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saintofinternet
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Signal LED for alignment.

Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:11 pm

hi members...

can we have LED's connected to Mirkotik Board to watch the signal strength for Antenna alignment. Just like the ones they have on Ubiquiti.

Ready to work on boardlevel if required.

Inputs most appreciated.

-Sid
 
fewi
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Tue Aug 31, 2010 9:26 pm

http://wiki.mikrotik.com/wiki/LED_Antenna_Alignment
There's other similar solutions documented on the wiki.
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 3:45 am

hey fewi thanks man....

but can you tell me where is this LED located on the board and also how can i extend it out of the CPE Enclosure.

as i am new to the Mikrotik programming cultute i need to figure out how to insert that script in the RB711.
 
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normis
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 8:05 am

the LEDs are here:

Image

How to extend them, I don't know. Maybe somebody else has experience.
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:06 pm

can Mikrotik provide the required pinouts for connecting external LED's ?

as it would be dangerous trying to solder any wires to the board.
 
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normis
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:22 pm

pinout from where? there is no external LED connector. you will have to use the same LEDs
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:52 pm

hello normis,

Using the same LED's without soldering is tricky job.

but all said and done... can i achieve a 5km PtP link with the RB711? and what should be the decent speed achieveable?
 
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normis
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 12:54 pm

you should be able to achieve also 99km link if you use the right antenna, and have a high enough tower. about speeds it's hard to say, depends on interference, alignment, line of sight. 10-50Mbit should be possible, depending on a lot of factors.
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:02 pm

You made my day :-) { a flower bouquet for you }

i am planning to start using Cyberbajt antennas. they are costly but they also look good. don't know yet.
 
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normis
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:08 pm

use some link calculator to find out how many dB antennas you need. generally, the more dB the better (and more expensive)

something like this? http://calculator.wavearena.eu/
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:22 pm

is 1.5 Mtr. Pigtail recommended??

MMCX-to-N(Female) on Mirkotik Boards?
 
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normis
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Sep 01, 2010 1:29 pm

pigtail should be not more than 30cm, and LMR400/600 should be no longer than 3-4m, as you will get signal loss otherwise. better extend ethernet cable to bring device closer to antenna.
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:06 am

coming back to the LED issue can we have some form of LED extension?? please :) anyone on this forum knows how to extend the LED's from the board??
 
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:16 pm

I would suggest looking into LED light pipes (or light guide) it's basically a lens or hard fiber optic that is used commonly in electronics to have light shine from an LED on a board to the front panel. They are commonly used for power lights on the front of computer cases and home theater amplifiers, and generic ones can be bought from many electronic stores. If you can find the shape/size you need in bulk, they are quite cheap, about the price of a small bolt. You can make them as well, and many you can either cut to length or heat up and bend.

Otherwise you can unsolder the LEDs and attack leads if you're up for it, it's a little finicky though. I imagine you could run LEDs in parallel with the existing ones as well if they're low enough power but that would be well beyond what routerboard/mikrotik would support.
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Fri Jul 19, 2013 4:45 am

hi...

i tried LightPipe but the problem is the Mikrotik board does not support any of the lightpipe mount avaliable in the market... i tried ones from Mouser, Element14 etc....

solder/desolder seems a little more risky as the heat spreads quiet fast all over the board and the radio might get damaged....

i wish we had a parrallel LED output. it helps in a great way while aligning the links without laptops... and the beeps are far too low.... the enclosure design we have made can be setup with a LED window but the question remains how the get the Light from the board to the outside of the enclosure.
 
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mahnet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Fri Jul 19, 2013 6:03 am

getting almost 8 mbps with 711 on both sides on 23dbi grids.
distance 16 km. link across a river. light pipes should do well with the mikrotik LED's but finding one to fight the mikrotik board is tricky.

and where in India did u get the CYBERBAJT antennas. I am looking for good quality MIMO's
 
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saintofinternet
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:31 am

CYBERBAJT was thought of way back in 2010....

2013 the situation has changed.... i am sourcing antenna's or even desinging them locally as per requirement....

again the LED issues still remains.... Lightpipes has you rightly said are tricky to fit on a RB
 
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Fri Jul 19, 2013 8:12 pm

If you are still looking to do it yourself, there is conductive glue which you can use instead of soldering. It's not as strong as solder and has higher resistance but it will probably work. It's commonly used for rear window defoggers in colder climates or in hobby electronic shops as a graphite epoxy, search for "wire glue". I do agree though, having a solution from Routerboard with headers for the LEDs would be nice.
 
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Re: Signal LED for alignment.

Wed Aug 21, 2013 11:08 am

coming back to the LED issue can we have some form of LED extension?? please :) anyone on this forum knows how to extend the LED's from the board??
Hello
did you find LED LIGHT PIPE?

I also looking for LED PIPE for RB411GL.

Let me know where did you find.

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