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I have already ordered 4x WAC540 Units . I have read the "How do I set up a wireless bridge (WDS) on my WAC540" .
And if I understood it correctly if I setup the APs in WDS Mode I only need Ethernet Connection at the MAIN AP , the SLAVES
dont need one .
All 4 Systems connect to the Same Ethernet network , if It will not hurt anything I can connect all 4 Systems to our network just in case .
The System will be installed in Production , on the roof hanging approx 1.5 Meters down . What is the approx range of these units at 2.4Ghz ?
I would like to set it up in a way that I have no black holes in the WIFI Area . That means I will need to set the APs so that they overlap each others zones .
One point hits my eye: Same channel? Bad idea! Cumbersome enough that the 2.4 GHz band is only about 60 MHz wide, so the channels 1..11 (FCC) resp. 1..13 (e.g. EU) are heavily overlapping - but operating APs on the same channel is a bad idea. Even those tech providers which promoted a "carpet" with the same MAC and channel are no longer...
Are these industrial scanners still 2.4 GHz only?
With your old APs, the disadvantage is that these had no support for assisting better roaming. The WiFi clients will "stick" until the connection does become more than poor, and might not even roam before the connection is virtually lost. This will be certainly better with the newer WAC5xx. While the WAC540 are a luxury solution, it might be kid of future proof.
Two (plus probably one or two more, depending on the building structure if there are more walls or high storage) per L-wing should be sufficient.
A blunt theory approach might be adding some WAC540 in a WDS connection (without Ethernet access) on top of the fir wired WAC540 - this requires a well working 5 GHz "sight" to it's neighbour. But then, why should 5 GHz work where 2.4 GHz is already struggling?
I have already ordered 4x WAC540 Units .... All 4 Systems connect to the Same Ethernet network , if It will not hurt anything I can connect all 4 Systems to our network just in case .
Not at all: With the four WAC540 connected to the same Ethernet, you can forget everything you have read about the WAC540 WDS for now - these units will be configured as normal wireless access points.
The System will be installed in Production , on the roof hanging approx 1.5 Meters down . What is the approx range of these units at 2.4Ghz ?
Depends a little bit on the height and the machine park in place - the possible reach might be more than what you ever need 50...75..100 meters is possible. The factors in the 2.4 GHz are more interference and the amount of devices vs. bandwidth required.
The System will be installed in Production , on the roof hanging approx 1.5 Meters down . What is the approx range of these units at 2.4Ghz ?
The factor here is more the 5 GHz band where the WAC540 has two dedicated radios for the high and low band - the number of devices in an area and the bandwidth required will dictating the distance between the APs.
Tell us a little bit more about your production environment, roof height, large machine park, .... and last but not least the intended WiFi usage.
We are about to replace our Scanning Solution for our Dispatch environment , it is a Large L Shaped Hallway . There are quiet a few
Metal Pillars , but solid wall , so the signal can go trough . The roof is metal, and it has metal rails . That is why I want to install the new units on small holders which are 2m long and hang from the roof. This way the Devices will be approx 8m from the ground . The Halls are 10 meter high.
The Racks themselves are Metal as well and they hold Glass , the user is going between these racks and they scann the Glasses onto the Racks .
Right now we have 1x Netgear WG103 and 2x Netgear WG102 APs , all three are configured with the same settings , SSID, Channel, Security etc , all three are connected to the Network via Ethernet .
The New Scanner ( Android based ) can do a lot more , it can query the Racks for items , it can search for orders , but for this you need a relatively steady network connection .
Right now my problem is that if the Connection works its really good , according to the Scanner itself the signal is fine everywhere , but right now if I go to Point A1 , I have full signal but no connection , if I go to Point A2 wait... then go back to Point A1 I can scan .
If I go to Point A3 I cannot scan , but if I go to Point A4 then go back to Point A3 I can scan .
There is strong signal everywhere but I think the Android device might be sometimes connecting to the wrong AP ? But its hard to tell because I have same SSID everywhere and signal is strong .
This is why I thought the WDS would be the sollution , because I really just need a Strong Wireless Signal on this L shaped path .
The Width of the Path is 18meters and from Point A1 to Point A4 you have approx 120 meters . The L Shape is in both directions 120 Meters .
But if you say that I can just simply setup all 4 APs with same SSID , Channel , Security etc and place them every 60 Meters on this path I am fine with that , I just really need a continuous coverage on this path .
I would stick with 2.4Ghz because I've heard it has a larger radious then 5Ghz . Also the Bandwidth need not be high , there will be only 10 Scanning Units . And they mostly transfer data worth a few kilobytes .
One point hits my eye: Same channel? Bad idea! Cumbersome enough that the 2.4 GHz band is only about 60 MHz wide, so the channels 1..11 (FCC) resp. 1..13 (e.g. EU) are heavily overlapping - but operating APs on the same channel is a bad idea. Even those tech providers which promoted a "carpet" with the same MAC and channel are no longer...
Are these industrial scanners still 2.4 GHz only?
With your old APs, the disadvantage is that these had no support for assisting better roaming. The WiFi clients will "stick" until the connection does become more than poor, and might not even roam before the connection is virtually lost. This will be certainly better with the newer WAC5xx. While the WAC540 are a luxury solution, it might be kid of future proof.
Two (plus probably one or two more, depending on the building structure if there are more walls or high storage) per L-wing should be sufficient.
A blunt theory approach might be adding some WAC540 in a WDS connection (without Ethernet access) on top of the fir wired WAC540 - this requires a well working 5 GHz "sight" to it's neighbour. But then, why should 5 GHz work where 2.4 GHz is already struggling?
