Normal temp for RT-AC88u?

[southlake]

I'm trouble shooting a network problem, when the entire network became unstable, I checked the top of RT-AC88u case with an IR gun and it was 123° F. Is this normal?
I have had the unit mounted vertically for the last 4 years. Did I cook it? 120°+ seems very hot to me for an external case temperature of its plastic body

 

[royarcher]

I'm trouble shooting a network problem, when the entire network became unstable, I checked the top of the body of the RT-AC88u with an IR gun and its temp was 123°. Is this normal?
I have had the unit mounted vertically for the last 4 years. Did i cook it? 120°+ seems very hot to me for an "external" temperature of its plastic body

If that's what your CPU is running at then I think it's very hot . I have the same router and it never gets hotter than 76 or so

 

[southlake]

Im sorry that was a poorly written OP. The temp on the exterior of the case was 123° F. When I pull up system status in the router, I do not see any temperatures displayed so im not sure how to get an exact reading of whats going on inside.

When I repositioned the router, and when it seems to be running fine, the temperature of the case is around 95°F

 

[OzarkEdge]

When I repositioned the router, and when it seems to be running fine, the temperature of the case is around 95°F

I'd assume a heat issue and proceed accordingly... keep it cooler... some apply a USB-powered case fan. Some open the router up and re-apply heat sink thermal paste.

Asuswrt-Merlin firmware reports actual CPU temps. Someone here may comment on SSH commands for retrieving same info from the router. If temps are off, it might be worth the trouble to redo the thermal paste.

OE

 

[southlake]

Thanks guys, I ordered USB fans, and a AC86u as well to help me rule out the ac88u entirely, possibly replace it.

I have two RP-AC1900s as AiMesh nodes with wired backhauls. The system has worked great for the last 4 months. Then about 3 weeks ago, things are fine all day until in the evening, two or 3 devices become very active (im on the desktop PC, shes using streaming services ect). The entire network destabilizes, wired and wireless, to the point I cant even run a speed test or pull up a web page. Then it all clears itself up in a few moments, the temp of the case drops back down to around 95°. Modem log is clear of errors, cable line appears to be within spec, and nothing jumping out at me in the router log.

I'll give this a shot and report back

Edit: finally figured out how to SSH into it, idle temp is 72°C, not bad. I'll watch it again tonight.

 

[southlake]

As an aside... In an effort to help the (perceived) overheating until the mail arrives, I turned off both the radios on the AC88u. With the aimesh nodes handling the wifi traffic at opposite ends of the house. To my surprise the throughput is great! I think I learned I dont need a wireless transmitter in the middle of the house at all.

The ac88u is in the middle of a long single story house, it's in a horrible location surrounded by several feet of block. There is no ideal central location for a single wifi radio. This is what promoted me to install the AC1900 nodes at each end.

I think when I install the AC86u, I will turn off its radios.

 

[royarcher]

You might want to try Merlin firmware heads and shoulders above the stock firmware . Just for checking the CPU temps alone plus there's a lot more goodies to play around with as well

 

[southlake]

I was going to until i learned it does not support AiMesh

 

[sfx2000]

I checked the top of RT-AC88u case with an IR gun and it was 123° F. Is this normal?

Within spec...

Yeah, it's a bit warm, but it's good enough.

Worry about other things.

 

[southlake]

hummm if thats the case, I'm running out of hardware to replace if its not the router causing this. I even checked the ethernet wires individually with a tester.

 

[royarcher]

I was going to until i learned it does not support AiMesh
[/QUOTE

Within spec...

Yeah, it's a bit warm, but it's good enough.

Worry about other things.

Well cover me in honey and tie me to an anthill I don't have an ir thermometer to check mine but it is definitely not hot to the touch. I'm not doubting you at all just surprised how much these routers can take

 

[royarcher]

I was going to until i learned it does not support AiMesh

[QUOTE="royarcher, post: 60, member: 63 you can use aimesh with Merlin firmware I think it involves ssh into the router the only downside is you need to revert back to stock firmware for updates to the aimesh but Merlin doesn't recommend it . So it's sort of caveat emptor

 

[sfx2000]

Well cover me in honey and tie me to an anthill I don't have an ir thermometer to check mine but it is definitely not hot to the touch. I'm not doubting you at all just surprised how much these routers can take

In other efforts - regularly see 59C (139F) with ARMv7's - they're fine across Broadcom/QCA/Marvell on the 40nm node - Rockchip and AllWinner generally run there anyways in that space on 28nm nodes.

Like I said - for a production device - 125F isn't a problem - within the spec of the chipsets.

 

[L&LD]

I was going to until i learned it does not support AiMesh

Says who?

 

[southlake]

one of the 48,000 posts ive read from searching this forum over the last 2 weeks

 

[royarcher]

Says who?

I thought I'd read somewhere on this forum that Merlin does support aimesh now but when I read this earlier post I thought perhaps I was mistaken and the only way to do it with ssh . So what is the case at the moment does Merlin support aimesh natively or do you need to ssh into the router?

 

[southlake]

Its still dropping connections so its not the temperatures. They stayed at 71-72° all night, and i still had 3 connection drops. No errors in router or modem log. I will swap the router to the ac86u, and after that, I think its up to my ISP because ive done/checked/replaced everything.

 

[royarcher]

Have you tried setting the channels manually. I had that same problem until I set the channels manually just did a site channel scan and picked the least used. On auto it will invariably pick channels 8 and 149 I seem to remember. Now I have the 2.4 on 10 and the 5 GHz on 48 i haven't had a problem since

 

[Kees17760]

Thanks guys, I ordered USB fans, and a AC86u as well to help me rule out the ac88u entirely, possibly replace it.

I have two RP-AC1900s as AiMesh nodes with wired backhauls. The system has worked great for the last 4 months. Then about 3 weeks ago, things are fine all day until in the evening, two or 3 devices become very active (im on the desktop PC, shes using streaming services ect). The entire network destabilizes, wired and wireless, to the point I cant even run a speed test or pull up a web page. Then it all clears itself up in a few moments, the temp of the case drops back down to around 95°. Modem log is clear of errors, cable line appears to be within spec, and nothing jumping out at me in the router log.

I'll give this a shot and report back

Edit: finally figured out how to SSH into it, idle temp is 72°C, not bad. I'll watch it again tonight.

The AC86U runs rather hot (too). Mine ran at CPU Temp = Tamb + 55 degrees Celsius idling.
There are external fans though, powered by one of its USB ports. Made one myself and managed to get CPU Temp to Tamb + 40 degrees Celsius.
Have a look over here

[Review] Ventiladores (Fans) para Roteador ASUS RT-AC86U e RT-AC68U - AliExpress - Skooter Blog

Compartilhe Os Ventiladores (Fans) para Roteador ASUS RT-AC86U e RT-AC68U foram adquiridos na AliExpress, loja Iron SuperMan, para uso com o meu roteador ASUS RT-AC86U, do qual já falei aqui no Skooter Blog. O anúncio na verdade é para o ASUS RT-AC68U, que também já mostrei aqui...

www.skooterblog.com

 

[thecheapseats]

I'm trouble shooting a network problem, when the entire network became unstable, I checked the top of RT-AC88u case with an IR gun and it was 123° F. Is this normal?
I have had the unit mounted vertically for the last 4 years. Did I cook it? 120°+ seems very hot to me for an external case temperature of its plastic body

those ac88 run damn hot compared to the ax88... I got a fan for it - knocked it down quite a bit... I'm happier now...