---
title: 'MASSIVE Smart Home Network UPGRADE Ubiquiti UniFi Part 1'
source: 'https://youtube.com/watch?v=uut43RB7hS4'
video_id: 'uut43RB7hS4'
date: 2026-08-01
duration_sec: 820
---

# MASSIVE Smart Home Network UPGRADE Ubiquiti UniFi Part 1

> Source: [MASSIVE Smart Home Network UPGRADE Ubiquiti UniFi Part 1](https://youtube.com/watch?v=uut43RB7hS4)

## Summary

Matt from MK Smart Home kicks off a multi-part overhaul of his home network, replacing existing routers and access points with Ubiquiti UniFi hardware including access points, a PoE switch, a security gateway, and a Cloud Key. He walks viewers through the current setup, connects the new equipment, and troubleshoots issues with PoE voltage and manual firmware updates, setting the stage for a full rewire in part 2.

### Key Points

- **Network Upgrade Introduction** [00:01] — Matt introduces the video, explaining that he will upgrade and overhaul his home network with Ubiquiti UniFi equipment. He mentions that this will be a multi-part series.
- **Problems with Current Setup** [00:40] — Matt previously upgraded router firmware to DD-WRT, but he experienced inconsistent performance and bandwidth issues, prompting the decision to move to dedicated access points and a proper UniFi system.
- **Sponsor: PCBWay** [01:25] — PCBWay is sponsoring the video. They offer PCB prototyping, assembly, SMD stencils, and have a November/December shopping festival with discounts and coupons. Matt provides a coupon code for viewers.
- **Ubiquiti Hardware Overview** [03:08] — Matt introduces the new hardware: two UAP-AC-Pro access points, one UAP-AC-LR (long range) for the garage, a UniFi Switch 8 60W PoE switch, a UniFi Security Gateway as the main router, and a UniFi Cloud Key for management and metrics.
- **Current Network Tour** [04:35] — Matt shows his existing network: an Arris Surfboard SB6141 modem, a 16-port switch, a TP-Link Archer C7 router, two Raspberry Pis running OpenHAB and Home Assistant, a surveillance network with a Lenovo ThinkStation running Blue Iris, and an APC UPS for backup power.
- **Downtime Minimization Strategy** [07:59] — To avoid disrupting the many users on his network, Matt plans to set up the entire new UniFi network first, then simply swap the main cable from the modem to the new security gateway for a seamless transition.
- **New Network Connections** [08:42] — All Uniquiti hardware is connected: three access points to PoE ports on the UniFi Switch, Cloud Key to the first PoE port, a computer to the switch, switch to the UniFi Security Gateway, and the gateway to the modem.
- **Issue: 24V vs 48V PoE Mismatch** [09:23] — The UAP-AC-LR access point does not power up because it requires 24V passive PoE, but the UniFi Switch 8 provides 48V PoE. This may have fried the AP, though it might be fixable by replacing a diode.
- **Firmware Update Troubles** [10:57] — The UniFi Switch 8 and one access point failed to auto-adopt via the Cloud Key. Matt manually updated the AP firmware through the Cloud Key's URL setting, and SSH'd into the switch to copy and execute an update command.
- **Initial Status and Next Steps** [12:07] — The network is operational and shows 'everything is good' with 6-8% signal quality, though the two access points are too close together causing some interference. Matt plans to tear down and rewire everything in the next episode.

### Conclusion

Part 1 of the network upgrade successfully connects and configures the core Ubiquiti UniFi hardware, but reveals important pitfalls such as PoE voltage incompatibility and manual firmware updates. The real test comes in part 2, where Matt will tear down and rewire the entire network for optimal placement and performance.

