Wifi down to the horse shed?

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Azzura

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#147441 19-Jun-2014 12:08

Would like to extend the house wifi down to the shed --- 50 to 100m away. Is the Ubiquiti NanoStation Loco M5 Outdoor, Wireless Access Point, 150Mbps, 802.11a/n still a good choice ?

By extending it down to the shed, the plan is to have a wireless or wired camera for a little bit of security at the shed.

chevrolux

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#1069186 19-Jun-2014 12:50

Yep the Loco M5 is still a great option. On a link that short though you will want to pull the transmit power right down.
There is also the little AirGateway available now which would be perfect of you want wifi down their too -only $30-$40!

Azzura

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#1069192 19-Jun-2014 13:05

chevrolux: Yep the Loco M5 is still a great option. On a link that short though you will want to pull the transmit power right down.
There is also the little AirGateway available now which would be perfect of you want wifi down their too -only $30-$40!

Have done a search but a few things come up at Ascent.

Would that be the - Ubiquiti airGateway LR, Wireless Access Point, 54Mbps, 802.11b/g/n? If not would it be possible to link me to the product you mention?

Dynamic

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#1069205 19-Jun-2014 13:33

We wet up a collection of these in a warehouse recently with stellar results. Just in case you are not aware, the Lomo M5 is the 5GHz model and the Loco M2 is the 2.4GHz variant. If you are rural it probably doesn't matter which you use. In a built-up area the 2.4GHz band can be crowded or have significant interference.

Option 1
If you have a wireless camera with a removable antenna and are feeling lucky you could try putting a directional antenna on it (example: http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_37185_1.jpg) and just use one of the Loco's set up as a standard wireless access point. I'm 80% sure you would have a reliable connection.

Option2
A safer bet would be two of the Loco's talking to each other in a wireless bridge. Over that relatively short distance you could probably wind the transmission power back to it's minimum setting on both devices and still have a stable connection. The annoyance of having more stuff to plug in and more cables (from the far-end M5 to the camera) isn't a big deal, or your desired camera may not be wireless. In the Wireless Bridge mode you can't connect a laptop to them for example (as best I recall).

The AirGateway that chevrolux mentioned would let you use a laptop or smartphone down at the shed with Option 2. The one you mentioned is correct and there is also a non-LR one (i.e. short range with no antenna sticking out).

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Azzura

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#1069232 19-Jun-2014 14:24

Dynamic: We wet up a collection of these in a warehouse recently with stellar results. Just in case you are not aware, the Lomo M5 is the 5GHz model and the Loco M2 is the 2.4GHz variant. If you are rural it probably doesn't matter which you use. In a built-up area the 2.4GHz band can be crowded or have significant interference.

Option 1
If you have a wireless camera with a removable antenna and are feeling lucky you could try putting a directional antenna on it (example: http://img.dxcdn.com/productimages/sku_37185_1.jpg) and just use one of the Loco's set up as a standard wireless access point. I'm 80% sure you would have a reliable connection.

Option2
A safer bet would be two of the Loco's talking to each other in a wireless bridge. Over that relatively short distance you could probably wind the transmission power back to it's minimum setting on both devices and still have a stable connection. The annoyance of having more stuff to plug in and more cables (from the far-end M5 to the camera) isn't a big deal, or your desired camera may not be wireless. In the Wireless Bridge mode you can't connect a laptop to them for example (as best I recall).

The AirGateway that chevrolux mentioned would let you use a laptop or smartphone down at the shed with Option 2. The one you mentioned is correct and there is also a non-LR one (i.e. short range with no antenna sticking out).

Checked on option 1 - I would give it a try but currently listed as - out of stock.

Option 2 is quite appealing, but buying 2 of the LR's is about $118 (thinking better to have too much vs not enough?). However, then I think that for 20 bucks more I could get the Loco M5 and lots of options for possible future use in need of further distances (if ever down the road?). The M5 is like way overkill though....

Honestly this is my first time looking into this kind of setup and have (I am sure) some basic questions.

With the LR...can it act as a wireless AP for multiple wireless devices at the shed? More than one wireless camera, laptop and mobile cell? Or do you need a router (wired) with wireless ability connected to the LR? Same questions for the Loco M5?

I have been doing some reading but without ever having any hands on experience in setting this up, or having this hardware in hand ...I am still not sure how this Ubiquiti equipment is suppose to work.

jonb

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#1069236 19-Jun-2014 14:37

Is trenching some Cat5 cable an option?

If the stable is on the same circuit as the house a Powerline adapter could be also be an option.

Azzura

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#1069247 19-Jun-2014 15:00

jonb: Is trenching some Cat5 cable an option?

