Electrical cord camouflage ideas

[COL911]

I had a Sunair awnings installed last year, with power from existing receptacles and remote controlled. Hard wiring options were limited to installing new outlet boxes higher on the wall, closer to the unit-these were pricey options and still wouldn’t have completely hidden the cords as the first 20” of cord from the motor contains the antenna for the remote.

After the first year, we love the awning, but still looking for options to hide the ugly *********** cord. I’m considering conduit (type, size, material TBD) fixed vertically to the wall and painted to match the brick color with the power cord run through it after shortening the plug end and installing new angled plug. If conduit is the best option, would gray electrical, pvc, or metal be the best option?

Any other sage advice or options I should consider. Thanks in advance.

 

[Meursault74]

Have any extra brick to match? Maybe drill though holes, or cut a channel in bricks to cover it.

Maybe some Faux paneling. cut to cover it up.

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I don't know if they're good ideas, but they are ideas.

 

[wssix99]

Why not just get a tan outdoor extension cord, (to match your mortar) cut it to length, and then re-wire the unit? You'd also eliminate the extra cord laying around.

Are you sure there's another antenna in the sheath? That sounds expensive and exotic. I would expect them to just use the ground wire, etc.

If you put the cord in a conduit, it would shield the antenna and the signal would not get through.

 

[COL911]

Mersault74, I cant get behind it easily if I drill through, its what they call brickfacing here and I’d have to tear out interior wall to access and fish through, but thanks.

 

[COL911]

Wssix99, yes, manufacturer, distributor and installer all recommend not modifying first 2ft of cord from motor for risk of damaging antenna. I will likely shorten the plug end just to clean it up whatever I decide to do.

Your point re: possibility of conduit blocking antenna is good one; I’ll have to see if I can run antenna end horizontally on the frame and then drop remainder vertical, keeping antenna unsheathed. I also considered painting the white cords with Plastidip spray paint that matches the brick and see if that holds up. That’s probably a simple, easy place to start. Thanks!

 

[Meursault74]

Mersault74, I cant get behind it easily if I drill through, its what they call brickfacing here and I’d have to tear out interior wall to access and fish through, but thanks.

I was thinking more of putting the extra bricks with the holes in front of the wall as camouflage for the line.

 

[jbfsr]

Search for plastic wiremold or cable covers.

 

[65ranchero]

Search for plastic wiremold or cable covers.

seems to me it's not rated for outdoor

 

[Terry D]

Don't know how you house is but can you mount a receptacle up high. Feed power in back of receptacle box from inside. Or better yet, recess a box in the brick for a receptacle. Can it be hardwired

 

[Rc_Guy]

seems to me it's not rated for outdoor

Why would it matter, right now the cord is outside?

 

[COL911]

Existing cord and housings are rated for outdoor use.

 

[pancho400cid]

Even conduit painted to match the brick would be an improvement.

I'd consider running the wiring from the inside and drilling through the brick up high where it's hidden by the awning.

I have to do something similar for a small outdoor lighting project I need to start.

 

[infinkc]

Maybe just make it less noticeable? Follow the grout line to the left, come down the window frame, the come back across to the plug? (Red line) or come down the side of the door (yellow line)

 

[Mr_fixit]

Don't know how you house is but can you mount a receptacle up high. Feed power in back of receptacle box from inside. Or better yet, recess a box in the brick for a receptacle. Can it be hardwired

I'd do that myself if it were my house, in the wall, recessed, probably from the second floor. there might be a receptacle 2 feet away. I wonder what an electrician would charge, if you could find one who wanted to do that.

 

[wssix99]

Your point re: possibility of conduit blocking antenna is good one; I’ll have to see if I can run antenna end horizontally on the frame and then drop remainder vertical, keeping antenna unsheathed. I also considered painting the white cords with Plastidip spray paint that matches the brick and see if that holds up. That’s probably a simple, easy place to start. Thanks!

Metal conduit definitely won't work. Odd that Sunair offers every color of fabric under the sun and many different frame colors but gives you a white cord... Have you called them? They cater so much to designers, this issue MUST have come up before. It doesn't make sense that they would give so many design options and then go Model T on the plug.

 

[jbfsr]

Cut off the plug. Cover cord with heat shrink tubing, your choice of color. Put new plug on shortened cable.

 

[COL911]

Wssix99, yes, I called and checked and was told white was their most popular (light colored houses and porches) and thus the only option.

J, shrink wrap might do it if I.can verify color match close to my brick:

 

[FlaGman]

It seems like you could at least tap into the nearby light fixture wiring and have a much shorter run to have to disguise.

 

[Nosferatu]

Put a tall plant in front of it.

 

[PoorUB]

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There has to be other brands available. I just did 2 seconds on Google and this popped up so outdoor wire mold is available.

Paint it brown to match the brick.

