Get WiFi signal into garage?

[PartisanEntity]

Hi there, I have attached a diagram that I will refer to.

We live in a 2 story European apartment highlighted in green (mostly concrete and stone walls, some drywalls as well).

My office is on the lower floor of our apartment. In the office I have an AC88U router connected to our cable modem.

Under the building we have a garage. In the garage I have a parking spot "B" that is roughly 25 meters away from our building. At our parking spot I have a ABB Terra AC charging station.

I would like to extend the wifi signal to the charging station so that I can access the charging station and install updates.

In the garage, right under our building, but far away from our parking spot I can still reach our wifi signal, albeit very weak and I have to stand in a very specific spot "A" to get the weak signal.

Are there any affordable products that I could try, in order to extend our wifi signal to spot "B"?

How could I go about doing something like this? What recommendations and experiences do you guys have?

Thankful for all advice.

 

[CaptainSTX]

Do you have access to AC power at location A?

Is the garage secure enough that you can plug a wifi repeater in at location A and it won't vanish?

If the answer to both those questions is yes you can purchase and try a repeater/extender and install it at location A. Some even have the form factor that they can be plugged directly into an outlet no cord needed.

This solution will be OK but be aware that using an extender will greatly slow down your throughput on the 2.4 Ghz radio to all clients when the repeater is active. Buy it from someplace where you can return it if the results are not satisfactory.

If you are willing to spend more, you can try installing a mesh node in the garage.

If you get reliable cell signal in the garage you could install a hotspot from your cell phone provider. Security would not be as much of a problem as it would be inside your car and powered using an USB port.

 

[PartisanEntity]

Thanks for your suggestions, unfortunately no cell reception, and no access to any power outlet at location A.

Without knowing too much about this topic, my hope is that I can buy some router or component that makes the signal strong enough from my home to reach location B?

 

[Tech9]

Without knowing too much about this topic, my hope is that I can buy some router or component that makes the signal strong enough from my home to reach location B?

No. Wi-Fi is two way communication. Your client won’t be able to send signals back to the router.

 

[PartisanEntity]

Another idea: the charger is on the same cabling as our apartment even though it's in the garage. That's because all the electricity meters for each apartment are in a closed off room in the garage, and the charger is connected to our apartment meter.

If I were to get our electrician to make a small power outlet next to the charger (basically branch it off the existing three phase cables and install a 3.7kW outlet).

Would I then be able to use some of the "power lan" (not sure how they are called exactly) products to extend the network to location B?

I imagine it would be quite a distance of cables the signal has to travel through though.

 

[Tech9]

charger is on the same cabling as our apartment

Powerline network adapter. It may be the best option for you.

 

[L&LD]

PLA, it is something to try but doesn't seem like a likely solution here.

Even if the power is actually coming from your apartment (not very likely, to me), the 'signal' will be going through at least 2 circuit breakers for that 7.4kW, 19kW, or 22kW charger.

Again, I don't want to deter you from testing such a solution, but I would be prepared to consider other options too.

 

[shadowx360]

You can use a TP-Link CPE210 - do not buy the 5gHz version because at longer distance it’s actually much slower. Aim it at the parking spot from either from the balcony or your office - whichever has fewer walls to cross. The aiming is very important. For 100% foolproof, a second CPE210 installed at location A or B aimed at the one upstairs will absolutely be able to go through a few walls and 25m.

 

[CaptainSTX]

You can use a TP-Link CPE210 - do not buy the 5gHz version because at longer distance it’s actually much slower. Aim it at the parking spot from either from the balcony or your office - whichever has fewer walls to cross. The aiming is very important. For 100% foolproof, a second CPE210 installed at location A aimed at the one upstairs will absolutely be able to go through a few walls and 25m.

If you look at the OPs layout diagram the parking spot is in an underground garage with a load bearing slab above it. Tough environment for WiFi.

 

[shadowx360]

If you look at the OPs layout diagram the parking spot is in an underground garage with a load bearing slab above it. Tough environment for WiFi.

OP said he can pick up the office WiFi signal at spot A with just an omnidirectional router so spot B is just the same but obliqued and possibly one less wall in between if aimed from the balcony or window. A CPE210 can go through a small forest and still reach a quarter mile out, or through a fully metal sided shed and still reach a barn 200M away so I believe it’s his best shot. A pair of CPE210 can easily do 5-10 miles of separation with unobstructed line of sight. For $40 absolutely worth a try.

