AX86S - two different spec power adapters from two sealed routers. Only keeping one, but which PSU to choose?

[Movisman]

The router converts the input voltage to what's needed via multiple step-down regulators, all below 12V. Both power supplies will work.

Thanks, I see. Yes understood both power supplies are fully compatible. It was just a case if the community generally would sway towards one or the other to help me decide which one to keep hold of. Apart from the right angled connector perhaps not being the most intuitive, I think the brick type might be preferred for other reasons mentioned.

 

[Tech9]

Just pick one already. It's just a power supply.

 

[dosborne]

Although discussed to death already for my usage, I prefer power bricks and not wall warts. They are just "easier" IMO as access to the wall plug (although different in UK and Europe) tends to be an issue, particularly when plugging into a UPS that often crams the sockets very close to other usually in inappropriate ways so you can't use half of them. I find the 90 degree barrel connectors easier to handle and ensure a tight fit too.
But to each their own, and as pointed out it really doesn't warrant THIS much discussion

 

[BreakingDad]

Amazon don't even look in the boxes of returns and would not care or know which psu came with which box. It all gets thrown on pallets and auctioned off.

They get literally multiple container loads of returns daily. Morally it's a bit iffy (but when did Amazon care about morals anyway?) but the chance of them saying or knowing you returned the wrong psu are little to none. As soon as they scan the label when you send it the refund is issued, before it's even got back to them.

Flip a coin or pick the shinest one.

 

[ColinTaylor]

Amazon don't even look in the boxes of return...

Absolutely not true... as I found out to my cost recently. Without going into too much detail, I returned a product a few months ago. However when it was checked at their "fulfilment centre" they claimed that part of the contents was missing. I know for sure that it was in the original box when I returned it but Amazon were insistent that it was missing when they opened the box. Much arguing ensued but ultimately it was my word against their's and they refused to refund me unless I could send them the "missing" part. So I am £55 out of pocket.

 

[Tech Junky]

Amazon's dumb sometimes too when you do return things but, if it doesn't have a barcode and they need to manually verify things they get lazy and try to do a chargeback on the items they can't just scan and send down the conveyor belt to be resold. Been there, done that dance with them in the past but, it's mostly larger items or small cheap crap that gets thrown into a bigger box with other items because they want everything in a box with a label vs drop off at UPS. I've had them claim things unreturned as well and try to do a chargeback but they end up finding them later after some pushback.

When I'm testing some thigs out sometimes I might have sent back the wrong item / same model after not looking at the SN on the item to match it to the box or there's nothing to match up and not had an issue with those items. Or if something stops working just outside of the return window order a second item to replace the dead item and return the dead item that way.

I've had them send dirty e-mails on occasion though regarding product churn for testing / return events. Nothing more than some bean counter running a report and being in the top 1000 or whatever their threshold is for flagging an account. As long as you play within the rules of the game there's not much they can do about it. Everything for the most part has a 30 day no questions policy. The average warehouse worker doesn't really care enough about the accuracy of things as long as the contents match what's on the packaging i.e. router / ac cable / ethernet cables / antennas - check, done, move onto the next item.

For $15/hr and day in/out repetitive inspections would you?

 

[L&LD]

Just want to check something with you on this.

You mentioned to keep hold of the 45w one (the brick PSU) because the extra amps are preferable - however it's the lower wattage 36w wall wart which is 3.0A / 12v. Whereas the 45w one is only 2.31A but 19.5v. So the 35w adapter is higher in terms of amperes at 3.0A, but lower overall potential wattage because of the 12v.

Just want clarify which one you suggest I keep hold of - maybe i'm confused by your post in which I apologise! It just sounds like are suggesting I keep the one with the higher amps (3.0A), but this is the 36w wall wart.

Thanks a lot.

If the power supplies were identical, they would both provide 36W maximum.

The 45W power supply is the better power supply. Even if the rated amps are nominally (numerically) lower than the 36W power supply.

25% greater headroom with the 45W supply means it should be able to operate well within the demands of the router for a much longer time.

 

[thecheapseats]

Absolutely not true... as I found out to my cost recently. Without going into too much detail, I returned a product a few months ago. However when it was checked at their "fulfilment centre" they claimed that part of the contents was missing. I know for sure that it was in the original box when I returned it but Amazon were insistent that it was missing when they opened the box. Much arguing ensued but ultimately it was my word against their's and they refused to refund me unless I could send them the "missing" part. So I am £55 out of pocket.

yes - and the process- the dirty little secret to all of this (as it may apply to the original poster @Movisman) - is be careful you don't get hosed by choosing the power supply you prefer...

because INITIALLY every returned product to amazon is checked by WEIGHT... every sku has a known weight (which is logged with your order) all automated of course, so even slight differences among identical products is known/logged and associated with YOUR specific sku that was ordered, at product picking time - and before packing it for shipment...

as it was explained to me - there is a second tier of inspection if the initial weight discrepancy is large enough - and the shipment is valuable enough to justify it being flagged for dispute with the customer...

