I’m looking for a WAP that will allow operation at sub-zero temperatures.
Background: I have a Big Green Egg. I love cooking with it. But I have noticed that during an 18-hour pork shoulder smoke session, it’s necessary to adjust the upper and lower vents several times to keep the temperature constant.
So now I discover The Stoker. This is a management device that allows you to connect to it a fan that fits on your smoker’s vent and temperature probes for the meat and oven. You can then program the fan to run if the oven temp is low, stop and/or close if the oven temp is high, and shut down completely when the food reaches “done” temperature.
And it has an RJ-45 port, wired Ethernet. It is Twitter-enabled, so you can get tweets when your food is done or when there’s an alarm condition of some kind. It has a web interface, so you can point a browser at it and see/change food settings from anywhere in your house (or, with the magic of NAT, from anywhere in the world!)
But while I don’t mind snaking out an AC cord to run the thing, I don’t want to run ethernet out as well. So, thinks I, I’ll just connect it to a cheap WAP, and set up the WAP in bridging mode to connect to my wireless network.
But I’ve looked a a couple of WAPs, and while their storage specs say they can handle -40° with no problem, the range of temps supported during operation is much narrower: 32°F is the lower limit.
So – do they really mean that? And if they do, does someone make an all-weather WAP?
I can’t find anything like you’re looking for, at least not for less than $500. I don’t know if you don’t want to run ethernet because its difficult due to your router location or if you just only want one cord, but if if it’s the second, it seems like a perfect application for a Power over Ethernet setup like this one.
They seem to be pretty expensive. This one is about $600. I just want to say that we live in glorious times. To have a grill with a twitter feed is totally the best. I would just run the network cable. The cheap WAP will probably work outside if you keep it from getting rained on.
Assuming you would only be using the device when using the big green egg, I would also assume that placing it somewhere in the vicinity should result in a “warm” temp for the Stoker device that would allow it to operate under its normal parameters.
I’m not sure of your fear of running ethernet, but lack of fear of running electricity outdoors. Cat5 cabling is low voltage, and FAR safer than line AC.
A 50’ cable should be too expensive, and could reach indoors to a wireless AP if you are determined to keep it wireless in some fashion.
I don’t have an easy way to get an Ethernet cable outside.
It’s funny: when we remodeled, I put RJ45’s in every room (well, my wife won on the bathroom issue, but apart from that…) I had always assumed I’d use wireless for any outdoor requirements.
How about the reverse? Instead of Power over Ethernet, how about IPv4 over power lines? Is that technology available?
It’s not fear, just convenience. I have AC outlets outside the house. To run twisted-pair cable outside, I’d have to leave a window or a door open slightly, run cable out of the window or door and over to the Egg. The whole point of this is to be able to have net access in cold, cold weather… otherwise, a cheap AP would work just fine. So if it’s cold, cold weather, I don’t want a window or door left open even slightly.
Got 'ya. Though I have experience running networking cable, so I’d probably have just wired in a network drop in an outdoor electrical box, so I didn’t think of the open door/window issue.
Would it be an option, to run a Cat-5 from the basement? If you have vinyl siding, you could pull it open, and drill through the wood (from inside, between the floor joists), then run the cable under the deck…
This way, you silicone the hole, snap the siding closed (after running the cable so it doesn’t show), and you’ll never know you came through there!
(I used to do this for a living, installing Sat TV and wireless internet.)
Of course, I’d recommend a UV-rated Cat-5, or the stuff with the thicker insulation, that I believe is burial-grade… would stand the elements way better than the blue stuff.
Guys… The solution is obvious. You’re worried about the AP getting too cold. You’re using it with a heat generating device. Duh! Put the AP inside the Egg.
Missed the edit window, but I wanted to say more seriously, don’t you really need a wireless bridge for outside, and the AP can live indoors? Not sure if it’s any easier to find a cold-capable bridge than AP, but worth considering. If nothing else, it’s likely to be smaller.
I’ve never found a wireless AP that couldn’t be set up in bridge mode. As long as I can be confident about weather conditions, I am sure there won’t be any connectivity issues.
Or like this. And it’s cheaper, sold in pairs. ($65/pair, rated 85Mb/sec, and it screams.)
I’ve used the Actiontec Megaplug and I love it. I think you only have to be on the same side of the same transformer, and avoid plugging either unit into a surge protector, which would degrade the data signal. I’m planning on testing this between two adjacent houses this weekend.
I could, I guess… but that means finding a box and a heater, and hoping the box doesn’t hurt the AP’s range enough to screw things up.
In any event, thanks to the suggestion above, I bought a pair of these.
This eliminates the need for wireless entirely; I can move IP traffic over my power cord. I’ll just set one outside and one inside next to one of my network ports. Life is good.