WiFi range extender for yard

[rtc]

Looking to setup some sort of range extender to ensure most if not all of the yard is covered with the WiFi signal. Currently on bt broadband with a home hub. Appreciate I’ll have to buy “something” and put it on a long pole but unsure what I’d good. Any experiences?

 

[rollestonpark]

This can be done may ways, but a lot depends on the site conditions etc.
1st are there other properties near you running wifi? If so a 5ghz wifi network might be the best.
If noone near you, then I'd go for 2.4ghz wifi as it generally has twice the range of the 5ghz.

I wanted to broadcast wifi over the whole farmyard and beyond.
So I used a Ubiquiti bullet with a 1 metre antenna on(15dbi), placed as high as possible, think the bottom of the antenna is about 10m high.
(with antennas its the height to the bottom that counts)

This will reach wifi to mobile phones over the whole farmyard area. Obviously you need cat5e running to the bullet (the access point) with a Poe injector at the source.

Running a network cable from your router/homehub to the access point is the best bet.
You can use some of these access points in repeater mode to bounce the signal on from the hub, but I'm not a massive fan of doing it, as it a bit of a fudge and performance isn't great.

If you can get a network cable from your homehub to somewhere near the middle of the yard, that would be best.
Else run a cable to your chimney maybe and put an access point on the end of a cat5e cable with a big antenna on it.

Wifi works best with line of sight. Give all the access points the same SSID and password, but put them as far away from each other in terms of channel as you can.
eg in a 2.4ghz network, use channels 1 6 and 13 for your different access points, then they will perform at their best. But if you have people around you using the 2.4ghz network, then maybe a 5ghz network might be better, because congestion can be a problem on the 2.4ghz band.

Really need more info about the site to recommend something.

Chris

 

[upnortheast]

Good post above

We have these to get from the house to the yard then provide a signal across the yard.
Works well

https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoor-bridging-el-ens202ext.html
https://www.solwise.co.uk/wireless-outdoor-bridging-el-ens202.html

I`ve no connection with Solwise but find their helpdesk boys very good Explain your situation & they suggest the kit you need

 

[rtc]

This can be done may ways, but a lot depends on the site conditions etc.
1st are there other properties near you running wifi? If so a 5ghz wifi network might be the best.
If noone near you, then I'd go for 2.4ghz wifi as it generally has twice the range of the 5ghz.

I wanted to broadcast wifi over the whole farmyard and beyond.
So I used a Ubiquiti bullet with a 1 metre antenna on(15dbi), placed as high as possible, think the bottom of the antenna is about 10m high.
(with antennas its the height to the bottom that counts)

This will reach wifi to mobile phones over the whole farmyard area. Obviously you need cat5e running to the bullet (the access point) with a Poe injector at the source.

Running a network cable from your router/homehub to the access point is the best bet.
You can use some of these access points in repeater mode to bounce the signal on from the hub, but I'm not a massive fan of doing it, as it a bit of a fudge and performance isn't great.

If you can get a network cable from your homehub to somewhere near the middle of the yard, that would be best.
Else run a cable to your chimney maybe and put an access point on the end of a cat5e cable with a big antenna on it.

Wifi works best with line of sight. Give all the access points the same SSID and password, but put them as far away from each other in terms of channel as you can.
eg in a 2.4ghz network, use channels 1 6 and 13 for your different access points, then they will perform at their best. But if you have people around you using the 2.4ghz network, then maybe a 5ghz network might be better, because congestion can be a problem on the 2.4ghz band.

Really need more info about the site to recommend something.

Chris

Thank you for that very informative answer. I’ve been on the ubiquiti website (or one of their dealers to get an idea of prices).

To answer your questions, it is an isolated yard but the WiFi BT home hub is central to that and an aerial system can easily be hard-wired and put high up.

So we need the Bullet and an aerial (around £200-£250 from what I can see). Is there anything else. Does the the RJ45 network cable go straight from the home hub into the bullet or do we need a new modem+router that will allow for an external aerial.

