About outdoor WiFi coverage
I'm struggling with my outdoor wifi setup right now.
I need the wifi to cover the area I highlighted.
I currently have 2 indoor APs wired to the highlighted area.
I want to replace them with outdoor ones because there is a risk of disconnection and the indoor ones are vulnerable to dust and water.
I have several Xiaomi IP CAMERAS that I move around a lot in my highlighted areas.
I have no idea how to set them up.
Would it be ideal to buy one OC200 and several EAP225-OUTDOORs and install them?
If you have any ideas, could you please share?
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Connecting all 3 to router direct would be ideal. The OC200 or a software controller running on your laptop is required to mesh a wired AP with one that is just powered.
Depending on the density in the green house and the amount of steel pipe, I suspect you may find weak coverage areas in the fringe buildings.
I would get 4 APs, set up 3 as in your initial plan. Perform a post install site survey which takes signal measurement and speedtest readings at strategic points in all key buildings. If you find zones with poor coverage, try powering up that 4th AP ( adopt it via controller and controller will mesh it back to a wired AP). Apply same WLAN profile to 4th AP and repeat survey. I think you might need 5 to 7 just based on images...but it is very dependent on how permeable the structures are to the RF signals.
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I am a big I fan of the 225-outdoors.
Think we need more info about the structures you are trying to cover, ie just outside, or inside, or both? Looks like a lot of greenhouses, but possibly also some metal roofed/walled? Metal walls are a real problem, a lot of wet foliage is also an issue. Also, need to know if AC power is available throughout the site, or just certain structures.
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I will be covering the inside.
As you can see, it has a vinyl roof and a metal roof.
There are no metal walls, it's either no walls or vinyl walls.
Power is available in most locations.
Is this enough information?
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You'll have to do some empirical testing to figure out what your coverage will look like on the ground and that will determine how many APs you are likely to need. Some thoughts for you:
- keep the access points high up and away from large metal objects
- wherever possible leverage the ethernet port on the meshed AP 225-outdoors to create a wired hop to next downstream AP
- try not to exceed 3 hops or 3 neighbours on any given AP in your design
- maximize your abilty to wire APs as much as possible
- vinyl structures will be easier than the metal roofed ones (require fewer APs) to cover
- research which 5.8G channels are allowed the maximum power in your region, use those keeping in mind all APs meshed together must be on same channel
- I expect you could use the 2.4G radios exclusively for access, and leave the 5.8's dedicated for the mesh/backhauling
There was another recent thread from a forum member with similar outdoor broad coverage requirments, do a little digging on this forum as you aren't the first to have this kind of design challenge.
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Thank you so much for your answer!
I plan to try configuring it as above.
I will be installing 3 APs.
But I have one question.
I know that the EAP225-outdoor model can make a wireless mesh connection through the OC200.
My question is, can I connect all 3 APs to the switch and configure a wired mesh?
And if so, do I still need the OC200?
If wired mesh is not possible, I'd like to set AP #2 as the root AP and configure it as a 1-hop.
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Connecting all 3 to router direct would be ideal. The OC200 or a software controller running on your laptop is required to mesh a wired AP with one that is just powered.
Depending on the density in the green house and the amount of steel pipe, I suspect you may find weak coverage areas in the fringe buildings.
I would get 4 APs, set up 3 as in your initial plan. Perform a post install site survey which takes signal measurement and speedtest readings at strategic points in all key buildings. If you find zones with poor coverage, try powering up that 4th AP ( adopt it via controller and controller will mesh it back to a wired AP). Apply same WLAN profile to 4th AP and repeat survey. I think you might need 5 to 7 just based on images...but it is very dependent on how permeable the structures are to the RF signals.
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