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UniFi Client Installs
Reference UniFi bills of materials for installing networks in other people's houses. Most of these are new builds near Prague, and the people installing them are friends who do smart-home work.
Status: reference designs worked out on a design call on 2026-10-08 (screen-share in UniFi Design Center). Nothing below has been installed yet. Prices quoted from the call seem to include VAT. Prices marked store are from the UniFi EU store on 2026-10-08: excl. VAT, including the memory surcharge where it applies. In recent months Alza has often been cheaper for the same items, so check there before ordering.
Two variants
Every install starts from one of two templates:
| Rack | Non-rack (compact) | |
|---|---|---|
| Console | Dream Machine Special Edition (UDM SE, store 494 EUR) | Cloud Gateway Fiber (store 275 EUR) + SSD tray (17 EUR) |
| Switch | Pro Max 16 PoE (store 395 EUR) | 8-port PoE switch, e.g. Switch Ultra 60W (store 142 EUR), DIN-rail mountable |
| Cabling termination | 24-port blank keystone panel (store 25 EUR) in the rack | Keystones in wall boxes / enclosure |
| NVR | Built into the UDM SE (128 GB SSD + HDD bay) | M.2 SSD in the Cloud Gateway Fiber |
| UPS | UPS 2U Pro (store 682 EUR, coming soon on 2026-10-08) | UPS Tower (store 159 EUR) |
| Cost | Higher | Lower. The fully loaded non-rack cart came to ~4 400 EUR, and the budget build to ~1 000 EUR |
| When | There is a technical room / rack space | No room for a rack. Install on a DIN rail in the distribution box |
A rack costs more but is easier to keep tidy. Which variant to use depends on the customer's space.
Key decisions
| Decision | Choice | Why / alternatives rejected |
|---|---|---|
| Rack console | UDM SE | All in one: router, PoE switch, fiber WAN, NVR with built-in 128 GB SSD + HDD bay. UDM Pro (store 374 EUR) has no PoE and no SSD. UDM Pro Max (593 EUR) adds RAID bays but still has no PoE. The Dream Machine Beast is the first with more than 1 Gbit LAN ports, but it costs 1 486 EUR |
| Console ↔ switch link | 10G SFP+ fiber/DAC | The UDM SE's LAN ports are only 1 Gbit, but the uplink to the switch runs over the SFP+, so that never becomes the bottleneck |
| Rack switch | Pro Max 16 PoE | One of the few 16-port PoE models. The 2.5G PoE++ ports are for a downstream Flex switch (e.g. in a study). It is oversized for most homes. The L2 Switch 16 PoE (store 296 EUR) has no 2.5G, no PoE++ and no Etherlighting, and saves ~99 EUR, which is an acceptable trim. Etherlighting is nice to have but not a reason to buy |
| Termination | Keystone panel, not a classic punch-down patch panel | Each cable stays an individual keystone that can be moved. A punch-down panel has to be rebuilt to regroup ports, or to fix one mistake at cable #10 |
| UPS | Include by default (customer may opt out) | ~8 min at heavy (~600 W) load. That covers most outages, which last 1–5 min, and bridges the PV/battery switchover. If the ISP line survives a power cut, Wi-Fi keeps working because the APs run on PoE |
| Compact console | Cloud Gateway Fiber without storage + SSD tray, buy own M.2 | Store 275 + 17 EUR (the call quoted ~322 EUR incl. VAT). The 1 TB bundle was ~700 EUR and isn't listed in the EU store |
| Apartments / no fiber | Cloud Gateway Ultra (store 99 EUR) | The best choice for typical installs with an Ethernet or DSL handoff. It has no storage, so it cannot run an NVR |
| Cameras | G6 generation by default | On-camera AI engine (face, license plate). ONVIF third-party cameras such as Reolink do work on a UniFi NVR, but with fewer features. Only use them when the budget is extremely tight |
Pages
- Components & lessons: device notes, PoE classes, 2.5G, keystones, cameras, door access, APs, cable modem
- Budget build: the minimal but expandable BOM worked out for a new build in Čakovice
Open questions
- Is the rack variant ever cheaper overall once enclosure work is counted? Not costed yet.
- The 8-port switch lineup is confusing: models differ in PoE-in vs PSU, DIN mount and SFP. A short comparison table would help.
- Door Hub latency: why does Touch Pass → webhook take 1.5–2 s when the wired relay path takes milliseconds? See door access.