Hi, I'm trying to work out how much power the following unit would draw from my Solar/Battery solution.

1 x RB333
2 x R52 - running at reduced power levels of 7dbi and 13dbi
Running RouterOS 3.22 and Nstreme on both cards
Power supplied by 24v Battery solution(2 x 62aH batteries) with 2 x 62W Solar Panels

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Rob

3W RB without extension card
http://www.routerboard.com/pdf/rb333ugBe.pdf
and 5,3W for both R52 at max. output power.
http://www.routerboard.com/pricelist/do ... file_id=96
Total power consumption is something like 9W

Can anyone tell me if any of the following would reduce power consumption of this setup..

1. Switching off Nstreme
2. Turn power output of each R52 down to 7dbi
3. Changing mode from AP to Station.

Any answers always welcome

cheers

Rob

Can anyone tell me if any of the following would reduce power consumption of this setup..

1. Switching off Nstreme
2. Turn power output of each R52 down to 7dbi
3. Changing mode from AP to Station.

Any answers always welcome

cheers

Rob

1. Switching off nstreme will use less CPU which may use less power, but it would be extremely minimal.
2. Lowering the tx power will not draw less current.
3. AP or station mode is irrelevant.

Anything that reduces CPU usage should (theoretically) use less power.

I would have assumed that turning the TX power down would use less power, otherwise you would have to assume that the radio is always running at Max output, with an adjustable attenuator in there, which would be crazy.

Much more likely that it's an adjustable Amplifier in there, which would draw less juice if running at lower power output.

How much 'less' is would be very hard to tell. Maybe a few uA.

The only sure-fire way to tell is to hook up an Ammeter and try the various combinations.

Post your results please if you try this.

for solar or backup battery you have to count in max not some weird value you come up with.

because when radio is trying to connect to something - it uses more power than sitting at 54MBps rate and transmitting.

if you check dBi tables you will see that at higher rates - card outputs less dBi.

also, power draw changes are minimal R52 cards, so better count max power and then see that you have a bit larger margins, than have precisely calculated system that time to time can black out for moment.