EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right

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EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right

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EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
2022-01-03 07:12:27
Model: EAP225-Outdoor  
Hardware Version:
Firmware Version:

I am on a small 40-acre farm, wooded and somewhat hilly.  Our land is 1500 x 1200 feet.  Our internet (which is quite slow, 15megs down and 1 up) is located basically in the center of the property.

 

I am trying to accomplish 2 things.  Provide an outdoor mesh we can hook security cameras up to, and provide internet to 2 outbuildings.  (I guess 3 things, it would be nice to have our water automation, which is at various spots on the property) to become wireless.  We have trees, not terribly dense but line of site can be obstructed.  

 

Our main outbuilding is 150 feet from the main internet point, and the second building is 200 feet away.  From there, we then go to an orchard which is around 300 feet away, and then down the hill to our main gate which is 600 feet away but drops in elevation by 60 feet or so from the orchard (everything up to the orchard is flat, after that it drops the 60 feet).   We have power at all of these locations.  We also have the ability to run Cat5/6 if we need to as we installed a second conduit for communications.  

 

Our main outbuilding is all steel, so I know I am going to need to install a wireless access point inside.  

 

So I have ordered 5 EAP225.  The first I plan to install at our main internet point, attaching it to the WIFI router/modem that is in the house (mounting externally up high).  The second EAP will go on the outside of the metal building, the third will go to our second outbuilding (which is all wood), the fourth will go down by our orchard and the fifth will be down by our gate.  

 

So my question is did I buy the right gear?  Is there any advice you would have with this gear in terms of setting up?  

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Re:EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
2022-01-03 18:01:42

@woodlandfarms 

 

If you are getting 5 of these I would recommend you also pick up an OC200 controller.    Guessing these are going to be connected via Cat5 cables?

 

 

The controller would allow you to run the 5x APs as one large network with roaming, load balancing etc and basically takes the hard work out of it for you.    THe distances between the APs is far enough that channel selection shouldn't be an issue, just let the controller do that automatically.

 

 

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Re:EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
2022-01-04 06:37:32

@Philbert 

 

Thank you for your quick reply.  So I did not intend to pull any cat-5 as it does not support signal the distance I am running (or so I am told).   Will this be an issue or can I still use the EAP 225 in the configuration I envisioned.  

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Re:EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
2022-01-04 07:14:10

@woodlandfarms 

 

Better to connect all these EAP225 via cat5e cables. They can connect wirelessly, but the connection will be affected by the trees and other obstacles.

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Re:EAP 225 and small farm setup, am I doing this right
2022-01-07 16:37:35

@woodlandfarms 

 

Hey

 

Sorry for the slow reply!  

 

The EAP225s can be used in Mesh mode where the ROOT (Main) AP needs cabled, but the others can work wirelessly.  However the distance you are requiring may be too much, it would be hard to guess without testing this if honest.

 

Try powering on one of the EAPs and walking the distance with something like WiFi Analyser and see what signal loss you are getting.   My gut feeling however is its too far, usually 60m (180 ft) is the normal max range imho

 

If you need distance and don't want to involve cables, you could look at setting up a mix of Pharos and Omada.

 

The Omada would be the access points for local connections at each site, this would be cabled into a Pharos (CPE 510 for example) which would send the distance back to another CPE at the root...    This idea below

 

ROOT AP------- CPE510     >>>>WIRELESS>>>>>    CPE510----------OUTHOUSE AP

 

Basically the CPE510s are your "cable" over the distance required, the EAP225s would then handle the WiFI in that area.

 

 

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