Protecting AP's

[seustice]

We're about to embark on building a new sports facility which will become home to a few Aruba AP's. In our current sports hall there is one AP protected from rogue balls by a wall mounted speaker. The new development will be larger and will have sunken ceiling speakers, so I need to think about how I'm to protect the AP's from damage. Obviously a metal cage mounted over the top is not going to be particularly useful for functionality and I wondered if anyone has any good solutions? I was thinking a wooden or plastic cage housing of some description. Is there anything commercially available or is there anything I need to consider if I'm going down a 'home-brew' route?

[fairm010]

We had our DT dept vacuum form a plastic casing slightly larger than the WAP. Works a treat

[jamesreedersmith]

Yes go plastic rather then metal otherwise you risk creating a faraday cage!

[jamesreedersmith]

have a look at IP electrical enclosures (project boxes or bodge boxes as some know them!)

[Oaktech]

we've used metal cages before, but had antenna protruding as they are flexible-ish.

 

The Unifi are sufficiently low profile for us to not bother.

[john]

Large plastic boxes work well I think @Soulfish had his Aerohive ones in IP54 rated boxes at his last spot

[ericscher]

Amazon UK sells a Ubiquiti Radome for £91.65, which honestly looks a lot like the Laird Technologies radome that Pro Telecom Supplies in NY sells for about $70 (£40.00).

 

Point being, there are a number of fairly cheap commercial solutions available to you. Just do a web search on "radome" and you should find plenty of options.

 

 

Having said that, I once installed a WAP in a YMCA gym where I used a plastic milk crate that I picked up from WalMart for about $5.

 

 

I would suggest that a determination be made as to whether money or aesthetics is the primary consideration here.

[JPElectron]

We use these... Square 16 Inch X 16 Inch X 3 Inch Clock Guard - MTC399-3 - Track and Field Clocks - Mansion Athletics

 

Note that large spaces between the metal sticks does not adversely effect the wireless signal. The ones where the metal mesh is less than 1" separation you should avoid.

 

We had used plastic covers in the past, but kids would throw basketballs at them and they would crack and fall. Metal holds up much better.

[FN-GM]

These sort of things are pretty good - 2012 New Waterproof Plastic box with Grey Solid Cover-in Power Distribution Equipment from Electrical Equipment & Supplies on Aliexpress.com