Tx power adjustment rt-ac5300 and rt-ac88u

[pete y testing]

hi guys

just doing some testing with the above two routers and im running the 88u as the main router and the 5300 as a wireless access point

see my floor plan below

https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=7D5C...1a0742!812&parId=7d5cb240be1a0742!144&o=OneUp

88u is in location A

5300 in location D

to avoid overlap i have been using the Tx power adjustment on both units but it doesnt seem to make a great difference

with only about 10db difference between 100% and 10% , im not sure if this is right or not as i expected a much greater decrease in signal when turned down to 10%

at the mid point being location C im getting about -45 rssi for both routers when set to 10%

when tested in the same room as each router the signal is about -30 for 2.4 gig and -36 for 5 gig

i have also set the roaming assistant to -70db which is the lowest it will go , wonder why it cant be set lower

so any idea on why the transmit power percentage doesnt equate to power output

pete

 

[RMerlin]

Power levels are in steps, they're not granular to 1% each. I don't remember the step values, but I think it was something like 25, 50, 75 and 100%. So, 10% would set it to something close to 25%.

 

[pete y testing]

, 10% would set it to something close to 25%.

ah well 25% if effective on both as the overlap isnt to bad and the client devices even windows ones are roaming with ease

im just running some tests with both with the same ssid and passphrase but with different channels and the power output of both was too much at 100% with far to much overlap and thus issue connecting and roaming

so reality there is just low , medium and high power settings , not sure why they changed it if you cant specify actual output level

 

[RMerlin]

ah well 25% if effective on both as the overlap isnt to bad and the client devices even windows ones are roaming with ease

im just running some tests with both with the same ssid and passphrase but with different channels and the power output of both was too much at 100% with far to much overlap and thus issue connecting and roaming

so reality there is just low , medium and high power settings , not sure why they changed it if you cant specify actual output level

In newer beta firmwares, Asus actually changed this setting to only let you choose between "Power Saving", "Fair", "Balance", "Good", and "Performance". What actual output power levels these correspond to I can't tell, that code is no longer open-sourced.

 

[pete y testing]

What actual output power levels these correspond to I can't tell, that code is no longer open-sourced.

i assume that something to do with regs and max power level allowed

"Power Saving", "Fair", "Balance", "Good", and "Performance".

so at least it gives you 5 settings instead of 3 , so maybe the lowest will be 15% steps instead of 25% which would be more suitable when trying to control overlap

 

[RMerlin]

i assume that something to do with regs and max power level allowed

Correct. FCC requires manufacturers to ensure that the end user cannot easily override them. Some manufacturers chose to totally close down their devices, Asus chose to just close down the parts related to wireless configuration.

so at least it gives you 5 settings instead of 3 , so maybe the lowest will be 15% steps instead of 25% which would be more suitable when trying to control overlap

The way those settings relate to the previous % value is 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100. 0% is obviously not 0 mW, that's where I cannot determine what actual output levels are being associated with each percentage.