home networking durability

[azazel1024]

A weird question to ask, but I am wondering about the durability of home networking gear. In particular, how close does one need to hew to the recommended temperature ranges in product listings?

Non-condensing environment, sure, crystal clear on what that would cause, but temperature range? How hard and fast?

The situation is I am looking at extending my network. I have a moderate sized property of a little over an acre and my router and WAP will not cover it. They cover my house just great, but depending on location, get more than about 20ft from the house itself and signal plumets and 50ft away its gone (except in the front down the driveway which has LOS out the living room window to the mailbox, which actually still has ~-60db 150ft from the WAP).

I have a shed in my backyard that is actually located within about 50ft of where I'd like to be getting signal (a "detatched" patio by my kids playground). The shed currently has power run to it (though not working, which I need to track down the issue there. Only bought the house a year ago). My thought was to use powerline adapters and then hook in the N300 bridge I happen to have laying around. Of course they'll be in an unconditioned shed, which means it could get cold. Tomorrow is "historic" lows for us, but call it 0F basically. Highs can sometimes get up around 100F or a couple of degrees warmer.

Is this likely to screw the networking gear? It'll be located in the shed so condensation/dew is not likely to be an issue at any point. It'll be constantly running so I'd think that the gear should keep itself warm enough not to be an issue, but I don't really want to bother with the attempt if the verdict is it'll likely freeze/fry itself.

 

[ch33zw1z]

There's outdoor WAP's if you worried about durability, here's one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...140106204627:s

Temp and Humidity limits are pretty good.

here's others:

http://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&ke...vptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_6ugufr8566_b

 

[azazel1024]

My issues are two fold. One being cheap, I already have an AP I can use. The next, even if I were to purchase an outdoor AP, are there any with built in powerline adapters? I'd need one to be able to network it. Range extending isn't an option for a variety of reasons, including general wireless congestion, but also the AP would likely be located too far away to work in range extending mode.

 

[ch33zw1z]

First issue: use the AP that you have. If it dies, it dies, it's the cost of doing business. They all die eventually anyways. Humidity is the bigger issue, not just cold.

Second issue: Power line built in? doubtful, but it's not built into your current AP anyways. Power line is going to have two plugin devices for each side of the power run.

 

[azazel1024]

I was just thinking if I could find an outdoor AP with built in powerline, likely it has the durability to handle anything I'd care to throw at it, but going with an outdoor AP but still needing to use a regular powerline adapter to connect it to my network still leaves a vulnerable beloved patriot.

I guess I'll just do what you suggested and run what I have and hope it works. At worst I am out a spare AP and a $20 powerline adapter and I'll have to find gear that is more durable.

 

[Mushkins]

The temp ranges on SOHO gear are lab tested with standard retail electronics sampling procedures. I would not trust a $40 router to work even getting close but staying within the upper and lower limits of the temp ranges in the manual. 0F is going to kill an N300, no doubt in my mind. The humidity in the air is going to get into it, freeze, crack the solder, and turn it into a doorstop on the first sub-freezing day. It's got a better chance of surviving 100F, but not by much and not for any length of time.

If you're going to put networking gear outside in those conditions, you need to use the proper hardware. Honestly, your best bet here would be to run some insulated, underground rated network cable (Fiber is ideal, for a single run you can get away with quality Cat6 run in conduit) to the shed, and putting a quality access point with some high gain antennas *inside* the shed.

This question comes up frequently around here, and the answer doesn't change. Can't just slap a Linksys on the roof of a shed and expect it to behave as normal, these SOHO devices cost less than $100 for a reason.

 

[azazel1024]

The temp ranges on SOHO gear are lab tested with standard retail electronics sampling procedures. I would not trust a $40 router to work even getting close but staying within the upper and lower limits of the temp ranges in the manual. 0F is going to kill an N300, no doubt in my mind. The humidity in the air is going to get into it, freeze, crack the solder, and turn it into a doorstop on the first sub-freezing day. It's got a better chance of surviving 100F, but not by much and not for any length of time.

If you're going to put networking gear outside in those conditions, you need to use the proper hardware. Honestly, your best bet here would be to run some insulated, underground rated network cable (Fiber is ideal, for a single run you can get away with quality Cat6 run in conduit) to the shed, and putting a quality access point with some high gain antennas *inside* the shed.

This question comes up frequently around here, and the answer doesn't change. Can't just slap a Linksys on the roof of a shed and expect it to behave as normal, these SOHO devices cost less than $100 for a reason.

Well, technically it would be inside of the shed, so it would at least be shielded from direct weather. Though I take your meaning.

The long term plan is to do exactly what you suggested. I am pretty much going to tear down the shed and rebuild it as a combo shed and studio. County laws limit dettached structures to less than 200sq-ft before inspections and permiting are required, so I plan to take it up to the limit. That gives me a roughly 60sq-ft shed and 139sq-ft studio. Shed uninsulated, but the studio insulated, finished, heated and cooled.

I plan on running fiber out to it as my switch (TP-link 16 port, I forget the model, its their web smart managed line) has a couple of GBIC ports, so I'd just need the fiber transceivers, the fiber and a converter on the other end. That is very long term though, probably 5-7 years from now (supposing I don't have a whole new switch and am not running 10GbE out to the shed, though why I'd EVER need that out there, I have no idea. But, because is a good enough reason).

I'd prefer not to be running even outdoor rated networking cable outdoors in case of lightning strikes (granted I have mains running through there already. Lets ignore logic though please).

I also need to upgrade the power, as a single 14 gauge 120v line isn't sufficient for the future structure, so I'd have to trench and run conduit for probably 12 gauge 240v anyway. Might as well stick some fiber in there while I am at it (maybe shielded and grounded Cat6).

Very long term though. I did notice in the CES announcements, I think TP Link or maybe Trendnet, announced an outdoor N150 or 300 (can't remember which) WAP with powerline built in.

It is around $100 though, but that isn't really all that expensive, so long as it works.

Might be perfect to fill my network coverage gap for a few years until I can properly extend the wired network and have a climate controlled structure to put a real 802.11ac WAP/router in.

 

[cmetz]

op, in general, yes, home networking gear outdoor in a non-mild environment is a bad idea. The power supply is probably going to be the thing to die first, but the range of temps and humidities you describe is probably going to harm the units too. Get something outdoor rated.

Look at the Ubiquiti Bullet, or in general at WISP-grade outdoor gear. Some of it is not really that expensive.

 

[azazel1024]

The other thought I had, that might be more likely to implement in the near term (since I have most of the gear or can be had cheap) is just use the gear part of the year. I really don't need coverage in the winter, or from roughly November through early April. Do dang cold to care about it. In general temperatures generally don't push more than 90F regularly with occasional spikes higher.

Doesn't mean it won't kill it, but it would remove all of the extreme cold from the equation.

It'll be an interesting experiment at the very least and if it dies, I'll just go in on an outdoor rated AP with built in powerline and bite the bullet.