Netonix Forums

Anybody else seeing 10,15, as high as 22W being used by RM5's on 24v ports?

The devices are listed as pulling a max of 8W, so I'm just curious. I'm seeing this on firmware 1.2.2, at multiple sites.

Yes, I have posted several screenshots of Rocket M5 Radios that pull peak power around 12-15 watts.

Never saw 20 watts except with the AF5X but all of my radios are set to no higher than 24 dB Tx, the higher you have your Tx power set the more power you will use.

Also if your cable is damaged or one end does not have all the crimp ends right it tries to pull the power across 1 wire instead of 2 which will cause it to use more power. Can you do a cable diagnostics and see what it reports?

Below are some screen grabs I just made showing a Rocket M5 AP.

The first screen grab is real time reporting every second where you can see where the radio is transmitting as the power consumption spikes. If your radio is transmitting a LOT then it will warm up and the radio power consumption will increase with the radio board temperature, that's just how it works, the hotter it gets the less efficient it is.

The second picture is the 5 minute history where it averages the data so it starts to flatten out.

The third picture is the 1 hour graph which the average power consumption levels out.

The last picture shows an AF24 on the same switch drawing just about what Chicago said it would 50 watts +/- a a couple.

So the last graph shows the switch properly reporting what the AF24 power consumption right where it is supposed to be which tells you the switch current sensors are calibrated correctly.

CLICK IMAGES BELOW TO VIEW FULL SIZE

Also a device tends to pull more power right before it dies so I would watch that radio.

We have been thinking about putting in alerts on abnormal power usage which may help do preventative maintenance on radios that are about to fail.

Real curious if those radios soon die, would be an excellent example of devices consuming more power before they fail.

josh wrote:The devices are listed as pulling a max of 8W, so I'm just curious.

What they say is correct if you look at the "average" power consumption over a period of time but their peak consumption is MUCH higher.

Also 22 watts has to be only hitting for a second or two otherwise the polyfuse on that port would trip.

Most of your switches I think have older RevB boards since you were an early adopter which means non 48VH capable ports only have a .5A Poly fuse and ports capable of 48VH have .75A.

If that is a Model A then ports 1-4 have .75A and ports 5-12 have .75A.

So if that is a WS-12-250A RevB board then it has .75A on ports 3 and 4 which means it could not sustain 22 watts for very long UNLESS you are in a cold environment which you are I think.

Now .75A is what the PolyFuse is rated to carry all day long at a reasonable room temperature but it can handle short duration spikes for a much higher amperage so long as it is just short bursts and the ambient temperature is not over 35 to 40C.

WHat I would like to see is the Current Graph next to the Data Graph.

Large spikes in power can also come from packet storms, maybe check your PPS graphs when you see spikes.