Just trying to get an idea of total hardware costs. This will be just a single aerial, I don’t think we need a multipoint mesh setup.

 

[rollestonpark]

Just be careful what you buy, I'm lead to believe that the new bullets are point to point only. Which is a major downer. You need 1 that can do Access Point.

But the older style M2 bullet is OK. (put one up the other day)
https://www.4gon.co.uk/ubiquiti-bulletm2hp-p-4756.html
Probably available at other places also.

Then you need a 24v POE injector, probably same brand. This sends the power up the same ethernet cable that the data will travel along.

You should also use the ubitquity shielded ethernet cable and connectors for this install. Need to be gentle with ethernet cable.
Shielded, because static will build up on the antenna and this must be drained away, else the Bullet WILL fail.

You will also need to chose an antenna with the correct fitting on to attach to the bullet.
You then need some sort of ali pole to attach it to and so forth.
These are good, but are more work to install than say a:

standard outside access point with the antennas already on such as these:
https://www.engeniustech.com/engenius-products/ens620ext-outdoor-wireless-access-point/

This type is good, but you may need more to cover the whole yard.

What ever you choose you will likely need to cut cat5 cable crimp and test through before running it up.

You will then need to configure the access point to work with your current network with a web browser and a pc.

Chris

 

[rollestonpark]

Sorry, didn't completely answer your question.

You connect ethernet cable to a spare port on your hub, then into the POE injector (just a short cable).
The injector has a power cable and 2 LAN ports, 1 goes to the hub, other to the bullet, this powers the bullet and transfers the data.

Chris

 

[upnortheast]

What ever you choose you will likely need to cut cat5 cable crimp and test through before running it up.

You can buy pre terminated cable
For long runs I prefer to terminate the cat5 in a wall socket (assuming somewhere sheltered to put it ) then use short patch leads .to connect Just need a simple punch down tool to connect into the socket

 

[rtc]

Thanks all for the answers. It sounds like we “could” do it ourselves but may be a safer investment to get a professional telecoms person in. On the Lincs Notts border near Newark if anyone has a recommended fitter.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Thanks all for the answers. It sounds like we “could” do it ourselves but may be a safer investment to get a professional telecoms person in. On the Lincs Notts border near Newark if anyone has a recommended fitter.

Nah. Just call Solwise if your not confident.

It’s honestly a piece of pee.

 

[upnortheast]

I`m just a numb fingered peasant & I managed no bother
As above ring Solwise + plenty expertise on here if you have probs

 

[simon-0116]

Daft question but do you need electric in end building, or would 12v do.
Watching thread with interest as need wifi cctv in a shed.

 

[Pheasant Surprise]

Daft question but do you need electric in end building, or would 12v do.
Watching thread with interest as need wifi cctv in a shed.

Well sort of....if you’re into electronics you can make it all hang together, with DC-DC converters and good stuff like that, but I’m presuming as you’re posting here (no offence) that’s not really your bag.

So...I’d suggest you hang a few deep cycle / leisure batteries together - and use an inverter to deliver you a mains voltage power supply from your solar and battery setup.

Solar power requirements are always a bit errrr experimental, so you may need to add more panels and batteries if there’s a lack of sunshiny stuff, especially in the depths of winter....where short days and long nights really takes its toll on your off grid power setup.

 

[simon-0116]

Well sort of....if you’re into electronics you can make it all hang together, with DC-DC converters and good stuff like that, but I’m presuming as you’re posting here (no offence) that’s not really your bag.

So...I’d suggest you hang a few deep cycle / leisure batteries together - and use an inverter to deliver you a mains voltage power supply from your solar and battery setup.

Solar power requirements are always a bit errrr experimental, so you may need to add more panels and batteries if there’s a lack of sunshiny stuff, especially in the depths of winter....where short days and long nights really takes its toll on your off grid power setup.

No offence taken