Need some LR/PTP help

alxlwson

You Know Where I Live
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Aug 25, 2013
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So many of you know my wife is a greenhouse grower and business owner. Currently, the environmental and power status is monitored through a SensorPush station. The wireless connection from the SensorPush station to the AP is roughly 200', plus it being in the back of the farmhouse. The connection isn't stable at all, and I'm honestly surprised it connects at all. It's vital that we keep this connection stable because when it drops, we have to get up and go make sure the power isn't out, 5 miles away.

I need some help figuring out a solid point-to-point connection. I can't hardwire and I've already tried Powerline is abysmal results. So I figure I need nice wireless bridge setup. I love ubiquiti products but I'm completely unfamiliar with their airMax products and it looks like a giant maze.

There is more than one photo of my wife on here already!
 
There is more than one photo of my wife on here already!
Please post pic of wife in this thread for easy reference. :D This way we know who we're helping. :D

Kidding aside, need some more details about the layout. Questions that immediately come to mind is if all of this equipment is in the farmhouse itself, are there any walls, where is the source connection coming from and what type is it (cable, dsl, etc). I've had to deal with putting Internet in really oddball places, and there's some really cool stuff out there that can run even on something as simple as telephone wire. :)
 
Please post pic of wife in this thread for easy reference. :D This way we know who we're helping. :D

Kidding aside, need some more details about the layout. Questions that immediately come to mind is if all of this equipment is in the farmhouse itself, are there any walls, where is the source connection coming from and what type is it (cable, dsl, etc). I've had to deal with putting Internet in really oddball places, and there's some really cool stuff out there that can run even on something as simple as telephone wire. :)

I have no physical physical layer between the house and the greenhouse. WAN source is Cable.

I have a SensorPush hub in the greenhouse, that is connecting to the WiFi from the farmhouse, that is roughly 200' away.
 
What is limiting the ability to hardwire?

Running cheap cat5 along the rafters of a greenhouse?

Daisy chaining multiple wireless points is never likely to be bullet proof; however, if heat is a manageable issue, some older/cheap ddwrt routers set as repeaters along the way may be able to do the job since overall speed is less important than stability.
 
What is limiting the ability to hardwire?

Running cheap cat5 along the rafters of a greenhouse?

Daisy chaining multiple wireless points is never likely to be bullet proof; however, if heat is a manageable issue, some older/cheap ddwrt routers set as repeaters along the way may be able to do the job since overall speed is less important than stability.

Left to right- greenhouse-barn-house.
Screenshot_20210611-212200_Maps.jpg

SensorPush station is in the greenhouse. WiFi is coming from Spectrum wifi modem thing inside the house.

I ordered this to give it a try.
 
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Just in case, is there any telecoms run to the barn? My barn/workshop had a telephone line run from the house, which I've repurposed as ethernet. If you could do the same, you'd at least have a much shorter hop from the barn to the greenhouse. Otherwise, maybe a client mode AP on the house side of the barn hard wired to an AP closer to your device?

Do you have any flexibility in positioning the Spectrum router? Closer to the back/near a window might make a difference.

Other alternative, there are some pretty low cost hotspot data plans if you've got coverage and don't need fast data.
 
Just in case, is there any telecoms run to the barn? My barn/workshop had a telephone line run from the house, which I've repurposed as ethernet. If you could do the same, you'd at least have a much shorter hop from the barn to the greenhouse. Otherwise, maybe a client mode AP on the house side of the barn hard wired to an AP closer to your device?

Do you have any flexibility in positioning the Spectrum router? Closer to the back/near a window might make a difference.

Other alternative, there are some pretty low cost hotspot data plans if you've got coverage and don't need fast data.

There is some POTS in the barn that I've already tried. Cable was direct buried from the house and it no longer seems to work. I out a toner on it and got nothing on all four wires.

No flexibility on repositioning the router. It's basically in the best place it can be already.

Tried hotspot last year with ATT and it sucked ass. Would drop connection all the time, or it would freeze up for no reason, or... It was garbage. Tried two different units with little success.
 
That isn't that far, and if it's connecting to a Spectrum Wireless wifi(which is usually pretty weak) the easiest/cheapest solution would honestly be to get an outdoor LR AP, either ubiquity or another brand, use the POE injector and mount the AP on the outside of the house pointing at the greenhouse, if the sensor is currently connecting to a spectrum modem Wifi it would definitely connect to a stronger AP, if using Ubiquity(yes I know they had issues with a data breach, so may want to look else where, but it's what I'm familiar with) you could set the controller software on your local computer, provision it, and then turn it off the software, than you only need to turn it on to do firmware updates, all this for about $100-$150
 
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It will work great for what you're doing. I always buy a second pair in case one randomly dies. So far I've had good luck with them everywhere that I've installed them.
 
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