Mikrotik,
Hey guys, I just thought I might ask why the MP4 and 8 cannot be used with >400mw radios. I understand the problem stems from drawing the power from the PCI bus that is needed to power 4 or 8 radios of that style, as I understand it. To be honest, I might be talking out my @$$ about this one because we aren’t using any MP4 or 8 cards but we were looking at installing some in a link between our main distribution site and our head end so we could use Dual or Quad links. Most motherboards that are half way current only have two or three PCI slots at the most so we would have to run at least one MP4 with 2 cards and two MP1’s but if we could just put all four radios on one MP4 that’d be even better.
My proposal is the addition of a 4 pin Molex connector to the top of the MP4 and MP8 cards that distributes power from the 5 volt pin on any standard power supply to the VRM’s on the MP4 and 8 cards. Much the same way that a PCI-E connector supplies extra juice to the VRM’s on a video card. This could be used by people who are wanting to run 4 or 8 SR or XR radios on a single card to provide the extra juice required. Since the VRM’s already are converting 5 volt power from the PCI slot into power for the mini slots, it should be as easy as adding a few traces, the molex plug and a diode in the line going back to the PCI slot. I might be way off base on this one so let me know if I am.
We have considered attempting to mod a MP4 to supply the extra power by doing just that but with external wire but I thought I should run it by the people behind the machine before I actually tried it. Also, have you considered building an MP card that ties 4 or 8 miniPCI into a PCI Express slot using a PCI to PCI-E bridge between the hub and the connector? I have noticed that a lot of the current motherboards and such are almost all PCI express now and I would imagine it will only get worse, for those of us who want the speed of a PC and need more than one card, we’re about to be in a real tight spot.
P.S. I was wondering if the MP4 can be used with 4 R52H cards?
Thanks