 

[The Cobbler]

I would fish a wire, probably from the existing outlet and hide an outlet up in the shroud
or
get some thinwall square or rectangular steel tube , mount it to the wall on both sides of the awning inline with the shroud , painted the same colour as the awning housing so it looks like part of the the awning

 

[tyyost]

I’m looking at the picture, thinking that if it is remote controlled it would it be possible to remove your porch light and see if you can get additional power to that location and run from there?

You could bump out the fixture like this and coil your cord up in the awning frame. If you can’t pull power, I guess you could still do it, but you would need to have the light on to operate the awning.

 

[COL911]

Tapping into existing switches isn’t feasible because they’re all switched. Would have to have switch energized and lights on for awning to get power. Cutting new box into brick is beyond my skill level and electricians quoted over $800, which is beyond my budget. Focusing on cosmetic options at this point: paint wire, shrink wrap wire, plastic conduit.

 

[Jinks]

Second story room. I'm pretty sure there's an outlet on that wall. Pull power from there, run it in conduit painted to blend with the brick, & mount an exterior outlet near/above the awning. It'll be above normal line of sight & blend with the brick. No one will ever notice it again....

 

[LOW1]

There may be enough space to take out one brick near the awning and then run exterior rated Romex between the bricks and the sheathing of the house. Run it down to the level of your interior base trim and then you can take off this trim and tap on to a convenient outlet. Or bring it to the basement and tap on there. Or just run it down to the existing exterior outlet

i have seen exterior outlets that are sized to fit where a brick was removed so you could replace the brick with one of those

Cut off enough wire to preserve the antenna and attach a new plug

Complicated and OCD but that’s the GJ way

 

[AntonLargiader]

So that switch (I assume right inside the door) for the outside light does not have continuous power to it? Because if it did, I would extend the unswitched power upward and through the wall to a box that's just under the awning. Drill out one brick and embed a recep box. Run the cord along the bottom of the awning (to keep the first 20" exposed) and cut to length so it plugs in.

 

[alfredeneuman]

painting the white cords with Plastidip spray paint that matches the brick

^^^^^^^^^THIS^^^^^^^.

 

[COL911]

Finally got one finished; opted to use 1/2” heat shrink wrap in brown.Heck of a lot better than the white cord, cheap and easy to install. We’ll see how well it stands up to die t summer sun and the weather. Thanks all for your previous input

 

[nadogail]

Looks like a job made for WireMold.

 

[rharman]

Looks good to me. When DirecTV installed their antenna and dropped the wire down to the demarc, I just painted it to match the stucco. Of course, the stucco was same color all the way down.

 

[FredWanaker]

I would have used PVC conduit painted to match the brick. You can slide cardboard behind the conduit after it is put up, and spray paint it with colors that match each section sort of blending and camouflaging as you go. Then you step back, eye what sticks out and touch up again. Eventually it is pretty close and you can even paint in the mortar lines on the conduit.

 

[welder4956]

Tapping into existing switches isn’t feasible because they’re all switched. Would have to have switch energized and lights on for awning to get power. Cutting new box into brick is beyond my skill level and electricians quoted over $800, which is beyond my budget. Focusing on cosmetic options at this point: paint wire, shrink wrap wire, plastic conduit.

You want to run a jumper off of the hot side of the switch, not the switched side. There is continuous power on the hot side.

 

[Zeke]

Not all switch boxes wired before the NEC required a neutral at every box have that neutral.

 

[alfredeneuman]

Not all switch boxes wired before the NEC required a neutral at every box have that neutral.

???

 

[Zeke]

Mr. Neuman, what is your question? Should I rephrase that? You know well about what I'm talking about. Many switch legs had no neutral until wall mounted controls using line voltage came along, like programable on/off devices. You know that sending the current to ground isn't right. How else then to provide a circuit for said controls?

 

[alfredeneuman]

Not all switch boxes wired before the NEC

The NEC has been around since 1897.

required a neutral at every box have that neutral

The NEC doesn't require that every switch box have a neutral.
Just 1 per room.

 

[mike93lx]

The NEC has been around since 1897.

The NEC doesn't require that every switch box have a neutral.
Just 1 per room.

"before the NEC required" is the way to read that post

 

[Zeke]

Picky, picky. I could be more verbose by not shortening sentences when I assume folks can read into the sentence some things that are not there, like, "...before the NEC [in xxxx date] required....

Sorry that I didn't have the exact issue on hand and sorry I read the passage to mean that all devices that use line voltage in a switch box must have a neutral. This was the point I was trying to make when someone suggested picking up power for the awning by splicing into the porch light switch box. Since not everyone here is not an electrician (is that obvious enough?), I thought I'd mention to the OP that might not be viable. That's what I get for trying to help.

Y'all have a nice day.

Out.

 

[alfredeneuman]

I read the passage to mean that all devices that use line voltage in a switch box must have a neutral. ...That's what I get for trying to help.

Wrong Code information is not helpful.