 

[BreakingDad]

Absolutely not true... as I found out to my cost recently. Without going into too much detail, I returned a product a few months ago. However when it was checked at their "fulfilment centre" they claimed that part of the contents was missing. I know for sure that it was in the original box when I returned it but Amazon were insistent that it was missing when they opened the box. Much arguing ensued but ultimately it was my word against their's and they refused to refund me unless I could send them the "missing" part. So I am £55 out of pocket.

Not my experience, I have sent things back and then realised I have missed out a cable or a manual later, no one ever said anything. I also know from my work in logistics they literally have container loads of returns. Perhaps your item was more expensive and warranted a check or you were just unlucky and got a jobsworth.

I have also never had them argue with me, usually their customer service refund with no questions asked. In fact I would say their customer service is around the best out there. 100% they issue the refunds within minutes of the royal mail received scan as well, before it even reachs the depot.

If they robbed me of 55 quid like that I would order a 60 quid item and say it never arrived and ask for a refund as it arrived too late, an extra fiver for the inconvience. That or I would argue the toss with them and phone them up and go nuts (or get the wife to )

I am honest, but expect shops to be as well.

That said ; Every thread ever regarding customer service has different opinions based on your own experience I guess. Many people hate virgin media, but I've never had an issue with them in 25 years. For me I refuse to deal with Sky, Renualt or Vodafone, but just as many have had good experience with them. I guess it depends who you deal with on the day.

I literally sent back 3 pc psus in a row once, that was the item that I missed the cables out of. The first one went bang, and next one was sparking, the third worked but had an awful burning smell. The final one was an asus and has worked like a dream. All refunded and returned no problems at all. As it was for my son's pc I refused to accept anything less than perfect, as I didn't want it blowing up in his room. The wife would never forgive that. She still remembers things I did 15 years ago, apparently.

 

[Tech9]

Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair etc. big retailers - they mostly don't care. They are the middle man and someone else absorbs the loss, if any.

 

[Tech9]

I am honest, but expect shops to be as well.

Many advanced online stores use AI to track the customers and serve personalized price based on how often one searches for an item and how often hesitation to purchase it was observed. Initially the price may get lower, but may also increase over time following purchase decision patterns and probabilities. It's all about profits, not honesty. They invest millions in IT in order to trick the customers better and increase sales volumes.

 

[BreakingDad]

Many advanced online stores use AI to track the customers and serve personalized price based on how often one searches for an item and how often hesitation to purchase it was observed. Initially the price may get lower, but may also increase over time following purchase decision patterns and probabilities. It's all about profits, not honesty. They invest millions in IT in order to trick the customers better and increase sales volumes.

I don't doubt it, thank god for camelcamelcamel and comparison sites eh?

 

[Tech9]

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 

[snb008]

The 45W unit is really for the AX86U while the 36W one is for the AX86S.
I suspect sometimes Asus has an oversupply of the 45W units and/or shortage of the 36W units and so they bundle a higher wattage unit with an 86S.
I personally would pick the 45W, for easier placing around.

 

[Movisman]

If the power supplies were identical, they would both provide 36W maximum.

The 45W power supply is the better power supply. Even if the rated amps are nominally (numerically) lower than the 36W power supply.

25% greater headroom with the 45W supply means it should be able to operate well within the demands of the router for a much longer time.

Thanks for the information and clarifying on this, makes sense. Appreciate it

The 45W unit is really for the AX86U while the 36W one is for the AX86S.
I suspect sometimes Asus has an oversupply of the 45W units and/or shortage of the 36W units and so they bundle a higher wattage unit with an 86S.
I personally would pick the 45W, for easier placing around.

And thanks also for your input, that is very interesting. If the 45w is commonly shipped with the AX86U it makes sense to occasionally bundle the same one with the AX86S for stock availability/shortage reasons.

 

[Movisman]

Not my experience, I have sent things back and then realised I have missed out a cable or a manual later, no one ever said anything. I also know from my work in logistics they literally have container loads of returns. Perhaps your item was more expensive and warranted a check or you were just unlucky and got a jobsworth.

I have also never had them argue with me, usually their customer service refund with no questions asked. In fact I would say their customer service is around the best out there. 100% they issue the refunds within minutes of the royal mail received scan as well, before it even reachs the depot.

