Thanks for this, I recall when I put these up I thought they'd be a PITA to take down, but I didn't prepare for it. Your video saved my bacon, made a tool exactly like yours, worked a dream. Love everything else about Unifi, but this is an appalling design.
👍Thank you!!! These things are impossible to get off without some sort of tool. I had to destroy the mounting bracket on one of my AP's the other day trying to get it off the wall (which I also damaged). Now it's just hanging by the ethernet cable. Fortunately, it was an older one. Today I ran into the same issue with a much newer one.
You need a smaller cable tie, so you can push it all the way in. That's what I do. Unifi suggests using a paper clip. I also used a Sharpie to put a small mark on the top of the AP, so I know where the slot is, as it's hard to see when the AP is mounted on the ceiling.
great video, very helpful, it gave me an idea to use a spring removal tool from RC cars that its similar to your, and it work great, thanks for sharing the video.
As someone already mention, you don't need to use special tool, you don't need to lift it up. In my case bigger size cable tie like one you tried was enough to unlock.
Well, a simple paperclip works fine for me. At least on the AP's I've tried it on, the plastic tongue doesn't have to be lifted all way up - the thickness of a paperclip is enough to be able to turn it when the plate is fastened to a wall or ceiling.
Best instructions are as follows: 1) Point your finger at the bottom of the U logo and move for finger from there to the nearest outer edge and push that edge towards the ceiling/wall it's mounted on. 2) While pressing with that finger, use other hand to rotate the AP!
For anyone with girlfriends with fancy bathroom equipment: Nail scissors do the trick, too. Open them, then insert the blade as far as you can with the bend facing the wall, hinge and twist it off.
Dein Englisch tut in den Ohren weh.. Aber, Danke, für deine Mühe es hat offenbar nicht nur mir sehr geholfen! Alle paar Jahre habe ich diese Problem. . und stehe wiedereinmal im Wald..
Wow thank you so much! This video saved me a lot of frustration. If Ubiquiti is going to make such a fucking tamper-proof design, then they should obviously INCLUDE THE SPECIAL TOOL in the box with the access point. Instead they rely on every single consumer to MacGuyver their very own tool, from scratch. It looks like you could "jamb just about any flat little thing in there", but you can't because the opening is quite small, and so the tool has to be just the right shape/diameter to fit through the stupid hole. I ended up using a type of inward-gripping tweezers, one-side only.
@@r0ckworthy I think it may depend on the size of the paper clip. However, as I I mentioned, I use a cable tie as I'm more likely to find one of those than a paper clip. The guy in the video was using a cable tie that was too big to fit in the slot. If he'd used a smaller one and pushed it all the way in, it would have worked fine.
@@James_Knott As I remember it, I had to use one half of a small pliers because you have to use considerable force to pull the plastic tab away from where it sits. I have no idea how you were able to make a cable tie work, since those things are quite floppy.
@@r0ckworthy I had no problem at all. I just pushed the cable tie in, until the AP released. Just use one that's able to fit in the slot. Are you talking about actual cable ties that would be used by someone actually installing cable? Or the things you find wrapped around some wires to make a neat bundle? Those are completely different things.
i still dont understand why Unifi makes these nice APs but then doesnt provide a tool for their little locking mechanism. They want you to fuck around with paperclips to unlock the thing (per the official instructions).
I agree with the poster, this is a very poor design, at least include a removal tool if you are going to make it this hard to remove. The official Ubiquiti website states that the locking clips needs to be lifted less than 1mm. I think not.
Mine came with the backplate already locked in an absolutely no instruction manual. Even the manual assumes the plate is separated to begin with. I even bought mine from a retailer (Micro Center) and the online support was unable to figure it out. I wasted 45 minutes trying to get the backplate off without breaking something.In this regard Ubiquiti sucks.
Another proof that this mount is poorly designed is that I can simply use brute force to remove the Ap from the mount without damaging anything. The reason I went for this approach is that when you are standing on a tall ladder it is difficult to find the poorly located hole in the first place.
Thank you. Used my wifes nail file to unlach it. They could have engineered a plastic press to unlock it. Or provided a tool. Cheap devices like these skimp on these things I guess. Regards from Australia.
I just used my finger nail to slightly lift the lock or plastic tongue as mentioned by Arvid and unlocked it in less than 5 seconds. As simple as it can get. Have fun!
This video demostation is not as it seem...there is no difficulty in unlocking the bracket..a simple paper clip or sim eject tool will work fine...i have four unifi ac pro...
It was really much easier after fighting it for a few minutes I looked at multiple videos and the following was best video, because it doesn't need a tool at all: czcams.com/video/WTC2QMmNVtM/video.html
Credit where credit is due, the real tools are the guys who designed this thing.
