Tower Enclosure for WS-12-250-DC

[wirelessblue]

Due to the recent storms in California, I have an AF-24HD that has water in the cable. I am considering moving a larger switch up the tower and running fiber to it along with using the EdgePower or some other source of 24V or 48V power to power the switch. I currently have three WS-6-MINI switches in use on this tower but I am tired of running copper up the tower. I like the idea of the EdgePoint S16 but I really love the Netonix interface and, as a big plus, it works fine on a mobile device (iPhone or iPad) unlike any of the EdgeSwitch interfaces. Just this morning, I was able to easily see an uplink to a Juniper switch (soon to be replaced with a Netonix) had all sorts of errors and was causing network issues for us.

Is anyone mounting the WS-12-250-DC up on a tower with an enclosure? I wish there were something with more ports like the WS-6-MINI with a perfectly fitting enclosure for this application (although no fiber there). On my main tower sites, I have at least three WS-6-MINI units up the tower and one or two WS-12-250-AC or DC switches at the base. On this particular tower, I have two AF-24HD units and another to be installed shortly. Having most everything powered by one WS-12-250-DC would be easier than adding more and more WS-6-MINI switches.

[sirhc]

If you are going to power a WISP switch with conditioned power supply 48V-56V why use the WS-12-250-DC which is meant to be hooked directly to batteries and in fact we tell people not to power it with a 48V power supply and to use the WS-12-DC as it is cheaper and is designed to be hooked to a power supply not batteries.

[wirelessblue]

Good point. That makes sense. That also means a smaller enclosure would work.

[cwachs]

For those that are running a DC switch at the top of the tower, what are you using for your DC power wire? I need ~120 of power to run along with my fiber. I was planning on buying a spool of direct burial 12/2 stranded cable (basically the stuff they sell for low voltage garden lighting). Bad idea? I'd rather not spend $500 on the 1000' spool of the Ubiquit PC-12 since I need 1/10th of that spool.

[cwachs]

Found an answer:

https://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php ... =10#p16686

[wirelessblue]

As you noted, UBNT is now selling their 12/2 stranded cable in 1000 ft rolls and it's a little over $0.50 per foot. It isn't the cheapest cable but is already encased with Kevlar and whatever else to jacket it. I used this cable for the first time doing a 460 ft run through a conduit up to a tower on my property. In hindsight, I probably could have used something a lot cheaper but it is working perfectly. I am using the EdgePower 54V to power a Netonix WS-8-150-DC right now (soon to be WS-12-DC) at the base of the tower in a NEMA box and I am getting 53.9 V at the Netonix switch. I might switch to running the Netonix directly off a 24V battery bank instead (in that case leaving the WS-8-150-DC) and that might give a bit more voltage drop but I have not tested that yet.

[sirhc]

As you noted, UBNT is now selling their 12/2 stranded cable in 1000 ft rolls and it's a little over $0.50 per foot. It isn't the cheapest cable but is already encased with Kevlar and whatever else to jacket it. I used this cable for the first time doing a 460 ft run through a conduit up to a tower on my property. In hindsight, I probably could have used something a lot cheaper but it is working perfectly. I am using the EdgePower 54V to power a Netonix WS-8-150-DC right now (soon to be WS-12-DC) at the base of the tower in a NEMA box and I am getting 53.9 V at the Netonix switch. I might switch to running the Netonix directly off a 24V battery bank instead (in that case leaving the WS-8-150-DC) and that might give a bit more voltage drop but I have not tested that yet.

The WS-12-DC is not designed to run off a battery bank, it expects 48-54V constant DC in (conditioned)

The WS-8-150-DC / WS-12-250-DC / WS-26-500-DC units are designed to hook directly to the battery bank as they accept 9V to 72V DC in and then condition it to what it needs.

There is also the WS-26-400-IDC which is designed for use with negative DC power but can also be used with positive DC power but its input range is not as wide 32-72V DC