This is true with a lot of the RouterBoards that you do not have enough onboard power source capability to run generally more than two high powered cards. For example the 400's can only handle about 10watt of external cards that means the third XR card will kill the system. One thing to keep in mind that the none AH boards in the 400 series is not ideal for heavy AP usage. They are more of a CPE board or light duty AP. You want heavy duty AP then need to look at AH boards only or the RB600 or RB333.
In either way also keep in mind that using ANY high powered card might not only overload the onboard power system of the RouterBoard but since the card are so close by and inside the same case you will more than likely run into self interference issues from the radio chain inside the card even when the cards are not set to transmit on the same frequency. In our experience using low powered cards in the same unit generally is not a issue and works fine but once you try to put more than 2 high powered card on the same board (even the RB600) self interference quickly becomes an issue. Separate the radio cards out between different units. Just because you can run multiple radios in the same unit doesn't mean that is always a good idea. In some cases we have managed to get self interfering system work fine by using a alu foil shield between the radios (regular household alu foil put inside a sheet protector slid in between the cards to create compartments inside the case have been able to stabilize the system to a point of good operation. Most of the case of course after this been done it was decided to separate the cards out to separate units to optimize and not have to worry about any future service issues. So to sum things up. Don't run more than 2 high powered card on the same board. Use maximum separation between the cards if you decide to use 2 high powered cards. Avoid using 2 high powered cards in the same frequency band on the same board. It's GOOD in my opinion that you cannot fit more than 2 high powered cards (at least of most models) in the 433/333 boards because else more people would do this with BAD results. Just because your trailer got a tow hook don't mean your truck is powerful enough to pull two fully loaded trailer... BTW guys. MikroTik is spelled with 2 K's.. No C in there... On the same coin Ubiquiti is spelled with 3 I's an NO Y. When you use the products you would think you learned how to spell their names ;) / Eje -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Robert West Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 9:17 AM To: 'WISPA General List' Subject: Re: [WISPA] Gettin sick of Microtik This is reality with the XR's. When I went to a 600a using a daughterboard for an AP, I mentioned I was using XR cards when I was talking to Mikrotik and they told me that the board would not be able to power all the ports if they were populated with XR cards. They draw too much power. I'm using a 48v on that one with 6 cards and I would guess the same type of issue would be with the 433AH and 411a. We use 19v on our 411s. -----Original Message----- From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Steve Barnes Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 9:28 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: Re: [WISPA] Gettin sick of Microtik Forbes, I had this same issue with 411a. I was running 3- 411a boards with 12v they worked great for about a week then all the sudden the clients started all dropping off and back on. Then it started locking up ever night I got to the point that I made it part of my early morning coffee to drive the 15 miles and reboot every day. After 2 weeks of messing we realized that the units were struggling for power. We went to a 24V POE and that same tower has now been up with 40 clients for 165 days. The XR series really tasks the boards. That is what fixed it for me. I think those XR boards really eat the power. Steve Barnes Manager PCS-WIN<http://www.pcswin.com/> RC-WiFi Wireless Internet Service<http://www.rcwifi.com/> Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, vision cleared, ambition inspired, and success achieved. - Helen Keller From: wireless-boun...@wispa.org [mailto:wireless-boun...@wispa.org] On Behalf Of Forbes Mercy Sent: Monday, August 24, 2009 2:08 AM To: WISPA General List Subject: [WISPA] Gettin sick of Microtik I had a whole lot planned for this weekend, instead I spent 15 hours of it working on an AP that won't behave. It's the third long fix period I've had to do for Microtik this weekend, while I do have 20 AP's and backhauls under that brand, none work easily, and the frustrations are plentiful. SO Last week we upgraded a prizim chip to an XR2 on a three radio card 133c. We started to have problems with the new card randomly dropping then after disable/enable would come back up. As the week went on it happened more frequently. First solution, change out the new card, no difference. The next was a new power supply. Figured that was it since the 133 was running on a 12v, we upgraded to an 18iv, no change. So this weekend upgraded to a 433ah board and the three cards (2 XR2's and 1 SR1 as you know you can't put three XR2's in a 433 cause they made the slots too close together), no change, now the board wouldn't drop the connections it just increased latency dramatically after a few minutes, then resume low pings (average at this tower is 4ms) for about 50 cycles then get worse until about 4000 then time outs. Today after manually entering the 120 people on the new board (four hours since you can't cut/paste to a Microtik) the ethernet port dropped. I should point out I'm on my third trip up my steepest mountain where my jeep struggles to get up it. Power cycle and it's up (yes I'm well aware of remote reboot systems but its never been a problem so it was low priority). Tonight my after hours is slammed with "my Internet is so slow" calls from that tower and sure enough 4000ms pings. I've spent all weekend on it and I don't know what else to do, any ideas out there? I know these radio's pretty well so I've tried the simple stuff (adjust power, change frequencies, blah blah) HELP! Not a pretty weekend, Forbes forbes.me...@wabroadband.com<mailto:forbes.me...@wabroadband.com> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ---- WISPA Wants You! 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