External antenna on hAP or mAP

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Hi there.

I’m working on a project for which either hAP or mAP would be a perfect match were they to feature a connector for an external antenna. The reason for needing an external antenna is the AP will sit hidden inside a grounded electrical cabinet – which I can’t imagine will result in good Wi-Fi experience.

I’ve considered an option of building a custom AP with one of the basic RouterBOARDs but unfortunately the price for such a build is over twice the price of hAP and hardly justifiable (unless I’m left with no other option.) So, I’m here to ask whether the hAP or mAP devices feature the antenna connectors on their boards, in which case I’d consider hacking up a solution.

If that’s not possible, what other – inexpensive – options do I have?

Thanks for your time.

2

will sit hidden inside a grounded electrical cabinet – which I can’t imagine will result in good Wi-Fi experience.

What’s the purpose of that ?
Managing another device ?

3

Kinda. Inside the cabinet there’s a computer doing things and the goal is to let nearby device(s) monitor and control the things it does.

4

Maybe too easy to have the mAP (or mAP Lite) outside the cabinet ?
Lite has a magnet inside which allows for easy mounting on a metal cabinet.

Or is it an outside setup ?
Then you would also have to be very careful when bringing the antenna outside (if it can be done).

5

How many ethernet ports do you need, the SXTsq Lite2 may be a better fit for you, do you require AP, CPE or Point to Point?

6

hAP ac3 ?

7

Too difficult to attach ethernet cables with antennas poking out of the enclosure…
Unless sticking them out straight back can be acceptable. Then there is some room to play with.

A lot more expensive then mAP, though :laughing:

8

Using external antennas on things like maps, haps etc is a bit rough due to sourcing a pigtail with the right connector, while there are form posts about this and people were abel to get external antennas working with the connections its probably not suggested as MIkrotiks explained these connectors are used for testing.

For the hap ac 3 the SMA connectors you see on the back are actually a pigtail going to the wireless, it would be possible to change this so you could get a longer/shorter etc pigtail to allow you to move the bulkhead somewhere else :slight_smile:

9

Ah yes, didn’t think about that.
Thanks for the correction.

10

Thanks all for your suggestions.

Considering the options and requirements I decided to spend up a bit and go the RouterBOARD route (pun intended).

This way I’ll more easily be able to scale or mix up the setup in the future should the need arise for better performance, more Ethernet ports, adding other kinds of connections, and so forth.

11

MT flex-guide is female-female rp-sma, but there are enough male-female extender cables for SMA and RP-SMA , even rp-sma/sma adapters all for very low prices.
So anything with SMA or RPSMA connectors would be ok for delivering the signal. Also check Basebox (and the set of pigtail cables).

mAP is only 2.4GHz , like the mAP Lite.

12

Also check Basebox (and the set of pigtail cables).

I like this suggestion.