## Transcript

society Matt here from MK smash a calm and in this video we're gonna be upgrading and overhauling my network setup so if you've been following along
with the channel you know that we started off with going over the network and how to set it up well since then I've made some changes by adding some things over here some servers and stuff as well as the surveillance system i've
also upgraded the firmware on the routers that i have around the house to dee-dee-dee wrt but i don't know sometimes it's like inconsistent sometimes it becomes slow bandwidth becomes an issue so i decided to upgrade
to a bunch of stuff from ubiquity now those of you who are following me on instagram and open my social medias link is below it's a ten case my house everywhere you would have already known that I have been working on all of this
stuff because that's where I post that I sneak peeks that trip on the thews just would enjoy so this is probably going to be a multi-part series because there's a network and it's just going to be a super long video if I did it in one part
you know what doesn't take super long PCBs from PCB way and that's because they have super fast turnaround times they have high quality PCBs they do PCB prototyping PCB assembly and SMD stencil and they have super fair pricing 24 hour
customer service no minimum requirement and free DFM right now PCB way is having their big sale which is a november and december shopping festival right now in november for thanksgiving from the 27th to the 29th
their wheel and win some free beans which you can then exchange for either cash for your orders or you can get hardware such as an arduino or other type of electronic components but it's not called a PCB way big sale for
nothing they've up to seven percent off their PCB services then next month in December they're gonna have their Christmas coupons which I'll talk more about in the next episode but if you use my cash coupon which is on the
your order which depending on how many PCBs you get could make your order free so head on over to PCB hue calm now so what are we exactly going to be doing gonna be upgrading it with all this ubiquity hardware which I'll go over in
reorganizing it a little bit over here actually I'll stand over here we're organizing it a little bit I got the Shelf installed so we're going to be putting the servers and other stuff up here and also mounting stuff to the
shelf and also going to be changing this up a little bit redoing a little bit of the wiring and changing some of the positions of the access points and we're also going to be adding stuff into the process but without further ado let's go
ahead and see the ubiquity hardware that we're going to be adding so starting we're going to be adding so starting from this side left to right we have to ubiquity AC Pro wireless access points I've currently in my network I've been
using routers and repurposing them as access point but this time I decided to go with actual access points and then I have one AC I believe this is an LR this have one AC I believe this is an LR this is a ubiquity a CLR so this is the long
range one and this one is going to go in the garage because in the garage you because you're not going to be there that often so why spend extra money and so i just got an a CLR I'll go over the exact way that I'm gonna wire it in a
little bit well these are all Power over Ethernet so I needed another Power over Ethernet switch and that's where the unify switch 860 watt comes in so I'm and then I'm going to connect it to the main router which is getting changed to
main router which is getting changed to this the unified security gateway so this is me the main router for the entire house and then to manage all of the different Ubiquiti unify stuff I needed a cloud key so that way it also
records the metrics and stuff and it's the web portal to configure everything so that's what this is and this is also Keowee so it's also going to get plugged into the switch over there and then over here I just have
some miscellaneous cables and my computer that I'm gonna use to connect at all before we go ahead and set up the new ubiquity stuff I'm gonna show you what I have right now in my network all right so let's we'll start from the top
so up here we have all of the that's actually an EM case my house fire sensor but up here we have all of the Ethernet wiring and that goes into the main router of the house which also has some antennas and then we have the main
switch for the house and I believe this is a 16 port not exactly sure I don't remember and this is the modem that we're using this is an air surfboard SB
one six four one oh and this is a d-link switch and then we have two raspberry PI's and these are running open hat one is running open ham and one is running home assistant then here is just the power and then this is for the fire
power and then this is for the fire sensor and then down here we have all of the cameras these need to be installed so right now they're just sitting here and I'm also running tests on them which they are sitting on my file server over
there when it's up on the shelf I'll show you guys that in a better location show you guys that in a better location and then we have another tp-link oh yeah the one up there is a tp-link Archer c7 and so I got another one of these this
and so I got another one of these this is the entire surveillance network so I is the entire surveillance network so I gave that its own router so that way all of the traffic is contained and it doesn't the bandwidth doesn't get
affected into the main network setup but what I'm hoping to do with the unify is put this on its own VLAN so that way I don't need an entire box it could just be on a VLAN and that's sitting on a power over ethernet switch and these are
running to all the different cameras and is also running back to the main or the is also running back to the main or the surveillance server router and that is sitting on the surveillance serve so this is a Lenovo thing station I
