I love my mAPs but I think some enhancements could improve it´s popularity.
1./ make the micro USB port behave like a USB attached NIC - it already works in this way with a powerline adapter, which I especially love about the mAPs, keep this functionality please
2./ make the network port capable of PoE input
3./ get a new low power cpu, preferably 2 cores so that this device could support sthg like 500Mbps
4./ more Flash (maybe bit more RAM, just to stay ROSv7 future proof)
From here on follow some wilder dreams, theese ideas might be just too expensive and or power consuming:
4./ make the Network port and the PoE Adapters 1G capable
5./ LTE modem or USB port supporting an USB LTE dongle
6./ 5GHz wlan
7./ add a battery (user replaceable and optional)
Maybe there could be two mAP2 versions:
mAP2: supporting 1-7
mAP2 lite: supporting 1-4
Keep the great magnet in the chassis.
And of course: keep them below 100$
Yep I missed that, my fault! (I am in fact using my mAP lites since long believing they are incapable of PoE and never trying it… RTFM to myself.)
So still most important would be: connecting a mAP via a single cable (USB port acting as USB Ethernet port) to my laptop.
i think its very hard to get a more capable soc inside a so small enclosure because of thermal and power requirements
to do that you will need a soc build around state of art litography so it will be very expensive
once you see the map lite disasembled you can see that the other ideas are hard to accomplish because of the limited space
The first thing I do with all my electronic/electric devices is usually disassembling them (that includes my washing machine).
I know all of this, but the mAP was probably released a few years ago ( I dont actually know when) and SoCs have been improving quite fast in the past years.
A few years ago you could find big routers with 10Mb ports in racks…
when i see how hot (in temperature) is hAP ac2 i see that in that platform will not be feasible a new map or map-lite,
hap ac2 is based on ipq 4018/4019 build on 40 nm lithography
but
maybe with a qualcomm IPQ6010, IPQ 6028 Networking Pro 400 Platform supporting wifi6 which is build on 14 nm FinFET lithography we can expect big power reduction
Well I might even consider paying a bit more than 100$ for that.
That would be perfect! And it supports Wifi 6 as well, so let´s hope until mAP2 gets available, the then newest ROS7.44.3 with the new wifiwave3 prerelease package will support Wifi6 (maybe together with roaming…)!
Even if this is an old thread, I'm adding my 2 cts here:
We use several map Lites on remote locations (isolated technical rooms) to provide connectivity for our techies while they are onsite.
However, the next generation of routers we connect them to won't support 10/100Mbps anymore - only 1G and above.
Do you have some plans to create a new generation of map lite AP's with a gigabit port instead of the 10/100Mbps it currently has?
We considered switching to the CAP AC but we definitely need to have the mode button accessible - we use it to turn wifi on/off. The mAP lite is perfect on this regard as the button is easily accessible.
Okay, I'm not the biggest fan of the case design, but if it has an accessible mode button (on the picture, I'm not sure if what we see on the left of the device is a mode button or the USB-C port), then the mAP-52axD could be a perfect replacement indeed! Thanks for the link!
Yeah, thanks, I'm a bit sceptical. In my eyes the mapLites biggest strength was it's physical appearance. Just as thick as an Ethernet port. This looks way bigger and the design is a bit too fancy.
I particularly liked the magnets in the mAPLite as well.
The biggest improvement to me would be to be able to feed this thing power and data simultaneously via it's USB port.
The old device had a max power consumption 3,5W vs the new one can consume up to 19W. That's not a quick, cheap, practical WLAN AP, deployable everywhere. That's the power a soldering iron consumes.
Maybe this would be OK as a replacement for a mAP, but than it'd need a second Ethernet port.
Well, yes and no.
The device itself uses 8 W (without attachments) of course you do need some hmmmph for the TWO radios, 2.4 and 5 GHz, the 3.5W of the old device with just the single 2.4 radio.
1 radio = 3.5-4 W
2 radios = 7-8 W
it makes sense.
The 19W are "max power" and include what you can draw from the USB port (probably only if the device is powered through jack, if powered through PoE it has to be seen) , 19-8=11 W or so, or 2-2,2A @5V.
But the USB connector is a type C, so - in theory - it could allow also other voltages.
The power supply coming with it is 2.4A @5V, so 12W.
Since usually (in other Mikrotik models) it is overdimensioned by at least 30-40% more than "usual" power draw, the "normally expected" power draw is in the 8 W ballpark.
If we connect to it a "common" USB device, it will probably be compatible with USB 3.x, so 900 mA, i.e. 4.5 W or less, so the factory provided PSU would still be fine, even if a bit "tighter" than what one would expect.
If, one way or the other, there is a beefy enough power supply, the 11W remaining allow for 2-2.2 A @5V which seems a strange midway between 1.5A and 3A that are the next "steps" in USB "standard".
Also the new one has 2 cores instead of the single core mAPLite. So yes I'm not telling, that the power consumption is not reasonable, just that old one had some use cases, this probably won't cover. I find that some possible improvements were missed: USB as a virtual ethernet port, second ethernet port, magnets. I also liked the option, that you could buy a Powerline adapter, powering the mAP and also being an interface for the mAP.
The USB C port might hopefully be usable for an LTE dongle, which is a nice thing.
Surely I will get one, but it will not be directly be comparable with the old thingy. Power consumption/weight/volume have probably all roughly doubled.
