

You will also need some drywall anchors, wire nuts and approximately 18″ of Romex electrical cable.

All together, these parts cost me less than $500 plus labor per unit installed. Control4’s equivalent T4 8″ In-wall unit (SKU: C4-T4IW8-XX) can cost upwards of $1100 before install labor and programming.

Before we discuss installation, here is a quick note:

  • If you’re not an electrician and you are uncomfortable with touching your home’s electrical systems, hire one. Please use common sense and turn off your electricity before doing any of the work listed below.

Step 1: Turn of the room’s electrical breaker

Step 2: Remove your existing light switches from the gang box

Step 3: Locate a space about approximately 12″ above the rooms light switch. Ensure its approximately 1″ from any studs. Take the VidaMount, remove the front bezel and place the mount on the wall at this location. Ensure that the mount is level. Using a pencil, trace the inner portion of the mount on the wall. Then using the pencil, make the 4 screw holes. Install drywall anchors at these locations.

Step 4: Take the Arlington electrical box, remove the bezel and place the box, open side facing the wall withing the tracing you just did for the VidaMount. Using your pencil, trace the outside of the electrical box.

Step 5: Using a drywall saw, cut along the tracing you did for the ELECTRICAL BOX only. You should end up with something similar to this:

Step 6: Take your Romex cable and run it between the light switch electrical box up though the wall to the hole you just cut.

Step 7: Take the Arlington electrical box and insert the Romex into the hole that is locate in the box of the electrical box.

Step 8: Insert the electrical box into the newly cut hole until its 9/10ths of the way in. Install the outer bezel and then1st tighten the bezels screws. Then tighten the mounting wing screws until the bezel is pulled firmly against the wall. If you tighten the mounting wings screws 1st, you run the risk of pulling the box completely through the wall.

Step 9: Install the Leviton outlet by properly wiring the Romex to the outlet and installing the outlet into the Arlington electrical box. The switch side of the Romex should then be wired the electrical supply side of the light switch. If you wire to the side that goes to the lights themselves, turning the light switch off will disconnect power to the tablet.

Step 10: Install the VidaMount over the top of the Arlington electrical box. Do not over tighten the screws. The bezel for the electrical box will cause a 5mm gap between the VidaMount and the wall. This is OK. Over tightening the screws will cause the VidaMount to warp and create issues when installing the tablet.

Step 11: Connect your tablet to the USB cable and then connect the USB cable to the outlet. If you want, you can coil the USB cable and tuck it into the recessed area of the electrical box.

Step 12: Install the tablet into the VidaMount and then install the VidaMount’s bezel. Note. Depend on how your USB cable is constructed, you may need to shave some plastic off of the inside of the bezel in order to install the tablet and cable. This can easily be done with a knife or Dremel.

Step 13: Turn on the room’s electrical breaker. If all is well the panel should be charging.

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