If the stable is on the same circuit as the house a Powerline adapter could be also be an option.

Thought about trenching Cable. But a 100 m of cable is $100 or $146 for cable and me trenching it hehehe. I've preferred hard wire vs wireless, but in this case.

Powerline (I have thought about it as well). Power comes to the house and then a phase 3 has been run down to the shed off the main circuit panel (?). Now the funny part ---- wishing I had run that cat5e when we had this trenched for the power line (was kind of worried that thick power cable might cause issues with 5e cable and the distance was a little bit of a worry). And I knew it...I knew I would be wishing I ran that cable.

I would try the powerline but will it work? Electric circuit knowledge for a house in Canada was basic...NZ is just learning what a edison bulb is. Same circuit to shed...I honestly have no idea.

Poweline looks pretty easy to use but I haven't used it before as I would just usually just do cat5e drops to where I needed it in the house, the wireless works very well in the house for ipad and galaxy (house is very rural). Wireless is looking to be the option, just want to get an idea of what equipment is needed at the shed end after the M5 or LR.

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Dynamic

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#1069251 19-Jun-2014 15:10

Azzura: I have been doing some reading but without ever having any hands on experience in setting this up, or having this hardware in hand ...I am still not sure how this Ubiquiti equipment is suppose to work.

The Loco devices are designed to be used in a pair as a point to point wireless bridge. That is, these can be used as a 'bridge' where it is impractical for some reason to use a wire.

Normally:
EQUIPMENT -----------------------------------------------wire------------------------------------------------------ EQUIPMENT

Alternative:
EQUIPMENT --------wire------- LOCOM5 ~~~~~~~wireless-signal~~~~~~~~ LOCOM5 --------wire------- EQUIPMENT

In your case the 2 bits of equipment would be an IP Camera at the shed end and your broadband router at the house end. The Loco's in this configuration are ONLY replacing a wire and give you no extra functionality.

At the shed end on the end of the wire, instead of connecting a camera to the cable, you could connect multiple bits of equipment. That's entirely over to you. You could use a network switch and connect multiple cameras or computers via network cables. You could add a Wireless Access Point and have multiple wireless devices (laptop, tablet, wireless camera(s). You could do both.

Ubiquiti have the small AirGateway Wireless Access Point devices which conveniently and cheaply plug into the same power pack that the LocoM5 devices use. There is the standard model and the Long Range (LR) model. The Access Point provides wireless network access for laptops, tablets, wireless cameras etc.

While you could use another LocoM2 or M5 device put into Wireless Access Point mode to do this as well, the highly directional antenna of these devices does not normally give the desired coverage. I used them in a warehouse because I wanted the wireless signal focused down the corridor between the racks. You probably want a normal 'omnidirectiona' antenna to give general coverage rather than focussed on a 45 degree andgle in one direction. The AirGateway devices have an omnidirectional antenna for 'general area' coverage. The coverage just won't extend nearly as far with the omnidirectional antenna because it isn't focused.

jonb: If the stable is on the same circuit as the house a Powerline adapter could be also be an option.

I've used the Powerline devices successfully and 'only just good enough' in a couple of places. I would have grave doubts about you getting any sort of connection over a 50m run even if the stable was on the same circuit as the closest part of the house. If a retailer will let you try it and return the items if no good, then absolutely give it a go. Just plug them in and look at the LEDs on the units and you should have a fair idea within 60 seconds. if it does happen to work, definately do some reliability testing.

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raytaylor

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#1073797 24-Jun-2014 23:34

I am a great powerline pusher, but when it comes to going that sort of distance, i doubt it will work.

The thing that you need to understand with cameras, is that wifi is not designed for multiple devices to stream data at the same time (like cameras)

the wireless radio on the camera itself will *probably* be 2.4ghz and not 5ghz so you will need to use a ubiquiti 2 series - not the 5 or M5

Also the nanostations can be a little hard to set up as they are really designed for linking to each other and not general wifi devices (though it can be made to work by switching off the aggregation and TDMA functions)

My suggestion is the TP-Link outdoor unit that Jaycar sells. Its a standard access point without all the extra TDMA stuff so its easier to set up and more compatible with general devices. It also has a bigger antenna than the loco so you should be able to talk directly to the antenna on the camera.

Jaycar typically allows you to return the product if it doesnt work well within 7 days so I would suggest going that route first.

If you want to have wifi to laptops / computers in the shed then you need a loco at each end, with an air router set in bridge mode inside the shed to provide a local access point.
i believe that if the line of sight is clear, then the units jaycar sell (could be edimax or TP-link) will do the job just by putting one up at the house end.

Ray Taylor

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