WS-12-400-AC Dropping several ports simultaneously

[sirhc]

You really should re-read these post - not skim them.

Here are some good posts on grounding:
viewtopic.php?f=30&t=188#p483
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1816
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php?f=30&t=1429
http://forum.netonix.com/viewtopic.php? ... =30#p13447
https://community.ubnt.com/t5/airFiber/ ... rue#M31070

From your radio/antenna you need a shorter heavier copper ground path with less resistance to Earth Ground than the Ethernet cables. This is another reason why you use a service loop in your Ethernet cables to insure the Ethernet cable path is longer than the ground wire path to Earth Ground.

Since UBNT bonds DC negative to the Earth Ground inside the radio which allows the Rocket to gain access to the Tower Earth Ground through the SMA Jumper to the antenna and thus its mounting clam shells.

So I run a #2 up the tower to an isolated ground bus then #6 with Crimp lugs to to each antenna mount and clamshell bolts.

One might asks why is the bus insulated from the tower, well because if there is a charge on that part of the tower you want as much current as possible to flow down the poor path of the tower steel and only the charge that is around your antenna to jump on your dedicated Earth Ground superhighway. Remember the more current flowing on a wire increases its resistance.

[Dawizman]

Thanks. I did read through those posts. I was trying to clarify what you meant by:

#6 with Crimp lugs to to each antenna mount and clamshell bolts

By antenna mount are you referring to the pipe & bracket that the antenna mounts to, or something else?

[sirhc]

Yes I either use a self tapping bolt to attach lug to pipe or even cad weld to pipe or I put lug on clam shell bolts as last resort.

I also use #6 wire to any radio ground lug from where I attach to mount pipe or antenna mount.

[Dawizman]

Do you strip the paint off the antenna clamshells at all? Seems to me like it would create a poor path going through the paint. Your methods seem to work for you, so I'm just trying to get the best understanding I can.

[sirhc]

Well we ground the mount (pipe) usually with cad weld or self tapping bolt and we use and extra nut and lock washer on the clam shell bolt to hold the lug on.

The clamshell nuts normally scratch the paint on the clam shells and such but yes the better connection the better.

We also use RF Armor which would help grab static or ESD out of the air before it gets to the antenna elements and funnels this charge away from the radio.

I also think my guys use anti corrosion past. My tower crew used to work for cellular tower company, and the crew chief is also a proud veteran that served in combat.

[Dawizman]

Thanks for the info!

Just an update... The new switch seems to have blown 10 Ethernet ports within 6 hours of putting it in. I'm going to be putting the tough switches back in for now until we can figure out what's going on. It was quite windy last night. I'm wondering if my guess messed up a bunch of the connectors at the top, and static is coming down on the Ethernet?

[Dawizman]

Final update... We found a bad radio on the tower. A Rocket M2 specifically.

I replaced the WISP Switch with an Edgeswitch, as I used up all of my Netonix AC switches trying to troubleshoot this issue. As soon as I started powering up ports, the switch shut off. So I uplugged all radios & powered it up again, and it ran great for a while. I began testing each radio one by one with a PoE injector until I found a radio that had issues. I plugged all of the other radios in, and powered them up. Everything was running great at this point.

Today we scheduled a climb to replace the bad radio. The guys hung a new radio and cable, plugged it in to the switch and powered up the port. Everything shut down again. Now we were stumped. They unplugged that radio, turned the switch back on, and all was well. Then they sent up another radio, antenna, and cable. Plugged it in, and all is working properly now.

I pulled the two radios apart on my desk just now. The original radio appears to have water damage. The first replacement radio blew the diodes on pairs 3 & 4 on the Ethernet. I suspect the replacement cable had a bad connector (Problem would have been adverted with a Netonix switch).

I am bench testing the three Netonix switched I have here that were having problems at the site. One definitely had two bad Ethernet ports. The other two are running now with 12 nanostations plugged in to them. They seem OK so far, and will likely be deployed again.

[sirhc]

The units with damaged ports can be repaired, simply RMA them.

If you are lucky the repair fee could be $25-$50 for each switch, worst case is $150 and that means we put in a whole NEW switch board.

We will always offer repairs even when the unit is out of warranty or it is damaged like this as long as we have parts to fix it and we only try to break even on repairs not make a profit. Truth be told we actually lose money on most RMA repairs.

I just lost an AF24HD last week that had been a spare in our warehouse for just about a year and was deployed 2 months ago then it died. Went to RMA it and UBNT said sorry your warranty period is expired even though the unit was only in service for 2+/- months. There went $3,000.00 up in smoke.

Now they are not wrong to say it is out of warranty but sure would be nice if they repaired them for a fee, just saying. A few hundred dollars would not hurt as much as $3,000.00

To make it an even worse month one of my WISP vans blew a transmission this week....$3,500.00 repair and would you not know it, just out of warranty period too.

OH, and we just finished arguing a bill dispute with Level 3 since we upgraded to (2) 10G fiber drops from (2) 1G Fiber drops about 6 months ago. They had wanted to double bill us for like 4-6 months but after months of back and forth I got it reduced to just 1 month which was not fair/right should be no overlap but still lost $4,000.00 but was getting tired of the arguing and the threats to disconnect us for past due payment.

So my WISP took a $10,500.00 hit this month!!! - SUCKS
But at least I was not told "sorry, just out of warranty, you have to buy a new van".

[Dawizman]

Ouch... that's a bit of a hit.

We really do appreciate that you guys repair the equipment even when it's our fault. Not many equipment manufacturers out there will do that. $150 is better than $300 for a new switch.

[sirhc]

Ouch... that's a bit of a hit.

We really do appreciate that you guys repair the equipment even when it's our fault. Not many equipment manufacturers out there will do that. $150 is better than $300 for a new switch.

If the switch is still running just a dead port the chances are the board is repairable so hopefully under $50 each.

It is when the SOC is fried it is not worth repairing as we do not have the machine here to do that although we are planning on buying one as we grow. For a GOOD auto rework station about $50K. There are cheaper machines to change an SOC and Julian and I are arguing if we want to try one, still lots of money if we do not like it so little shy to try them.

So someday most all boards will be repairable to save you guys money is our goal.

This is something like I would want to replace SOCs: https://youtu.be/_WVdvcEc2ug