# This has appeared at entrance to my flat (appartment). What is it? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 6, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576 "2018-10-06T19:46:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/1 "2018-10-06T19:46:18Z")
[[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/5vojWa3.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/QTYDHFS) [[Album] imgur.com ![](https://i.imgur.com/ORBoLrH.jpeg?fb "imgur.com") ](https://imgur.com/a/t36hTgu) I noticed this recently. I don’t know when it appeared, sometime in the last 12 months. It’s above the bin enclosure next to the entrance to the flats where I live (a communal entrance). It’s a Gewiss GW44204 IP56. I googled it, it says it’s some kind of junction box but the pics don’t have that protruding thing that mine does. What could this be for? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/2 "2018-10-06T20:00:10Z")
Yeah, that’s just a generic junction box - could be a number of things. ---
**Author:** ![BobBitchin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7ea924/32.png) [@BobBitchin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobBitchin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/3 "2018-10-06T20:00:21Z")
Looks like phase 1 of a light install. The thing on front looks like the hole where the wires will come out, plugged for weather till the fixture gets installed. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/4 "2018-10-06T20:00:45Z")
The projection looks almost like it could be a camera cover. A really terrible one, but still something to consider. So maybe a box with a camera to catch people illegally dumping trash in the bin? ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/5 "2018-10-06T20:05:58Z")
Is there an alarm on that door or a buzzer to let people in? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/6 "2018-10-06T20:44:34Z")
IP56 is the weatherproofing rating (“ingress protection”), not the model number. ---
**Author:** ![Dahu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dahu/32/3416_2.png) [@Dahu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dahu)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/7 "2018-10-06T20:47:50Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > Is there an alarm on that door or a buzzer to let people in? No alarm, but there is an intercom/buzzer to each flat (you can see it to the left of the door on the second photo). eta: I have asked the neighbours (though not all of them) and they don’t know what it is. There are 8 identical blocks of 12 flats in the complex, our is the only one with this box. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/8 "2018-10-06T22:01:59Z")
Here’s their product catalog. [Homepage EN | Gewiss](https://www.gewiss.com/ww/en) ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/9 "2018-10-06T22:05:13Z")
Looks like a photocell to me, to turn the exterior lights on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. ---
**Author:** ![MindsEye\_Watering](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindseye_watering/32/3619_2.png) [@MindsEye\_Watering](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MindsEye_Watering)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2018, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/10 "2018-10-06T22:36:10Z")
> [@jjakucyk](#): > > Looks like a photocell to me, to turn the exterior lights on automatically at dusk and off at dawn. That’s what I thought, too. ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/11 "2018-10-07T00:51:53Z")
Wouldn’t a junction box have the opening or openings on the top, bottom, or sides rather than on the front? The photocell idea is interesting. What side of the building is it on (N, S, E, W)? I would think you’d want it where it’s not in the building’s shadow part of the day. ---
**Author:** ![jjakucyk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/3d9bf3/32.png) [@jjakucyk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjakucyk)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2018, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-has-appeared-at-entrance-to-my-flat-appartment-what-is-it/822576/12 "2018-10-07T00:57:09Z")
Many of the photocells I’ve seen actually are in the shadows. They’re sensitive enough to pick up relatively low levels of ambient light as you’d find in a shadow or under trees, but that’s still a lot more light than you’d get from any artificial source.