I was instructed by my husband to Google how to take off the ubiquity access point cover and I was like how hard can that be?! Now I get it.
Please thank your son (again!) - his invention that keeps on giving, all around the world! (This message from the South Pacific)
Thanks for posting this. Saved me from breaking mine in frustration.
Thanks for this, I recall when I put these up I thought they'd be a PITA to take down, but I didn't prepare for it. Your video saved my bacon, made a tool exactly like yours, worked a dream. Love everything else about Unifi, but this is an appalling design.
👍Thank you!!! These things are impossible to get off without some sort of tool. I had to destroy the mounting bracket on one of my AP's the other day trying to get it off the wall (which I also damaged). Now it's just hanging by the ethernet cable. Fortunately, it was an older one. Today I ran into the same issue with a much newer one.
Thanks for the video - knowing how the latch works makes removal easier. After getting it off I just cutoff the latch to make it easier next time.
I just removed two AC-pro with a ZIP tie, works great!
Me2
Thanks! The tie wrap worked OK for me. Once it bottomed-out, I pushed a little harder and it released.
Thank you, you saved my bacon! With a tie wrap and a lot of violence i got it down. What an appalling design!
You need a smaller cable tie, so you can push it all the way in. That's what I do. Unifi suggests using a paper clip. I also used a Sharpie to put a small mark on the top of the AP, so I know where the slot is, as it's hard to see when the AP is mounted on the ceiling.
That worked!
Confirmed, used flimsy-seeming tip of medium tie wrap, shoved it way the heck in there and it worked fine. Thanks
You don't lift it up. You push it straight in, and twist the AP counter-clockwise while doing so. Once you know that, any small flat utensil will do.
great video, very helpful, it gave me an idea to use a spring removal tool from RC cars that its similar to your, and it work great, thanks for sharing the video.
As someone already mention, you don't need to use special tool, you don't need to lift it up. In my case bigger size cable tie like one you tried was enough to unlock.
Well, a simple paperclip works fine for me. At least on the AP's I've tried it on, the plastic tongue doesn't have to be lifted all way up - the thickness of a paperclip is enough to be able to turn it when the plate is fastened to a wall or ceiling.
+1 the quick start guide actually says "use a paper clip"
Nämen... här sitter jag och mekar med billiga Ubiquity APs utan mount plates från ebay och hittar dig här!
Thank you for this tip, it indeed was as simple as that :D
Thanks, I'll try that. I need to remove mine
We have a paperless office. Not a paper clip to be found. :-)
I hate standing in a very tall ladder, using my both hands doings this
Best instructions are as follows:
1) Point your finger at the bottom of the U logo and move for finger from there to the nearest outer edge and push that edge towards the ceiling/wall it's mounted on.
2) While pressing with that finger, use other hand to rotate the AP!
For anyone with girlfriends with fancy bathroom equipment: Nail scissors do the trick, too. Open them, then insert the blade as far as you can with the bend facing the wall, hinge and twist it off.
A cable tie works well. Any network person should have lots of those.
Thank you so much for this tutorial!!!
Dein Englisch tut in den Ohren weh.. Aber, Danke, für deine Mühe es hat offenbar nicht nur mir sehr geholfen! Alle paar Jahre habe ich diese Problem. . und stehe wiedereinmal im Wald..
Thank you, fighting with the same design flaw, engineering failure, now on the newer version still
Thank you for the video.
Thanks! You helped me a lot!
Wow thank you so much! This video saved me a lot of frustration. If Ubiquiti is going to make such a fucking tamper-proof design, then they should obviously INCLUDE THE SPECIAL TOOL in the box with the access point. Instead they rely on every single consumer to MacGuyver their very own tool, from scratch. It looks like you could "jamb just about any flat little thing in there", but you can't because the opening is quite small, and so the tool has to be just the right shape/diameter to fit through the stupid hole. I ended up using a type of inward-gripping tweezers, one-side only.
Ubiquiti suggests a special tool. It's called a "paper clip". ;-)
I use a smaller cable tie than used in the video. Works great.
@@James_Knott Paper clip works like shit. It doesn't work because it's not near stiff enough. Nice guess though.
@@r0ckworthy I think it may depend on the size of the paper clip. However, as I I mentioned, I use a cable tie as I'm more likely to find one of those than a paper clip. The guy in the video was using a cable tie that was too big to fit in the slot. If he'd used a smaller one and pushed it all the way in, it would have worked fine.
@@James_Knott As I remember it, I had to use one half of a small pliers because you have to use considerable force to pull the plastic tab away from where it sits. I have no idea how you were able to make a cable tie work, since those things are quite floppy.
