Tablet Mounting Options

Finally getting my house finished and putting everything from my build together. Just picked up my tablet I am going to be using for HASS and wanted to hear if anyone had tried doing something both wall mountable and mobile. I have seen a couple posts on this but not much response. Thinking of having a docking station that is wall mounted, but I could take the tablet off the wall and walk around with it. I could always use the mobile app, but I am thinking of guests and sitting outside/away from the wall mount. There are definitely simple options to just have a wall mount clam-type mount, but I would like to have wireless charging, rather than having to plug in a cable. TYIA.

I’ve got an old nexus 9 sitting around doing nothing, I’d love to turn it into a wall mounted touchscreen remote for the home. I’ve got all the hardware side reasonably sorted. I just have no idea what I should be doing software wise. Custom/slimmed down ROM running a home assistant instance in kiosk mode or something like that

In doing some research and thinking of what I have the ability to develop, I wanted to lay out what my plan is for my question I posed for a wall mounted/mobile tablet for HASS. It was unfortunate but many of the wall mounting magnet systems that are used for commercial use cases were either not built for the specific tablet I have (most are for iPads). There were some decent options though and seemed to be based around having a case that charges by connecting to a mounting system on the wall.
The case acts as a way to integrate a battery to charge through the charging port. Was not really able to find wireless charging options.

So here is what I came up with.

What I already have:

  • Tablet (Samsung Tab S6 Lite)

  • Strong thin magnets off amazon

  • LOTS of hardwood (I do woodworking on the side)

  • Large CNC machine (see above)

  • Standoffs for mounting to the wall

What I need:

Idea:

Wood Mount:
Taking the dimensions of my current tablet, I am going to make a 1" thick piece of wood (most likely walnut in my case for appearances), and make a rectangle with about 2-3" of offset from the tablet (this will make sense later). On the back of the wood mount, will be 2-4 strong flat magnets, routed out by the CNC and super glued in place. Also recessed in the wood will be the wireless charger. There are directions and templates provided by the vendor. The charger is ~3/4" thick and directions say to leave ~1/4" of wood in between the charger and the device. This charger is specifically meant for being built into furniture, so it is much more powerful than one you can get at Best Buy and can actually overheat the device if put too close. Because the charger has the power for the charging offset to one side, the wood should be big enough to have the charger routed out and the power centered on the wood. Small standoffs will be used in the 4 corners of the wood to mount to the wall.

Wall:
Simply mount the recessed multimedia outlet box into the wall where I would like the mount, and the wood mount would be made big enough to cover the junction box from the front. The charger will plug into the recessed outlet. The standoffs provide an adequate amount of airflow between the wood and the wall to help with the charging box getting warm from charging at any point.

Tablet:
Place the very thin tablet magnets at the same locations as the magnets that were recessed into the wood mount. Because both magnets are of decent strength and multiple across the wood mount, it should be adequate to hold up the tablet even with someone using the tablet while mounted. If it is desired to bring the tablet around the house, or outside lets say, simply pull the tablet away from the wall and place it back on the wall when it needs to charge.

As far as software goes, that is up to anyones discretion and does not change the mounting solution, although would affect how much walking around with the tablet is utilized.

Upstairs I got tablet with dock station. It’s hp elitepad 1000 IMG20220919094952~2

You guys should search the forum, there is a magnet mounted example.

e.g.

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Yeah I at least had seen both, the one without charging which was a big requirement (wireless, not cable), and not so pretty. Completely renovating a house and the mount will be in a main room so need it to look good too.

@njhass I am currently outfitting our entire new home with Fire 8 and 10" tablets using mounts from Tablet Flush Mount | Makes by Mike

They have several power options - I went with 12v to USB-C, as I have a couple Elk 12v distribution cans, and ran the lines to the touchscreen locations. Installing in the next 2-3 weeks, and I’ll update here to share. Secret surprise: You can’t see any light switches in the house unless you search for them…

(10) 8" Fire HD
(1) 10" Fire HD
debloated with Fire Toolbox, all running Fully Kiosk. #Slick

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I have a Lenovo Tab, not to heavy on specs, mounted with four magnets I got from the internet. A USB powered wallsocket is behind it. I shared my project here: Home Habit touch panel

image

:slight_smile:

You can’t see any light switches in the house unless you search for them

I am intrigued by this one. Can you share more details how you are doing it? :slight_smile:

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This was actually one I did come across but already had gotten the tablet so was bummed it was not one of the compatible options from him. Would have been great to support and very similar idea but all packaged up.

That is also a lot of tablets. So are you filling most rooms with one and then the 10" as the main tablet in a living room or something?

We decided to locate the light switches that actually control the load in closets in the approximate areas of the fixtures (all standard can lights, for the most flexibility in options, including if we change our mind and retro-fit inserts). In regard to code conformance (New Hampshire, US), we needed to have a way to manually (and readily at the door) actuate a light in a room as you entered. We accomplish this by using Fire tablets flush-mounted in the walls, which we pre-wired simple 12v lines for, and laid out the dashboards to have consistent button locations for the respective rooms’ lights. Obviously, most of these will just function through automations, but a certificate of occupancy relies on that manual accessibility.

I promise to send photos of how it comes out - here’s some “development” staging to give you an idea…



The 10’ tablet will be in the kitchen countertop area, and will serve as more of an interactive tablet, comparatively (recipes, following a YouTube video, etc.). The others (yes, all rooms will have a tablet) will be the 8" ones to start.

After significant time in “homework”, I’ve found that for Home Assistant (converted only about 6 mos ago from Homeseer Pro after about 15 years FOR a good dashboard) there is a magical combination of the Fire tablets, Fire Toolbox and Fully Kiosk that round out the most economical function for the value, especially around the big Amazon Prime sale days. An NS Panel is awesome and purposeful, but small, and not as versatile for the money.