Access Point Placement where ceilings are angled

[RogerJim]

We have a great room and fourier at a commercial facility, where the electricians pulled wire for Cisco Access points.

The facility is an "alpine" looking structure. 

On the inside one room is 40ft L x 30 ft wide approx. room has a ceiling that at the peak is 25ft high (approx) from floor level. 

The electricians pulled ethernet cable for 2 APs that are approx. 10 ft away on each side of the peak.

I can send pictures of this when I go back on-site this week.

My concern is:
1) The transmitter power may not strong enough to cover the complete room being that they are up high.
    They should have been placed at the base, where the ceiling ends. That puts the AP's 10 feet high.

2) An RF survey was never done on the facility. 

I can send the exact AP model numbers to you and additional pictures and a sketch of the layout

I have always had 100% success in placements when a survey is performed. Since I have not encountered a room like this 

can we take a swag at it until we get it surveyed.

[Scott Fella]

25’ is the max height most would use with internal antennas. 10’ apart might be okay, but is minimum distance separation. You always can figure out a way to drop the ap down to a lower point which you are comfortable with.

[RogerJim]

I think the Cisco design book says 10 meters I'd have to do some measuring but I know I can connect wireless devices

with ceilings up there in a warehouse full of metal (LOL). Also they were further apart than 10 feet. 

The key takeaway from the thread below and yours I think I have enough to work with.

[Scott Fella]

It's always best to test, there are mounting solutions from Ventev that have articulating mounts.  You might want to reach out to them or have someone custom a mount for you.  Keep in mind, that warehouse is different, yes there are metal that high, but having the antennas by metal is just looking for trouble.  Warehouses, you would typically use an external that provides you with the coverage you need.  25' is not bad to still use an internal antenna access point because you are not going to have it at the peak, and you can drop the ap down using conduit and a dual gang box or another mounting solution.

[Leo Laohoo]

So the problem is how to mount the APs from an "open" ceiling with a 45-degree slant?

Ok, I have a solution and it will not look "pretty", literally speaking. 

I do not believe anyone makes a wall-mounting or ceiling-mounting bracket for slanted surface.  If there is one, it is extremely unaffordable for large quantities.  The only way to get around this is do what the people did at Charles de Gaulle Airport:  They got their machine shop people to jury rig the right-angle brackets from scrap metals found around the place and used this solution all over the place.  The hillbilly brackets were not even painted!   It may not look nice, but, functionality-wise it works.  See attached photos.

I will be frank and this solution is hideous, however, travelers will spend most of their time looking at their wireless clients and not care about how- or what-methods were used to install the APs.

Another alternative is to install the AP at the end of a long tube or a "trapeze".  Depending if aesthetics is important, with a tube, the ethernet cable can go into the tube.  We deployed several APs that were at the end of a long threaded rod and others on a "trapeze". 

I have attached a picture of an AP at the end of a threaded rod (filename:  AMS.jpeg) taken from Schiphol Airport (The Netherlands).  The rod has been painted with the same color as the ceiling infrastructure but the blue ethernet cable gives an indication as to the deployment method. 

[RogerJim]

Leo,

Thanks for the idea.

Aesthetics are important so the metal brackets wouldn't work but it gave me an idea.

With the help of the carpenters I can design a bracket that mounts to the ceiling with hopefully, the same wood 

that would do the trick.

[Leo Laohoo]

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@RogerJim wrote:

Aesthetics are important so the metal brackets wouldn't work

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Which then brings me to story #2:  We had to deploy a number of these brackets to a site.  A large quantity.  They have funds to buy the APs but do not have any left to buy the brackets. 

NOTE:  The cost of the brackets is about <US$100, if purchased in the US, but the "landing" cost here is Australia would jack the price up to >US%160.  

Fortunately, the site is a technical school.  So they got their design instructors to knock up a CAD design and went to see a metal fabricator.  The product looks very professional and cost US$10.