a few hours ago I wanted to install two SEXTANT G-5HnD for a wireless PtP link. The configuration in a test setup was not the problem, but while installing them I nearly got all two devices bricked!
The problem is the very bad mechanical design of the ethernet connectors which also power the device. The mounting of the ethernet jack on the printed circuit is not at all protected against any force effect while installing the whole MikroTik device. So the ethernet jack of one device broke out of the printed circuit
On the second device I was very careful but nearly the same happend! The problem are the tiny clamps holding the ethernet jack. They must be much more robust for a mast mounted outdoor device… If you are on a ladder in 5m height there is no chance to handle such a device with a kid glove.
But there is another thing which made me upset while mounting the devices. If you plug in a normal ethnert cable there is no chance to close the cover of the body housing. I had to use a cable with a very small ethernet connector and even the bend protection had to be removed.
Look at the pictures for a better description. At the moment I am very angry about this poor build quality! So I hope the bricked SEXTANT G-5HnD will be carried out at MikroTik’s expense…
Of course I know the hole for the cable and I did use it The problem here is NOT how to get the cable out of the body housing but how to close the cover. A normal ethernet jack with bend protection is 35mm in length and then you have to add the minimum bend radius of the cable. In my case this was too much I could not close the cover even when I did use the cable hole. This construct is simply bigger in length than the space between ethernet jack and body housing.
You you must bend it to 90° two times in this small area there… Each bending means a heavy force effect on the brittle ethernet jack on your MikrotTik board. The force was too much for my board…
You must admit that these ethernet jacks are very poor mounted on the PCB.
Why bend it 90° twice? As I mentioned, we have installed these with thick outdoor FTP cables without any problems, just straight from the cable hole into the ethernet jack. Raid drop loop, cable reserve and everything else is then outside of the enclosure. While I agree that the mounting of the jack to the PCB seems fragile, we have not had any problems yet after ~10 sextant and ~20 SXT deployments.
See the picture for how I did bend the cable. Doing this without tow bend would mean even more forces on the ethernet jack… And I have the space problem in this small area.
Ok you may have the experience in handling those devices but I have not The problem here is not plugging the cable once but during my test setup I had to plug/unplug that several times. Unplugging the cable is very tricky because my fingers are too big for getting the cable hook out of the ethernet jack. Each time doing that loosens the jack more…
I meant the body housing Ok I got the PCB lying in front of me. Soldering seams to be easy? The small pins are close together… I will try soldering tomorrow. After that I will fix this ethernet jack with additional hot glue.
There is a lot of fix to this issu, but MT should look into the real problem here. REALLY poor, cheep design. We send all our broken sextant back to distrubutor.
The fix to sxt with bended input is nice, but sextant rj45 is really bad. Sometimes, to have a device as cheep as possible, is not the way to go. We DONT sell this to our cutomer, as we would have to much returns.
I agree with your opinion, this is not at all a device suitable for relatively ruggedized outdoor use. I would for sure pay 20$ more to get a better device.
MikroTik please buildt in more quality!
By the way my soldering did not work The soldering process was not the problem, each pin is soldered correctly but I cannot get the device up and running any more. No lights when I plug in the connector!
It’s not necessarily “new”. Could have arrived in a batch of 300 to a distributor in june and now just sold to the customer. It sometimes can take a while for things to circulate.
All of the SXTs we just got in have the metal connectors. But also got a handful of 711Gs the have plastic.
SEXTANT uses RB711 inside. In previous revisions it had a plastic ethernet, but in new revisions it also has a metal Ethernet, to solve the above issues. If you have encountered this issue, contact the seller for RMA replacement.
So I hope the bricked SEXTANT G-5HnD will be carried out at MikroTik’s expense…
The problem here is NOT how to get the cable out of the body housing but how to close the cover. A normal ethernet jack with bend protection is 35mm in length and then you have to add the minimum bend radius of the cable. In my case this was too much I could not close the cover even when I did use the cable hole. This construct is simply bigger in length than the space between ethernet jack and body housing.
Ok I got the PCB lying in front of me. Soldering seams to be easy? 
Why?