offgrid / home setup / buying guide

Hardware MikroTik hardware general
1

Hello everyone,
thanks for helping out a non network guy.

I want to setup my offgrid home with network.
The idea is:

ATL 5G R16 on roof outside
Cable to groundfloor, RB260GSP distributes cables to a cAP ax, as well as to some cameras (possibly via another switch with active poe)

I have some questions:

  1. I had issues with poe active/passive earlier - i understand RB260GSP's poe is passive, so it wouldn't be able to power my webcams - but it would power both, the ATL 5G R16 and cap ax?
  2. I understand RB260GSP is managed, so I could put a vlan on a port, to which i could connect another switch with active poe?
  3. I plan putting the cap ax on the ceiling in the groundfloor - will its antenna beam downwards only, or also upwards? ie will that position work for the 1st floor as well?
  4. Regarding the cables - anything special, or is cat6a poe+ awg 23 reasonable? special UV resistent cable needed, or just taping the outside section of the cable with uv stable tape?

Last but not least - I'm struggling finding ATL 5G R16 available to order. Is it known when to expect them to be available, or is there a replacement product (must have directed antenna outdoors 5G)

Finally - is the approach reasonable? Did I forget something critical?

Thanks a lot!

2

You write "passive" as it was a bad thing, maybe it isn't in your specific offgrid setup, it depends, but I don't think that you have so long ethernet connections to need 802.3af/at 48V.

The RB260GSP can work at 11-30V (conventionally 24V is used) and can power out at most 2A, so 48W in total.
The ATL 5G R16 can be powered at 24V and uses some 10W (but it is also
802.3af/at compatible).
The cap AX can be powered at 24V and uses some 11W (but it is also
802.3af/at compatible).

So - considering some 10% loss on cable - you have some 48Wx0.9= 43W-21W=22W still available from the PoE out of the RB260.

Which cameras (exact make/model) are you going to use and how many of them?

The ATL 5G R16 has a very good feature (for a device that is going to be mounted high on a pole): esim capabilities.

The RB260GSP is a "poor man" device, and it does not run RoS, but rather Swos, so you lose the "one single OS for all" advantage, personally I would consider the CRS112 instead:
https://mikrotik.com/product/crs112_8p_4s_in
which is capable of 2.8A@24V or 1.4A@48V i.e. 67W and is also 802.3af/at compatible.
Once detracted the 21W of the ATL and cAP, you still have 40 W or so available,
this way likely you wouldn't need another PoE switch for the cameras

I believe availability of Mikrotik devices depends on the actual single distributor you choose, you have to ask them to have some information.

3

thanks for the detail! I’m neutral to active/passive - I do understand it makes a difference, thats all.

I understand with CRS112 i’d be set to run the ATL and the cAP, as well as some other 802.3af/at devices.

thanks for your help - regarding the other questions I’ll write new topics.