@@r0ckworthy I had no problem at all. I just pushed the cable tie in, until the AP released. Just use one that's able to fit in the slot. Are you talking about actual cable ties that would be used by someone actually installing cable? Or the things you find wrapped around some wires to make a neat bundle? Those are completely different things.
I agree its a bad design, but I have never had issue getting it off using a zip tie. Maybe the zip ties I buy are a little more firm or something.
Locking Clip During installation, the Locking Clip on the Mounting Bracket locks into the Locking Notch on the UniFi AP-PRO to help prevent theft.
Thank you very much, I earn a lot of Time
Never had a problem just using a zip tie.
You're absolutely right, but also, I think you can just install the bracket upside down (180 degrees) if you don't want it to lock.
Then there is no room for the ethernet cable
@@jesperrooth445 I installed mine with cable through wall behind.
As an aside - is the plastic on anyone else's AP AC discolored and sticky because it runs hot?
Thanks for this video!!!
i still dont understand why Unifi makes these nice APs but then doesnt provide a tool for their little locking mechanism. They want you to fuck around with paperclips to unlock the thing (per the official instructions).
I agree with the poster, this is a very poor design, at least include a removal tool if you are going to make it this hard to remove. The official Ubiquiti website states that the locking clips needs to be lifted less than 1mm. I think not.
Break the tab off. Mount the AP high enough that you could only steal it with ladders.
Mine came with the backplate already locked in an absolutely no instruction manual. Even the manual assumes the plate is separated to begin with. I even bought mine from a retailer (Micro Center) and the online support was unable to figure it out. I wasted 45 minutes trying to get the backplate off without breaking something.In this regard Ubiquiti sucks.
I was able to open this quite easily with the spike of a cheap pipe tamper. The spike consists of a wire with a diameter of 2 mm.
Bad design indeed. I used a small fork, this worked perfectly!
Thank you after hard fight
Quick start guide says use a paper clip - works for me
Thank you!
Your tool would not bend far enough without hitting the wall or ceiling first . I’m assuming you use it turned around
I do hate this design! Trying to take it down to reset it and it's proving to be a pain in the ass.
Use a paperclip and bend it to the right form
Another proof that this mount is poorly designed is that I can simply use brute force to remove the Ap from the mount without damaging anything. The reason I went for this approach is that when you are standing on a tall ladder it is difficult to find the poorly located hole in the first place.
Just hectic recovering the unit from the wall
OMG, could not agree more! I hate that design either!!!!! and I use for like 2 hrs to unlock it and the hole is way bigger that before.... Lol
I agree. That design is a pain in the ass.
nice
I just don't click it in when you rotate.
Tks!!
Thank you. Used my wifes nail file to unlach it. They could have engineered a plastic press to unlock it. Or provided a tool. Cheap devices like these skimp on these things I guess. Regards from Australia.
Good luck!
thx
I used a chisel to make it smaller, so I can unlock it without any tools.
I always break the clip before installing it
Mine came with the tool.
thanks - very clever your son
Just twist AP counterclockwise with bit of force, doesnt have to be lifted. I install 1000s of these
Mine twists but doesn’t want to come off idk why, I feel like if I do something wrong the bracket might break
A paper clip works also
I just used my finger nail to slightly lift the lock or plastic tongue as mentioned by Arvid and unlocked it in less than 5 seconds. As simple as it can get. Have fun!
You shoved your tiny fingernail into the hole to unlock it? When its not wall mounted then your fingernail will work, otherwise....
This video demostation is not as it seem...there is no difficulty in unlocking the bracket..a simple paper clip or sim eject tool will work fine...i have four unifi ac pro...
Great AP, bastard design
WTF , how can this be a professional device. And years later it’s still the same. Just got the nanoHD and it’s the same 😡🤬
Er du dansker? 😅
cameraman, pls focus
ubiquiti is awesome tech but i agree this latch is a terrible terrible design! i just cut the latch off - its totally redundant anyway
Locking Clip During installation, the Locking Clip on the Mounting Bracket locks into the Locking Notch on the UniFi AP-PRO to help prevent theft.
@@themanganiellos5800 ...and ease of maintenance..
Good grief. Can you re-shoot this with someone who can hold a camera steady, and keep it on the subject?
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Oh my gosh...
Here is another video I shot of the same thing!!
czcams.com/video/PNmmNY1YkwQ/video.html
"Poor design" is an understatement
The person who designed it should be punished by removing those things for 1 month every day.
It's a shitty design
It was really much easier after fighting it for a few minutes I looked at multiple videos and the following was best video, because it doesn't need a tool at all: czcams.com/video/WTC2QMmNVtM/video.html
Thanks for this Video!