Cabling in Science rooms

[ITGal]

Hi!

 

Not sure if this is a common issue, seems to be across a few high schools I've worked in/ work at now.

 

But the science rooms always seem to have the teacher desk/ lab table in front of the screen/tv etc.

 

So any cabling needs to go under the floor (to not be visible) or goes up the wall and through the ceiling tiles and down to the PC (leaving an unsightly cable hanging down)

 

Numerous rooms currently have hdmi to ethernet at both ends with ports to plug into, extremely janky setup that fails a LOT. But these cables seem to run under the floor.

 

 

 

Any suggestions on what can be done, without having to tear the floor up, or leave cables hanging?

[Aprice]

L Shaped desk I suppose would be one option, so then one side touches the wall with the board on. Or a pipe through the ceiling tiles through a hole in the desk to feed the cables through (something like a white 40mm waste pipe)

 

We've had to use optical HDMI cables for these sorts of rooms as the copper just can't run the distance.

[APMerry]

I've seen these kind of pillars that come down from the ceiling to the desk for this kind of situation. So you run the cables on the ceiling or above it if possible. It doesn't look as nice but much less hassle and cost compared to ripping up the flooring.

 

I've found HDMI over ethernet works okay, but the reliable converters are very expensive.

 

Edit: found an example https://www.oeelsafe.com.au/polar-spine/

Edited January 23, 2024 by APMerry

[ITGal]

L Shaped desk I suppose would be one option, so then one side touches the wall with the board on. Or a pipe through the ceiling tiles through a hole in the desk to feed the cables through (something like a white 40mm waste pipe)

 

We've had to use optical HDMI cables for these sorts of rooms as the copper just can't run the distance.

Yeah unfortunately in the science labs the desks are pretty much built in and can't be used so L shape is out of the question.

[ITGal]

I've seen these kind of pillars that come down from the ceiling to the desk for this kind of situation. So you run the cables on the ceiling or above it if possible. It doesn't look as nice but much less hassle and cost compared to ripping up the flooring.

 

I've found HDMI over ethernet works okay, but the reliable converters are very expensive.

 

I'll have to have a look into these pillars...

 

Yeah ours are failing, they seem pretty old so they may have lasted a long time but are now starting to fail in quick succession. Cost of replacements is why I came asking haha!

[Andrew_C]

L shape would need risk-assessing. It would mean only one exit if/when the experiment goes critical... We've gone for ducts in concrete floors, which fortunately, we don't have many of. Traditional wooden floors mostly, with skill/luck you can fish cables through the voids without lifting the boards.

[APMerry]

I'll have to have a look into these pillars...

 

Yeah ours are failing, they seem pretty old so they may have lasted a long time but are now starting to fail in quick succession. Cost of replacements is why I came asking haha!

 

If the issue is the converters, the only "cheap" solution is to shorten the run some how so you can use a standard HDMI cable.

[3s-gtech]

We have the same. The desk is at the front of a raised plinth, so I ran the cable in trunking along the vertical edge of the 'step' (which has an overhang so nothing to trip on). This allowed me to get from the desk to the ceiling for projectors, or the wall for a screen, without dangly bits ().

[Rob_D]

We have exactly the same science lab setup. (checks you don't work here)

We wound up using the old cables a pull cords to get newer cables through the underfloor runs.

We've not had a problem with HDMI over cat6 ethernet, using Kramer adaptors over using direct cable runs. Just make sure the cables are terminated with a male RJ45 connector rather than into faceplates, otherwise you need HDMI over base-T adapters which are rather flakey and way more expensive.

 

We did investigate having pillars, but the teachers pushed back on the idea as it would block the student's view of the board.

 

Have you thought of flipping it around and putting the computer behind the board, and running some sort of ethernet KVM to the desk.

[pete]

Same at SchoolA - tiny (sub 20mm) pipes with right-angles in a concrete floor filled with power and gas lines. Estates team has vetoed cutting into the floor.

 

We're looking at pillars bolted into the floor and a ceiling joist (because staff and students will swing/lean on them) with internal cable runs for AV/data/power.

 

Main issue is sight lines from the teachers desk so if Nigel in 7B is seconds away from getting their tie in the bunsen the teacher can intervene.

[john]

You can get some permanent installed cable strip, its metal and designed for permanent use so fix to floor and run cables in that which I have used in a meeting room once to get table to the TV so would work for science lab podium to wall https://evolinestore.com/store/product-category/evoline-add-on/evoline-cable-management/ it is not the cheapest but remember its designed for permanent installation not the down for a few days rubber stuff so designed to be stood on, jumped on, chairs dragged over etc.

[ITGal]

Same at SchoolA - tiny (sub 20mm) pipes with right-angles in a concrete floor filled with power and gas lines. Estates team has vetoed cutting into the floor.

 

We're looking at pillars bolted into the floor and a ceiling joist (because staff and students will swing/lean on them) with internal cable runs for AV/data/power.

 

Main issue is sight lines from the teachers desk so if Nigel in 7B is seconds away from getting their tie in the bunsen the teacher can intervene.

 

Ok, you know what's weird? We got a giant box brought up to us from the school as they didn't know what it was. I didn't really know.

 

Clicked on the link you sent. It's literally the first bridge tray that's on there.

 

HOW WEIRD.

[Oaktech]

We've used power poles to carry cables up and over for most rooms - sometimes proper power poles, sometimes an adapted bit of drain pipe depending on the budget available at the time!

[Chris_Cook]

Some other options - see if you can build a short extension on the side of the platform - like a wooden box but strong enough to stand on.

 

Or what we have done in some rooms is rotate the room 90 degrees and put the screen/PC on the side wall. We then just use the podium for experiments. Doesn't work in all rooms though.

 

Its probably worth mocking up the setup with a screen and PC before committing to cabling as the monitor on top of the PC can block the students viewing the screen and the teacher seeing the students. We've also had issues with the sink being too close to the PC.

[timbo343]

We have installed chrome car exhausts as verticle poles into science rooms from the ceiling down to the teacher desk. On the desk the pole slots into a flange which finishes the pole off. The width of the exhaust is between 2" and 3".

 

Certainly the cheapest way we have found to do this, the cables aren't under the floor and science really don't mind the chrome pole.

Edited January 23, 2024 by timbo343

[nicholab]

Cast from the teachers laptop to the projector/screen used an MS dongle.

[Rob_D]

Cast from the teachers laptop to the projector/screen used an MS dongle.

Fine if no-one's using the touch on the screens. Here science are one of the better departments for making use of the board touch functions.