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Forum Index : Microcontroller and PC projects : WIFI Range Extenders
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Bryan1 Guru  Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
G'Day Guy's, Yesterday I asked my eldest daughters boyfriend who is an IT freak about this topic and the reply was a $28 tp-link TH-WA855RE wifi range extender and it does look like this unit is only good for real short range. First tried in my shed which is about 50 meteres up the hill from the house and it keeps saying it it has no link with the led showing red. So went and tried in the new shed beside the house and the same thing no connection. Now what gets me this win10 laptop will get a signal easily and just did a starlink speed test at my shed door where 6MBs was the result. Well basically I want to setup a wifi extender so I can setup this antminer S9 to do it's thing where I have registered with the PEPE meme coin to mine PEPE, DOGECOIN and LITECOIN. As the noise of the fans is too much for the women in the house where any change is frowned on  The original starlink wifi router has over the years degraded and I do have a EA2700 Linksys router here back from Sky Mesh days where the latency was counted in seconds  that can replace the star link router.Now I have been told from the local star link installer as I'm using the round disk one can upgrade the router where the newer square dish models one is stuck with the supplied router. As this laptop doesn't have a ethernet port I'll get on to the auction this week and get another SFF computer that will have one and I did get a 5 port etherent bridge to use. So a decent wifi range extender is needed Ideally with an external antenna for my shed so I can get the ball rolling. Regards Bryan |
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| morgs67 Regular Member  Joined: 10/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 78 |
Hi Bryan, I live in an establishment that required the network to extend to a second building approx. 40M away. We were supplied with Ubiquity LOCOM5. It works fine with a couple of CCTV cameras and a wifi access point operating through it. A supplier: https://buzy.com.au/?s=NHU-LOCOM5&post_type=product&dgwt_wcas=1 Tony Edited 2024-12-01 15:36 by morgs67 |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Thanks for that link Tony  it does look like the solution for my shed end of the connection. Now as I was searching I did come across a external antenna made by star link so I'm going to get onto the local installer and see if I can get that installed which will make a huge difference in the wifi signal.Regards Bryan |
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bigmik Guru Joined: 20/06/2011 Location: AustraliaPosts: 2949 |
Hi Bryan, If you are otherwise happy with running some cat5 cable to your shed you can buy USB to Ethernet adapters so you can add Ethernet to your laptop. Here is an example from <<< JAYCAR >>> but it is expensive. If you shop around you should be able to find it for around the $20 mark I will see if I can find one I have ‘somewhere’ in my junk pile. Regards, Mick (the big one) . Mick's uMite Stuff can be found >>> HERE (Kindly hosted by Dontronics) <<< |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Hi Mick mate it has been ages eh anyway the S9 does have a Ethernet interface and I did buy a 5 port Ethernet bridge to use. The fun I'm having is getting the IP address of the S9 and as far as win 10 goes no solution is found as yet as with the software I have tried where only 2 connection are present a dozen or more IP address's are shown where none will open the S9. On my searching I did see star link does have an external antenna so I put up a post on my local FB chat to see if I can get it. This will go along way to solving the problem and that link Tony put up for the external antenna does look the goods too and not too expensive. Now as far as USB 3 goes mate this black duck is still to use one |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2437 |
hi Bryan, if your shed gets mains power via a submain from your house, you could consider a pair of powerline adapters. for example (here in NZ on trademe): https://www.trademe.co.nz/5048434193 https://www.trademe.co.nz/5047285786 and https://www.dlink.com.au/home-solutions/DHP-P601AV-powerline-av2-1000-gigabit-passthrough-kit i've used these in a few different places and they work reasonably well, just plug in a unit at each end and they will extend your wired ethernet over the mains cabling. the only requirement is that both units need to be on the same phase (most surburban dwellings here in NZ only have one phase fed in from the street, while many rural dwellings will have 3-phase). at the moment i'm using a pair of NetComm NP507 units here that give a reliable 30Mbps link from one end of the house back to an EdgeRouteer; my fibre is only 30Mbps so that is the limiting factor. i've only ever bought 2nd hand units, with prices generally ranging from nz$20 to nz$60 for a pair. cheers, rob :-) |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Hi Rob, eh mate been living off the grid for over 2 decades now and no mains power at all, also don't it either. my shed has it's own power system where that kipoint inverter I imported in '05 where customs didn't even have a listing for inverters is still kicking on and man I was surprised when it started my air compressor without fault. The house array has a Selectronic SA 32 inverter that has been running 24/7 since '03 never missing a beat too. Both systems use forklift batteries I got well over a decade ago and since the solar upgrade both of them are on float around lunchtime. It's only the wifi that has degraded but eh still going but I do want a strong signal to power this S9 antminer. Regards Bryan |
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| Andy-g0poy Regular Member Joined: 07/03/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 75 |
Just remember that WiFi is unreliable and also that it is simply a radio transmission. Line of sight is what you really need for long range. There are various antenna options available, some with passive gain and are highly directive. 50M is not a huge distance and providing the antenna at the shed end can "see" the antenna at the house things should work. There are many solutions to getting a good connection and WiFi is only one of them.It has already been suggested to run a cable. 