forget the model number but this is running blue iris and again if you guys follow me on instagram you will have seen me documenting the process a little bit and then there's just a power strip sitting over there oh and all of this is
powered by an APC I know the biggest thing that you guys were complaining thing that you guys were complaining about in my original network hardware video guide that I didn't have an APC so I got one and so now if the power goes
out everything is powered by this and I can safely shut it down if I need to oh here's a closer look at all of the unify stuff I'm so excited to get this installed I've been I've had this sitting in my room for about like two
installed and today I finally have a chance but hopefully all of this will turn out nice and it'll be nice and contained using this shelf and over here
and then now I'm going to show you the two other access points that I have in my house currently so this is another one of the access points that I have it one of the access points that I have it is in the second floor and so this is
what where all the devices in the second floor as well as in my room connective alright so in order to minimize downtime because I have a lot of people using my network I'm going to first set up this network and then just swap over the main
cable coming in for the modem so that way that'll be just seamless transition so I'm going to go ahead and do a time lapse of me wiring up all of this stuff and then I'll show you how its wired up [Music]
so all of the ubiquity hardware is connected to the modem now so let me go connected to the modem now so let me go over how this is all connected so we are all three of these access points are connected to these three p OE ports and
then we have the cloud key connected to the first p OE port and then I connected my computer to this port right here and then it's connected to the security gateway right here and then the security gateway is running all the way to the
modem over there so let's and see if the computer is already connected so let's go ahead and get this all set up so a few hours later and I finally gotten all the software set up on the ubiquity well not all of it I sell to configure all
the ports and stuff but like the main connectivity and all the devices are talking together except for I ran into a couple issues actually so the first
issue that I ran into was that the access point this one doesn't work and so I plugged it in and I went it in the software and I couldn't find it and none of the lights were coming up and then I realized I'm gonna do this I realize
realized I'm gonna do this I realize that this device is 24 volt p OE not 48 that this device is 24 volt p OE not 48 so which I was under the impression that
this was a for evil because ubiquity on their website they said that these two devices are compatible and then I read on the forums and on the forums some people were saying that there's two different models of the what is this the
different models of the what is this the LR yeah the APA CLR and it turns out that there is no different model number in between the 24 volt and the 48 the 48 are the newer ones because you make what he realized that they should have done a
he realized that they should have done a 48 to begin with so I may have fried my AP a CLR which is I don't think is a big deal because I was also reading on the just need to replace adaiah in here and then it should be working so
I might I don't remember but that switch that I have over there might be 24 volts so I might be able to just plug it into there or I might buy an adapter I think but we'll have to figure this out we should figure this out by the end of
this series well let's see here what other oh another issue that I ran into other oh another issue that I ran into was these firmwares so this one connected no problem and the cloud key connected no problem but the switch 8
and this access point had a problem connecting to the cloud key so I had to manually upgrade these firmwares but two different ways so this one I had to
upgrade it by going through the cloud key and then in the cloud key I set the URL on where to upgrade I tried the same thing for the switch 8 but the switch 8
just refused so I had to SSH into the actual switch I had to copy the file on to the switch and then I had to execute an update command so this process is honestly taking much longer than I expected I thought that maybe this was
naive of me but I was expecting the ubiquity hardware to play more along together because it like discovers everything and so I was hoping that guess like everything there's some modifications that you have to do and
some settings you have to change but we have it all figured out this I just need to fix and then figure out how I'm gonna connect it but overall see this number it says everything is good 6 to 8% I think that's because these two access
points are too close to each other so it's not optimal but regardless now we're gonna take everything start tearing this down and put it all you're right past Matt we will be doing that next but that'll be in the next
episode or the next part in this series however you want to call it which should come out next week in the description you'll find links to all the parts and tools used in this video as well as link to MK smart comm shop where of a wide
vices and kits that you can put together such as smart blinds this network has taken so long to put together so please leave a like it really helps with the I very much will appreciate it all right thank you guys so much if you found this
video helpful again smash that like button if this is content that you like it then go ahead and press the subscribe button and join the other smart home enthusiasts on this channel I'll see you guys in part two if
you have any questions leave them in the comment section below or head on over to MK Starcom slash forum goodbye [Music]