Outdoor Installation and Configuration

[steelinquisitor]

Hi,

I just finished the site survey for my customer's POS devices. Before I started the site survey, I thought I would be doing mesh setup. Now, after the site survey, I realized that can't do mesh because of the hotel's building materials. Now, I have to pull cables from the LAN room to the outdoor APs.

The site is located in Florida and it is near the beach probably 100 or 150 yards away. I know there is going to be some corrossion issue because of the salt in the air.

I asked my POC if they are having issues with corrossion and he said yes. I also found some older indoor Cisco APs that are exposed to the salty air, and the metal mount is covered in rust. Therefore, I want to do this installation the right way since I am not local in Florida. I have no experience with outdoor installation at all.

1. For outdoor install, if I power on an AP using a PoE injector, is the grounding lug to the ground enough to protect the AP and the network devices in the LAN room from lightning?

2. Should I insert a gig fiber-optic to ethernet media converter at the AP side, and plug the AP to power outlet?

[LAN Room]------ethernet-------[media converter]----------1 meter fiber-optic----------[media converter]----------[AP]

3. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, would I get an omni coverage?

4. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, can I still use the shield cover to protect the AP from sun heat?

5. Based on your experience, what type of configuration do you do for POS devices (802.1X, PSK, etc)?

6. Is there a stringent security that should be used?

7. For my BOM, I should be good with WLC 2504 with 15 license AP. The APs are 2602i and 1530i. The total AP number is 12.

Link to the previous thread https://supportforums.cisco.com/message/4178513#4178513

Tomorrow is my last day here and I have to drive to the next site for the same site survey.  Any input would be greatly appreciated.

[Scott Fella]

I can only state what I know:)

1. For outdoor install, if I power on an AP using a PoE injector, is  the grounding lug to the ground enough to protect the AP and the network  devices in the LAN room from lightning?

> I would still use 2 lighning arrestors... one should be outside and the other inside.

2. Should I insert a gig fiber-optic to ethernet media converter at the AP side, and plug the AP to power outlet?

[LAN Room]------ethernet-------[media converter]----------1 meter fiber-optic----------[media converter]----------[AP]

> You don't need to

3. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, would I get an omni coverage?

>You get omni coverage mounting it the way it is... you change the mounting, you will change the RF signal.  If you surveyed with it in a 90 deg, then mount it 90 deg.

4. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, can I still use the shield cover to protect the AP from sun heat?

> If you decide to mount it in a 90 degree, then maybe look at an 3rd party heat shield... you would have to take measurements to see if it would work.

5. Based on your experience, what type of configuration do you do for POS devices (802.1X, PSK, etc)?

> Depends on the unit... if they support 802.1x, I would use 802.1x... many older ones don't and you are stuck with PSK.

6. Is there a stringent security that should be used?

> Depends on the client and the device support for the type of encryption.

7. For my BOM, I should be good with WLC 2504 with 15 license AP. The APs are 2602i and 1530i. The total AP number is 12.

> You should be good... maybe look at the 2504 HA sku for redundancy.

Thanks,

Scott

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[steelinquisitor]

Scott,

1. For outdoor install, if I power on an AP using a PoE injector, is  the grounding lug to the ground enough to protect the AP and the network  devices in the LAN room from lightning?

> I would still use 2 lighning arrestors... one should be outside and the other inside.

     > If this is the case, how do you weatherproof the wall power adapter? This is the only power adapter I could find AIR-PWRADPT-1530=, and I am not sure if it is weatherproof.

      Is there a reason why do you use two lightning arrestor and do you still use grouding?

3. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, would I get an omni coverage?

>You get omni coverage mounting it the way it is... you change the mounting, you will change the RF signal.  If you surveyed with it in a 90 deg, then mount it 90 deg.

     > The reason I ask, is that I found the antenna pattern, and it looks like a patch antenna pattern.

        (see attach pictures) - the 2.4GHz looks the similar to 5GHz.

        Then I found this document. It says if it tilts 90 degrees, it would a better omni. Now, I am thinking to use the         external antenna because I can get a better omni pattern with it. At this point, I am really confuse.

[Scott Fella]

1. For outdoor install, if I power on an AP using a PoE injector, is  the grounding lug to the ground enough to protect the AP and the network  devices in the LAN room from lightning?
> I would still use 2 lighning arrestors... one should be outside and the other inside.
     > If this is the case, how do you weatherproof the wall power adapter? This is the only power adapter I could find AIR-PWRADPT-1530=, and I am not sure if it is weatherproof.

The electrician can direct you to outdoor outlet covers that are also secured.  You should also be able to hard wire power to the AP

 Is there a reason why do you use two lightning arrestor and do you still use grouding?

Yes... its best practice... this is how its done with bridges back in the days... you have two points that can stop a lightning strike.  The decision is up to you.

3. If I tilt the Cisco 1530i 90 degrees, would I get an omni coverage?

>You  get omni coverage mounting it the way it is... you change the mounting,  you will change the RF signal.  If you surveyed with it in a 90 deg,  then mount it 90 deg.

     > The reason I ask, is that I found the antenna pattern, and it looks like a patch antenna pattern. 
        (see attach pictures) - the 2.4GHz looks the similar to 5GHz.

If you surveyed with the 1532 mounted in a given direction, then changing the angle will affect your coverage.  I would always use a external antenna which can give you more flexibility.  If you know the coverage of the omni, then you can sort of determine if that will cover the area you will be mounting the 1532 at.

Thanks,

Scott

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[steelinquisitor]

I'm having an issue with the 1532i AP about the coverage. When I walked away from about 10ft, my RSSI was -78dBm 5GHz.

Unfortunately, there is no electrician here.

The APs are going to be mounted on a steel frame. Can I use that same frame for grounding?

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[Scott Fella]

Grounding has to be on a building ground. Unless that's certified as a building ground then you can use it.

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[Scott Fella]

Is the 1532 autonomous for your surveying or joined to a WLC? Check the TX power settings.

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[steelinquisitor]

The 1532i was autonomous and powered by an injector.

Can I run fiber-optic directly to the 1532?
If I put fiber in the middle of CAT6, I would need two media converter which I would need two more power outlets. Power outlet is one of my issues right now.

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[Scott Fella]

I wouldn't use converters.

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[steelinquisitor]

Scott,

If I used two lightning arrestors, can I power on the AP with an injector.
[switch]-----Cat6----[POE]------Cat6------[arrestor]------Cat6------[arrestor]------[AP]-----[arrestor]----Anternna.
I'm not exactly sure if my map is even correct.


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[Scott Fella]

Yes you can.... make sure they are rated for PoE.  Some are, some are not and you will loose power in the line.

Thanks,

Scott

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[steelinquisitor]

Scott,

I appologize for my late reply.

I did some Google-ing and I found some lightning arrestor that are PoEs; however, they are all rated for 802.af. Have you seen or may be used a lightning arrestor that is compatible with UPoE. The 1530 series requiers UPoE and I could not find any.

[Scott Fella]

Many of the outdoor arrestors that handle PoE+ can support UPoE.  You can always reach out to the manufacture for verification.  These are what we use to power up the MESH AP's and I will try to get you a part number when I get a hold of our low voltage guy.

Thanks,

Scott

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[Scott Fella]

This is what we used

http://itwlinx.com/wp-content/uploads/1Gb-CAT6-235_new.pdf

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[steelinquisitor]

Scott,

Thank you so much for providing the model. I will call them to verify if it supports UPoE.



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