Outdoor Wifi

I like to sit on my back patio in the evenings. It usually is the coolest part of both my yards, thanks to some large trees of my neighbors and my own. Despite having multiple Wireless Access Points throughout the house already, I noticed the signal was lacking in the backyard. Now I do not have a large house or yard, not by a long shot. In fact “I’ve had bigger”.

Still the drop in signal strength was noticeable. To be honest yes, I could get away with just a single wireless access point, but then I would not have a +24mb connection 98% of the time! With a few Access Points I am able to maintain a +65mb connection rate 98% of the time. Thats worst case. And yes, I do transfer large quantities and large files from multiple machines and it helps with the video streaming – which is heavy is this house.

Getting off topic. So due to the weak backyard signal I decided to deploy an external Wireless Access Point. It is your basic Linksys/Cisco e1200 running DD-WRT. I’ve modified it to run off PoE. Saved me troubles and allowed me to just run a single cat5 to the back via the attic and a vent. I have it mounted in an external enclosure, sealed(ish). It will not get wet. Even put a fan inside via a toggle switch mounted underneath. I was thinking of IoT’ing the switch. The router board fit perfectly inside the enclosure. I couldn’t have asked for a better fit. There is even room to be able to make the antennas externally accessible or detachable (with minor effort) .

I meant to post this a while back when I made the unit. Never got to it. At least now I can vouch for its performance. The thing is rock solid. I have noticed no setbacks from its present location or enclosure. All is well, and it gets moderate use. Ive had more issues with an inside unit.

Now I just need to make the fan remote controlled and add a temperature sensor… If I get around to it I’ll post some pictures.