Painting AP3825i

[James_A]

We are refurbishing a building at the moment, and looks are quite important. We're putting in several AP3825i's on the ceiling, but the architect has asked if they can be painted black. Is this allowed? I guess my other option is to mount the APs inside the ceiling, would that impact the signal too much?

[Ty_Izzet]

Also, if you do decide on painting the APs, try not paint the notification LEDs on the AP. If you can configure them to be dim or turned off altogether. This will help if and when troubleshooting is required. Also note that painting the NEMA enclosure for your AP can add heat the inside of the enclosure, therefore lighter non-metallic colours are recommended.

[William_Aguilar]

Christoph has a very good suggestion! Should you decide to still paint the APs there a couple of things that you should consider: 1) The warranty will be void, 2) you have to use non-metallic paint to ensure that the RF properties do not change. If you decide to put the AP inside the ceiling, there is the potential for some effect of signals reflecting through the metal hangers. You may want to do a physical survey with a single AP to make sure that the RF propagation is what you would expect. Keep in mind that if you put the AP facing up and resting on the tiles the strongest signal will propagate up away from the floor you are servicing, so you will have to put the AP facing down on the ceiling tiles for the best signal.

Good luck,

Will

[Christoph]

If customers of us needed other colours we used APs with external antennas. Than the APs can be mounted in a hidden position. Just the antennas need to be re-coloured.

I thing this is the better way because in case of a defect or generation change you just have to exchange the AP. The coloured antennas can stay where they are.

Also you have no trouble with guarantee.

You just to make sure not to use a colour with metallic particles.