Routerboard MTBF / failure rate

[richinuk]

Hi all,

Does anyone have any figures (either factual or estimates) on the MTBF of RouterBoard hardware?

I’m costing up a hotspot rollout and I need to include a contingent in my budget for replacing failed hardware.

For example, should I expect a board to fail after 3 years of service and therefore set my annual hardware replacement budget to be 1/3rd of the purchase price?

I’m primarily interested in RB133, 411, 433 and CrossRoads.

Thanks guys,
Rich

[Egate]

Depends a lot on weather. How much lightning a year? Mostly radio card that have problems. Also depends on where installed.

[richinuk]

@Egate

Depends a lot on weather. How much lightning a year? Mostly radio card that have problems. Also depends on where installed.

So weather wise I need to consider typical English weather. So, say, from 0c up to 30c with a lot of rain, and occasional lightening. The units will be installed below roof line on the side of a building overlooking an open area, so won’t be in direct line of a lightening bolt.

@Kijomabb

best of luck getting 133’s in 3 years time , at the current turnover rate i suspect even the 411 maybe past its sell date by then

the only physical board failures we have had , not including infant mortals, are due to the elements so far so on that basis 3 years is good at least.

For the purpose of my budgets I don’t think it matters too much about replacing the exact model - of course, it matters a lot to the network engineers, but not my budgets!

I guess failure due to weather, vandalism, world war, etc is difficult to account and everyone’s experience will be unique. I’m more interested in failure due to old age. For example, I have PC’s that have been running for donkeys years - even hard drives that have been spinning non-stop for over 5 years… would it be reasonable to expect RouterBoards to be of a similar calibur as any electronic circuit board? ie. as long as I don’t drop a brick on it, it should go on for years? Or, is wireless equipment somehow more susceptible to failure after xx years of service?

Cheers,
Rich

[ste]

@richinuk

@Egate

Depends a lot on weather. How much lightning a year? Mostly radio card that have problems. Also depends on where installed.

So weather wise I need to consider typical English weather. So, say, from 0c up to 30c with a lot of rain, and occasional lightening. The units will be installed below roof line on the side of a building overlooking an open area, so won’t be in direct line of a lightening bolt.

@Kijomabb

best of luck getting 133’s in 3 years time , at the current turnover rate i suspect even the 411 maybe past its sell date by then

the only physical board failures we have had , not including infant mortals, are due to the elements so far so on that basis 3 years is good at least.

For the purpose of my budgets I don’t think it matters too much about replacing the exact model - of course, it matters a lot to the network engineers, but not my budgets!

I guess failure due to weather, vandalism, world war, etc is difficult to account and everyone’s experience will be unique. I’m more interested in failure due to old age. For example, I have PC’s that have been running for donkeys years - even hard drives that have been spinning non-stop for over 5 years… would it be reasonable to expect RouterBoards to be of a similar calibur as any electronic circuit board? ie. as long as I don’t drop a brick on it, it should go on for years? Or, is wireless equipment somehow more susceptible to failure after xx years of service?

Cheers,
Rich

We’ve more problems with lightnings causing Power-Problems. This 18V Powersupplies
are killed very easily. The Ethernetports of 4xx Boards tend to be killed easily by
Powerproblems, too (3xx and 6xx seem to be more resistent). The R52 is very durable
when used with good antennas. We had some 4xx died by lightning but all of the R52s
are still working with replacement boards. Avoid 2,4GHz Omni (There was a thread).
R52H is not as durable.
So MTBF depends heavily on your weather/power conditions and which MT-Parts
you’re using.
Under normal conditions the failure rate is very low >3J MTBF.

Stefan

[netrat]

I’ve never had a routerboard fail, knock on wood. I’ve had them in tropical cyclone conditions and sub-zero weather… no failures yet.

[richinuk]

Thanks for the replies guys. My first “guess” was to budget to replace hardware every 2 years due to failure… seems I may have been a bit over zelous - works wonders for my budgets of course

Thanks again.

Rich