ASUS RTAC68U and a High Power 1000mW Wi-Fi Signal Booster

[jim769]

I'm surprised they haven't put any protection into modern designs however. Would be fairly easy for the controller to detect the absence of any load, and either reduce or flat out stop emitting. For an audio analogy, see how recent computers can even automatically detect if you plugged an headphone or a speaker into the audio output jack, and report it accordingly.

Very true this tech has been around for some time even cheap ham rigs have this when a high swr is detected the radio will automatically fold back or shut down the power going to the pa circuit. I doubt though any router manufactures would spend the extra money to implement such a circuit.

 

[KGB7]

Very true this tech has been around for some time even cheap ham rigs have this when a high swr is detected the radio will automatically fold back or shut down the power going to the pa circuit. I doubt though any router manufactures would spend the extra money to implement such a circuit.

I just want to see a warning label from one or two manufacturers. After that we can call it a day.

 

[jim769]

I just want to see a warning label from one or two manufacturers. After that we can call it a day.

More than likely you will never see this kind of warning in a home radio network device. 1, 99.9 % of users have no idea anything about it. 2, New routers are already top dollar and they wont spend one more penny then they feel they have to.

 

[KGB7]

More than likely you will never see this kind of warning in a home radio network device. 1, 99.9 % of users have no idea anything about it. 2, New routers are already top dollar and they wont spend one more penny then they feel they have to.

Remember McDonald s law suit over hot coffee? Now everyone puts a warning label on coffee cups.

It only takes one person.

So if the radio gets cooked....manufacturer will get blamed. Majority of consumers are dumb to know better, and will win the law suit. Thus even kids toys have warning labels for.parents to read. Doesn't matter if parents read them or not, it protects the product makers.

 

[bits]

Many makers do not have detachable antennas. Also almost all use reverse sma, which I thought originally was made so people could not connect other antennas but it's purpose is fairly pointless now r-sma is used by everyone and you struggle to find sma now.

Maybe makers will invent reverse reverse sma to prevent 3rd party antennas.

 

[DaveMishSr]

Remember McDonald s law suit over hot coffee? Now everyone puts a warning label on coffee cups.

It only takes one person.

So if the radio gets cooked....manufacturer will get blamed. Majority of consumers are dumb to know better, and will win the law suit. Thus even kids toys have warning labels for.parents to read. Doesn't matter if parents read them or not, it protects the product makers.

HBO did a documentary years ago about that McDonald's coffee lawsuit. The woman who was injured was in her 80's and she sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns that required extensive treatment and she was never the same. The coffee in question was found to be in excess of 190° F and the cup had some kind of defect that did not allow it to seal properly with the lid. Context is everything.

 

[RMerlin]

HBO did a documentary years ago about that McDonald's coffee lawsuit. The woman who was injured was in her 80's and she sustained 2nd and 3rd degree burns that required extensive treatment and she was never the same. The coffee in question was found to be in excess of 190° F and the cup had some kind of defect that did not allow it to seal properly with the lid. Context is everything.

Tell me honestly: would the presence of a sticker have made any difference? Chances are that 1) she wouldn't have read the warning label, and 2) if the temperature of the cup in her hand as she took it wasn't enough, then a warning label covering the entire cup wouldn't have made any difference.

 

[jayboyyyy]

Tell me honestly: would the presence of a sticker have made any difference? Chances are that 1) she wouldn't have read the warning label, and 2) if the temperature of the cup in her hand as she took it wasn't enough, then a warning label covering the entire cup wouldn't have made any difference.

just to chime in since i am not a networking BA but do know law stuff. watch the HBO documentary and you will change your mind. It wasn't a warning label issue. McDonalds just paid a bunch of corporations to make a crap to convicne the public it wasn't their fault. They had thousands of cases of their coffee burning individuals and kept it under wraps. The coffee temp was so high that it could burn to your bones. The issue was made aware to them and they did nothing to fix it but cover it up and pay pennies on the dollar to victims. The girl in the case just wanted her medical bills paid for was all. And any substance at that temperature is outrageous. The amount awarded to that person wasn't even that much even though we all heard it was "millions." It was very similar to the pinto issue where gas tanks were killing people and they did a cost analysis and said screw it. But the massive cover up mcdonalds did and "people against frivlous lawsuits" crap was pretty impressive for a marketing spin.

But the warning label wasn't even an issue. They would have lost with or without the label as you point out. Creating coffee makers that create liquids that burn your skin down to the bone, having thousands of people suffer from it, and not adjusting the temperature down to normal temperatures will cost any company. you should watch the documentary though. It was pretty impressive.

 

[RMerlin]

But the warning label wasn't even an issue. They would have lost with or without the label as you point out. Creating coffee makers that create liquids that burn your skin down to the bone, having thousands of people suffer from it, and not adjusting the temperature down to normal temperatures will cost any company. you should watch the documentary though. It was pretty impressive.

Ok, gotcha.