50M is well within the range of cat5e, but you could also consider a fibre optic run as well. Note that as you are off grid, the shed and the house could have different earth potentials and that can upset things quite a bit with a cable connection, so it may have to be isolated. A fibre cable does this automatically. Regarding the IP address, download Wireshark it's available for windows and linux. It's a network analyzer. It's got quite a learning curve, but in basic mode it's fairly easy. Just sit it beside the device in question and make the device do something. When you look at the captured packets the mac address, IP address and lots of other info will be decoded for you. Andy. |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Well my old laptop with ubuntu has a ethernet port so brought that up to the shed and thats when the fun started. Also brought up the ethernet bridge so connected the S9 to it and the laptop but for some reason the ethernet port on the laptop refused to see the S9. So got online to get some pointers on how to get it going. So lfup eth0 came back with device not found doing a lfconfig -a showed enp1s0 as the ethernet port so did a lfup enp1s0 came back with device not found. Now thanks to Andy I downloaded wireshark for linux in the software centre and doing a scan on enp1s0 there is no activity. I was fooled at first as the scan was pointed a wsp1s0. When the S9 is turned on I can see from the led it is trying to broadcast but the laptop just isn't seeing it. So tried out that wifi dongle where it showed up as wifi straight away but no net but even when the etherent cable is inserted in the router wireshark still shows no activty. Also on the bridge the S9 is showing up but the cable from the laptop doesn't show as active. So if any linux guy's can help out to get this ethernet port going on the laptop it will be great. Regards Bryan Edited 2024-12-02 15:09 by Bryan1 |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Well guy's I tried out the router again and it sprang to life  But still yet to see the ip address of the s9 so getting there |
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| Andy-g0poy Regular Member Joined: 07/03/2023 Location: United KingdomPosts: 75 |
The DHCP Discover packets are from something looking for a DHCP server so that it can get an IP address. So that's why you are not seeing any IP addresses yet, it has not found a DHCP server so no IP address has been issued. Shove in a manual IP address, mask, and gateway, that should poke things into life. Or find out what is supposed to provide the DHCP server functionality and check that it is working. Remember it is very bad news to have TWO DHCP servers on the same network you will get all sorts of IP address clashes. It can be done but you have to limit the DHCP address ranges very carefully on each server. Many if not most routers will provide a DHCP service, as will a lot of "range extenders" Some are very configurable others not so. Andy |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Hi Andy thanks for that info mate and just now I got on an ordered that loco5 wifi router so I am sure that router will pickup a solid signal from the star link router.What I tried yesterday was just connecting the S9 directly via the ethernet bridge to the linux laptop and I do think there does need to be a wifi dongle in the mix where a net connection is present. Regards Bryan Edit: So I decided to try this tp-link extender and downloaded the tether app and after a few hurdles found the IP of the antminer and got into the antminer interface So now the wait is on for the loco 5 to turn up and the ball will be rolling Edited 2024-12-03 14:18 by Bryan1 |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Well that loco 5 router turned up and man am I having fun trying to get it to work Now the manual states configure the ethernet adaptor on your host system with a static address of 192.168.1.x subset then launch a browser and type 192.168.1.20 Now wouldn't automatic DCHP do that job easily, it seems not so. Well both in linux and win10 no go with getting that IP to work. So ended buying a USB- ethernet dongle and new cable only to find win10 doesn't recognize the device  It is the same with linux where using the supplied password of ubnt just stalls the linux OS.So it does look like this $117 router isn't plug and play so more headaches just trying to get wifi to my shed. Regards Bryan |
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NPHighview Senior Member  Joined: 02/09/2020 Location: United StatesPosts: 202 |
How about a Cantenna? (well, actually two cantennas) Here is a general overview of the approach: https://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Cantenna I helped my son and one of his friends build a pair for his LAN party. There were 16 kids in our garage, and 16 more in his friend's garage, all connected via Cantenna, about 500 feet (150 meters) apart. I had 30-40 feet of coax left over from another project, and we used half for each. We had to find the right coax connectors for our router and the friend's. They aligned the cans with binoculars, with the cans mounted on tripods on the garage roofs. Live in the Future. It's Just Starting Now! |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Well with my starlink app it showed 6Mbs at the shed door and one would think spending over $100 ($132 with shipping) it would just plain work. Now I have put the starlink router at the window and noticed the strength of the signal to this laptop in the shed has gone from one bar to 3 so no problems with a signal. I did buy this router off a members suggestion and have sent a PM to him about this issue. Now there is something simple and I did notice this usb dongle was getting too hot to touch taken it off as win10 has stalled trying to resolve the connection |
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| robert.rozee Guru Joined: 31/12/2012 Location: New ZealandPosts: 2437 |
it sounds like you have an ubiquity edgerouter of some variety there, can you post the model number? from my experience, out-of-the-box edgerouters generally have the FIRST ethernet port (eth0) configured as a static IP address of 191.168.1.1, while the SECOND ethernet port (eth1) is configured for DHCP. but getting one that has been previously configured back to that initial state can be a bit of a task involving working out exactly when to press the reset button and for how long. cheers, rob :-) |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Hi Rob close to the start of this thread is the link to that router and whats written on the side of the box is NanoStation M5 Loco as far as I know that is the model but that link above will give the exact model. Regards Bryan |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Well just tried all new ethernet cables that I bought and still when connecting to this laptop win10 comes up with unidentified network so something isn't right |
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| morgs67 Regular Member Joined: 10/07/2019 Location: AustraliaPosts: 78 |
Hi Bryan, Search for many youtube videos looking for: NanoStation M5 Setup and Configuration https://youtu.be/wZxJPBukjbY I had nothing to do with the installation, so cannot provide much help, sorry Tony |
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| Bryan1 Guru Joined: 22/02/2006 Location: AustraliaPosts: 1450 |
Thanks for the reply Tony well the cricket is on so no more work today Well the high lite of my day was picking up a commercial colour laser printer for $12.50  Now I do need to get in contact with a mate as it did take 2 people to load it and with the cyan on 35% and the other 3 on over 50% it's going to print plenty of bottle labels for my moonshine ( now this topic has never been said as I'm not sure if it will fit the standards of this forum) I do make a nice drop and next year I'm going legit just so I can be a conduit for the taxman. Regards Bryan |
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