 

[sfx2000]

Powerline network adapter. It may be the best option for you.

The one concern I would have is that the ABB Terra AC charging station could be really noisy under load...

PLA's have had issues with other heavy appliance like things (in one case, it was a friend's Miller TIG Welder that would cause drops in his shop when he was using it)

 

[Tech9]

This is a valid concern, but shooting Wi-Fi from above on an angle or through several parked cars relying on wall reflections... even worse. I would get a powerline kit and try it out. If it works - good. If it doesn't - I'll think about getting a wire there. Must be very necessary is to connect to this charger.

 

[Centrifuge]

I would like to extend the wifi signal to the charging station so that I can access the charging station and install updates.

It would be nice to have a connected smart charge box for your EV, it has WiFi, Bluetooth and an Ethernet port. But it looks like you can at least update the firmware via bluetooth using their Digital Tools phone app. Since you don't have reception down there I wonder if its possible to pre-download the firmware package, then when you're in the garage with your phone and connected to the box, update it.

 

[noah way]

I would contact the manufacturer for advice on updating the unit. They may have a mobile app or software that can connect via RJ-45, bluetooth, WiFi, etc. from a laptop or mobile device.

 

[sfx2000]

This is a valid concern, but shooting Wi-Fi from above on an angle or through several parked cars relying on wall reflections... even worse. I would get a powerline kit and try it out. If it works - good. If it doesn't - I'll think about getting a wire there. Must be very necessary is to connect to this charger.

ABB has a optional add-on 4G module - might be the best solution for OP's use case

4G/LTE (or 5G) IoT rate plans are usually very low cost, as IoT usually doesn't consume a lot of bandwidth (less that 1 MB/month is very common, 100K is typical for many)

 

[CaptainSTX]

ABB has a optional add-on 4G module - might be the best solution for OP's use case

4G/LTE (or 5G) IoT rate plans are usually very low cost, as IoT usually doesn't consume a lot of bandwidth (less that 1 MB/month is very common, 100K is typical for many)

The OP stated there isn't cell service in the basement garage so the only option for the OP seems to try powerline.

 

[PartisanEntity]

Thanks so much everyone for the input and ideas.

To comment on some suggestions:

- Yes ABB does have an app to allow you to connect to the charger and install updates, but it suffers from a flaw that renders it useless in my case. It will only look for updates while a) connected through bluetooth to the charger AND b) having an active internet connection. I am in touch with ABB and they suggested I try their installation app that is usually used by electricians (they granted me access to this app). Unfortunately here too you need an active bluetooth and internet connection. They have acknowledged that this is indeed a problem for customers like me and have put this on their development roadmap. But no idea when it will be available.

- And yes the ABB charger does have a 4G module, but unfortunately I have no reception in the garage. And I cannot swap parking spots as we own spot B.

- I spoke to the electrician who installed the charger for me, he said that the charger is connected using a three phase cable connected in parallel to the apartment (I will not pretend to know what that exactly means). Do you think a Powerline product would work under these circumstances (branching off a 1 phase cable to use for the normal socket)? If yes, and if the cost of installation is negligible, I am willing to invest in having him install a "normal" socket next to the charger to test it.

 

[PartisanEntity]

You can use a TP-Link CPE210 - do not buy the 5gHz version because at longer distance it’s actually much slower. Aim it at the parking spot from either from the balcony or your office - whichever has fewer walls to cross. The aiming is very important. For 100% foolproof, a second CPE210 installed at location A or B aimed at the one upstairs will absolutely be able to go through a few walls and 25m.

Is this the one you mean: (link to German Amazon).

Sorry for the dumb question, but if I were to use this and point it down to the garage, isn't the signal in the garage going to be way too "powerful" ?

 

[Tech9]

isn't the signal in the garage going to be way too "powerful" ?

The signal from directional AP pointed at an angle to reinforced concrete slab will reflect. Your neighbor down the street will get the best signal. Inside the garage you may get nothing useable - at an angle you have more concrete and rebars on the way. Normal power outlet and powerline adapter experiment sounds like the better plan. You may try both, if you can return/refund the test equipment. Worst case - you'll have an extra power outlet.

 

[L&LD]

Unless the electrician can confirm that a single run of cable directly between the PLA's (and, ideally, without breakers in between) is used, then this is unlikely to work. Since it seems like a last shot, at least worth trying.

In truthfulness though, it seems like a longshot.