 

[dlandiss]

even cheap ham rigs have this when a high swr is detected the radio will automatically fold back or shut down the power going to the pa circuit

Keep in mind that with a default transmitted power of 80mW, even an infinite SWR (100% reflected power) will only add 0.080 watts of heat to the transmitter.

 

[jim769]

Keep in mind that with a default transmitted power of 80mW, even an infinite SWR (100% reflected power) will only add 0.080 watts of heat to the transmitter.

100% reflected power would definitely do damage to the final transistor no matter what the power of the radio is because even though the power output is small the parts that make up the PA circuit will also be small. This is just basic radio theory no way around physics.

 

[dlandiss]

100% reflected power would definitely do damage to the final transistor no matter what the power of the radio is because even though the power output is small the parts that make up the PA circuit will also be small. This is just basic radio theory no way around physics.

Jim, if this was so, WiFi radios would blow up every time somebody turned one on without first connecting the antenna. Radio theory ≠ physics.

 

[jim769]

Jim, if this was so, WiFi radios would blow up every time somebody turned one on without first connecting the antenna. Radio theory ≠ physics.

Not saying they will fail the very second it was turned on but over a short time i think it would. I wish i had a old router i could test this on but i don't.

I know back in the day when i was fixing cb radios there were many customers that just keyed the mic for a second with no antenna and they were blown. Now i know a router is not a CB or ham rig but the the same principles apply. Radio is radio...

 

[dlandiss]

I know back in the day when i was fixing cb radios there were many customers that just keyed the mic for a second with no antenna and they were blown. Now i know a router is not a CB or ham rig but the the same principles apply. Radio is radio...

I agree in theory -- there will be more heat. I would never have tried to run our 15kW FM station without an antenna -- might have burned the building down! But I've never had that kind of failure from smaller transmitters.

Radio IS radio, but 80 milliwatts is only 80 milliwatts. What is that, 1.6% of a CB radio?

The experiment could be interesting. The firmware allows easy monitoring of the radio temperature.........

 

[KGB7]

I agree in theory -- there will be more heat. I would never have tried to run our 15kW FM station without an antenna -- might have burned the building down! But I've never had that kind of failure from smaller transmitters.

Radio IS radio, but 80 milliwatts is only 80 milliwatts. What is that, 1.6% of a CB radio?

The experiment could be interesting. The firmware allows easy monitoring of the radio temperature.........

Have to agree there.

CB radios put out a lot more power, thus the range is higher then any WiFi router.

I posted a link earlier to an article about CB radios and their failure do to power increase.

 

[KGB7]

Not saying they will fail the very second it was turned on but over a short time i think it would. I wish i had a old router i could test this on but i don't.

I know back in the day when i was fixing cb radios there were many customers that just keyed the mic for a second with no antenna and they were blown. Now i know a router is not a CB or ham rig but the the same principles apply. Radio is radio...

You think over short time it would? If that was the issue, antennas would not be removable in the first place.

Tell you what. I'll remove all 3 antennas of my ac68 router and let it sit over night for 8-12 hours.
I'll record temps on both bands, before and after.

 

[TonyH]

Hello
I picked up a Amped Wireless High Power 1000mW Wi-Fi Signal Booster model SB1000.. and installed it on the middle ?? Antenna .. I got zero improvment..
Im mostly on 2.4ghz ..

Hi,
So it has it's own power supply? Did it come with a spec. sheet?
If it did what is on it? Wonder it is really tuned antenna or just broad band amp chip in it.

 

[dlandiss]

It's the same thing as turning your stereo volume up and having no speakers hooked up the audio outputs would over heat and fail.

Jim, you know enough about electricity to know that an audio amplifier acts primarily as a voltage source. It attempts to maintain the same output voltage regardless of load, just like batteries.

Of course, the amount of current drawn is inversely proportional to the resistance of the load (I = V/R). With no speakers attached (infinite resistance) the load current falls to zero and thus the power amplifier actually runs cooler.

Analog audio power amplifiers probably average about 50% efficiency, depending on output level. So, for every 100 watts delivered to the load, another 100 watts goes up in heat within the power amp. This won't be a linear function because there is always some idling current, and thus efficiency at low power outputs is worse, and at high levels can approach 75%.

 

[philmiami]

I say do a class action lawsuit on antennas and burning up your 5 Ghz radio chip.....because you know who will win money
the snake attorney filing the lawsuit
They are the only one's who win on class action lawsuits, that and the person who SPENT the money on the lawyers to do a class action
and doing a class action is not like going to small claims court
the law is written by lawyers for lawyers
the rest of us have to use common sense or JUST ASK someone.
you say to-Ma-toe I say TO-mat-o....

 

[jim769]

You think over short time it would? If that was the issue, antennas would not be removable in the first place.

Tell you what. I'll remove all 3 antennas of my ac68 router and let it sit over night for 8-12 hours.
I'll record temps on both bands, before and after.

Please feel free to preform that action and let us know the result. Of course will any of us ever know if you really did that ?