Although I modified mine for more flexibility, the internal antenna for the 5GHz antenna is actually pretty good and will work well up to 50-60ft away - or while mounted in a waterproof plastic box high up on an antenna mast. Keep in mind that you do not really need to provide an external antenna for the 5GHz radio as you may mostly use it as a local WiFi access point where you will be located close to the hAP-ac-lite. Then I connected the ufl connectors to the board and shoved the board into the enclosure while it was upside down, then slapped on the floor-plate. Then I screwed the 2.4GHz RP-SMA connectors into the opposing left and right sides and the single 5GHz RP-SMA connector into the center of the rear of the enclosure. Then I soldered the 3 ufl connectors in place and drilled three 1/4” holes into the plastic hAP enclosure. Then I desoldered the leftover bits, and I scraped off the green enamel a bit to expose more of the test-point connector pad to fit the ufl connectors a little bit better. When you pry off the floor plate and pull the board out I used a tiny pair of sharps diag-cutters to remove the 3 test point connectors. Here’s the parts for converting the hAP to a device with external antennas. I need to host a storage drive for MeshChat).Ī few folks asked me (outside the AREDN forum) for tips and links to the parts that I used to add external antennas to the hAP-ac-lite. (we gotta get that USB port up and running, though. With the PoE passthrough, VLAN and tunnel capability, WiFi to AREDN bridge capability, I now think this is the perfect 'first device' to buy if you're going to only buy 1 device to see if you like AREDN. I even have one of the photos with the MIMO bi-directional amp. I soldered those ufl connectors on, drilled 8mm holes in the case of the hP lite, and added 'bulkhead RP-SMA to ufl pigtails to it (see photos). I removed the TP connector and scratched the footprint to expose the copper a tad bit more to better fit the ufl connectors I bought. Each internal antenna has a test point connector connected to it. How did I do this? See the attached photos. The 5Ghz radio really doesn't need an external antenna, as most of us will just use it as a bridge to connect normal WiFi devices to it (tablets, phones, laptops), but I added an external omnidirectional anyway just to have more flexibility. Or if I want to hit a node 16 miles away I can throw an 2x2 MIMO 1W (30dBm TX, and+17dB RX) bi-directional amplifier in line ($85 on ebay). Now I know I can add a MIMO (V-Pol/H-Pol) panel antenna to the 2.4GHz ports and point it at an AREDN node 5 miles away. So, this device would be perfect, hardware-wise, if it had 2 external 2.4 GHz antennas and an external 5GHz antenna. The SISO 5GHz antenna is a pretty good PIFA (planar inverted F array) on the right side of the PCB. The 2.4GHz radio is 2x2 MIMO and has 2 meandering ladder inverted F antennas set perpendicular on the far left corner of the PCB.
I really love the hAP AC Lite (RB952Ui-5ac2nD) but its range was designed for indoor use with it's redonkulous internal antennas and anemic 22dB power output.
0 kommentar(er)
