I got 6 SXTs’ decided to try one on our mast 3 days later it failed due to water ingress.Replaced it with another SXT and we had none stop storms and rain and as i dreaded that SXT failed too.On our mast we have other types of a antenna with over 6 years with no problems.Come on Mikrotik sort out the design of the SXT I won’t be purchasing anymore until i see the that dam clip in door design go.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N05/6672652875/in/photostream/
did you mount them accrording to the instructions? if you do that, it works without problems even after a year of rainy and wet weather (like we have here)
is this Correct?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N05/6672713715/in/photostream
yes, what about vertical angle?
also position of ethernet cable when it comes out of the latch door? maybe the cable was at an angle that prohibited safe closing of the door? it needs to make a loud click when closed.
The SXT was up about 20ft on the mast and was vertical. The Ethernet cable was a tight fit and the door clicked shut i made sure of that.One of the reasons maybe that the water got in because the wind was blowing air up into the unit and thus forcing the water up into the unit…OR… On the picture you can see rust on the microchip where the water come up along the ethernet cable.
I see, but that’s interesing, as we have several SXTs on rooftop masts here in LV, and we get rain for half of the year. Yet they work fine for more than a year already. We also have customers with installs all over the world, and only a few such complaints, mostly because of tilted unit, or loosely closed door.
I can say 100% that the 2 failed unit’s were properly installed.There is a design flaw in the SXT even if water can’t get in how about ISP’s that are close to the sea like we are the vapour from the air will rust the inside of the unit’s.Another flaw is the way the ethernet portl is nearly at a right angle to the incoming cable when the door is close closed.Until these problems are resloved i cant trust these unit’s.
angle of ethernet is already changed in the next revision.
I will gladly test your units for free if they last here they will last anywhere 
Actually from this image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N05/6672652875/sizes/l/in/photostream/
It doesn’t look like rust at all. It definitely looks like the cover was open.
After what happened to the SXT on our mast’s i decided to take down a few that i had put up for clients.Now i expect any CPE be bomb proof here is a SXT which was on the roof of a client’s house on a pole 5ft from his chimney as you can see the smoke got in.On the same pole i have another unit which i opened and checked and it is nice and clean inside.The SXT that had failed on the mast is slightly different in the mounting of the routerboard see pictures.In the unit that failed the routerboard was loose because it had none of the Black Rubber wedges holding it in place plus as you can see there was no clip to hold it in place.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N05/6683569457/in/photostream/lightbox/
Normis, i did waterproof SXT (s) with fishing tank paste, and a layer of electrical wires paste. and all holes is closed, they are mounted vertically.
i think they will explode in next summer! 
how correct vertical mount?
There is a big difference of the rain in Riga and the “Spray” of salt we get here. I live 3km from the Swedish westcost and the air is filled with salt.
My car get a layer salt only after a few days when the storm roars.
So I don’t belive water “secure” is enough in these conditions because when the moist salty air blows up from all directions it will
enter the SXT one way or the other. I have an RB that got soaked in water and still worked, but when you add salt to the equation
it’s a totallly different ballgame.
So “mounting according to the documentation” will not work in the long run for coastal areas…
Sxt’s where designed stupid from the start. With an shielded UTP you can make a short very easy with all the electronics suroundind the utp port. Then you must bend the cable to close the door, but if cable is ftp, is very dificult and the door will have a little crack. Still they are veryy good and cheap but this is no reason for a very stupid design. And is not designer fault, is mikrotik fault or maybe plastic is too expensive.
The water ingress issue of the SXT is discussed in many treads already and althoug many will use them without problems many others acknowledge the problems with the SXT in ‘watery’ conditions.
First of all, like jcem already mentions, the only protection agains humidity or salt particles filled air is a full sealed unit. The SXT is simply not that.
When straitgh rain is the issue, I already mentioned somewhere in a thread that wind can cause a ´ventauri’ effect on drain holes so water is actually sucked or blown into the box instead of the holes drain the water.
Also, when unit is fixed on a mast or bracket, the mast/pole or bracket creates turbulence on the downwind side that can actually blowing water up!
These possible water ingress causes are so variable that it is well possible many people will never have issues, where others have plenty. Imho a serious operator working with outdoor equipments that should ‘wheater’ the climate and time should not even consider to use SXT’s unless he is prepared to have a relative high failure rates with its related downtimes…
The SXT is just what it is to be expected: A cheap outdoor unit that CAN have its use but don’t expect the best of it.
The MT claim of a ‘full wheater proof unit’ can be considered to be over optimistic…
Apart of that there are other design failures of the SXT preventing it ever to become the prime option for serious operators.
The only succes of the SXT is its size and the price.
Of course if you live in really severe conditions, you can always try to additionally secure the device. Spray the board with lacquer, use silicone to seal the box, etc.
In marine conditions I’ll normally treat boards with Corrosion X heavy, or Boeshield T9. Boeshield will dry to a waxy type coating that’s better for really cold conditions though that means you have to be careful not to coat your contacts in the ethernet port. After you treat the board you could submerge it in salt water and it wouldn’t damage it, at most you’d have to clean the contacts.
Hi Normis,
have you a date for the new SXT Version?
sounds cool! where do you get this stuff?
Normis, do you attempt to open up the SXT, or just spray it up into the door opening? Obviously, you’d have to block the RJ45. Will spraying up into it through the door affect the antenna?