If they robbed me of 55 quid like that I would order a 60 quid item and say it never arrived and ask for a refund as it arrived too late, an extra fiver for the inconvience. That or I would argue the toss with them and phone them up and go nuts (or get the wife to )

I am honest, but expect shops to be as well.

That said ; Every thread ever regarding customer service has different opinions based on your own experience I guess. Many people hate virgin media, but I've never had an issue with them in 25 years. For me I refuse to deal with Sky, Renualt or Vodafone, but just as many have had good experience with them. I guess it depends who you deal with on the day.

I literally sent back 3 pc psus in a row once, that was the item that I missed the cables out of. The first one went bang, and next one was sparking, the third worked but had an awful burning smell. The final one was an asus and has worked like a dream. All refunded and returned no problems at all. As it was for my son's pc I refused to accept anything less than perfect, as I didn't want it blowing up in his room. The wife would never forgive that. She still remembers things I did 15 years ago, apparently.

This is exactly my experience and feeling.

I've never had an issue with returns and no questions ever asked. Almost every time they've issued refunds within an hour or so of Royal Mail receiving the scan. Often the same day I drop the parcel off at the post office, the refund is processed before it even goes in transit.

The odd occasion where Amazon have not refunded in a timely fashion (rare), i've gone onto their chat, queried it and they've processed it there and then. Almost every time i've had an issue, it's been when i've dropped a return at a locker or something like that, when return options are more limited. Given the choice I always choose Royal Mail as they are mostly sent via a Tracked 48 service and you get a proof of posting when you drop it off.

 

[Movisman]

Just want to let everyone know - because clearly the suspense is killing everyone on this exciting topic, that I decided to keep the 45w power brick
Higher wattage/more headroom, more flexibility with placement, possibly better heat dissipation, wire is genuinely thicker/better quality (wart was a bit spindly), separate C5 cable useful if I need to extend later. Plug seemed to 'fit' better in the back of the router.

This also means the damaged router is going back to Amazon with the power supply it came with, so I sent back the 'original package', as it were dropped it off at the post office this morning.

While some of you find it mildly amusing that I brought this topic up and was even deliberating over such matters, the advice given on here has been really quite helpful - so I just want to say thanks to all for participating and helping out. Learnt a few things on the way also.

I quickly set the router up last night and so far so good. Not gone beyond a FW update and mostly default settings (it was getting late) - but looking forward to exploring more as and when I have time. SSID's are split right now to suit my previous setup, but that's only because my previous router had so many issues with a shared 2.4/5ghz SSID. I will probably merge again and see how well the ASUS handles it. Will also probably install Merlin to be honest so I can utilise the VPN director for my Apple TV.

I will of course search the forums - but if anyone knows any obvious 'must do' tips to improve on the defaults, feel free to share.

Haven't owned a 'non ISP' router for as long as I remember, so this is going to be a big step up for me in pretty much every single area.

Thanks a lot to all.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I will of course search the forums - but if anyone knows any obvious 'must do' tips to improve on the defaults, feel free to share.

Go with the defaults for the time being so that you can get a feel for how well it works and identify and potential issues with your environment. The defaults are chosen for a reason - there are no "must do" changes. Also, don't just blindly follow other people's personal "guides" as they may not be appropriate for you. That said, there are some often cited tweaks to WiFi settings if you have devices that don't play nice.

 

[Movisman]

Go with the defaults for the time being so that you can get a feel for how well it works and identify and potential issues with your environment. The defaults are chosen for a reason - there are no "must do" changes. Also, don't just blindly follow other people's personal "guides" as they may not be appropriate for you. That said, there are some often cited tweaks to WiFi settings if you have devices that don't play nice.

Thanks a lot. That was my plan - see how it goes over the coming days and tweak a small number of things at a time when necessary. Sometimes though there are one or two things which people recommend are changed out of the box - wasn't sure if that applied here. So far it seems fine for general use which is great.

The only thing I had issues with so far was getting DHCP WAN from my Virgin SuperHub 4 in modem mode. Quick search last night and it is a very common thing. It just took a while. I did power both off in the end and powered on the modem first, waited, and then powered on the router. Eventually it kicked in and I got the white light. This is all to do with the "ISP's DHCP did not function properly" message people get. The general recommendation seems to be to change the DHCP query frequency to either normal or continuous (default is aggressive). I haven't touched this yet though. I am wondering if it will be a recurring issue like some people experience - time will tell I suppose.

 

[ColinTaylor]

I've never had an issue with WAN DHCP with any of the VM Hubs. However, when changing routers (and the Hub is in modem mode) you often have to power off the new router and Hub for 10 minutes or more so that VM's equipment can disassociate the MAC address of your old router. Then turn everything back on and your router's new MAC address will give you a new public IP address. You only need to do that once for a new router.