Can 450 AP "Canopy Sync" wear out over time?

Has anyone seen “Canopy Sync” stop working on 450 APs over time?

OK, we still have four 450 (not 450i) sectors at a site that I guess we built in 2013. Doesn’t seem like it, but I guess these APs are 10 years old. One was replaced but I think with a used one from another site.

I accept that we should upgrade them to 450i APs with 48V POE and Cambium Sync, but all 4 APs report no sync, and that seems hard to believe unless there is some component that goes bad over time, like an electrolytic capacitor drying up or something.

Please don’t start suggesting things like change the surge suppressors or the GPS sync source or other stuff like that, we have literally changed out everything except the APs. When we change anything that means powering down the APs for a few minutes, they typically start detecting sync for about 20-30 minutes, then back to no sync. We even replaced the 24V power supply as well as adjusting the voltage so there was 24.00 volts right at the syncinjector.

So I’m going to replace the APs. Canopy Sync was always a bad scheme, I don’t know exactly how Cambium Sync works, but it solves a lot of problems. I just want to know if 4 APs could actually have all had their power port sync go deaf after 10 years.

One quick/easy thing to try is to force the AP’s down to 100mbps-AUTO. Canopy sync does not like gig-e. ALSO, those old 450 AP’s actually had built in integrated GPS, and depending on the configuration, it could be getting stuck on iGPS mode, and not failing over to ethernet-based sync. You can check and even play around with the sync settings by telnet or SSH into the AP and issuing these commands:

Telnet+> synconboard
On-board Sync is on

Telnet+> synctimingport
Sync over Timing Port is on

Telnet+> syncpowerport
Usage: syncpowerport <on>/<off> <camb>
 No params:            Show current status
 on or off (optional): Enable or Disable Canopy Sync
 camb (optional):      Enable or Disable Cambium Sync
                       Requires on/off parameter first, e.g.
                       'synpowerport on camb'

Canopy Sync over Power Port is on
Cambium Sync over Power Port is on

Telnet+> syncpowerport off
Canopy Sync over Power Port is off

Telnet+> synctimingport off
Sync over Timing Port is off

Telnet+> synconboard off
On-board Sync is off

Telnet+> synconboard on
On-board Sync is on

Telnet+>
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Thanks, Eric. We actually had it set to 10/100 and in fact had a non gigabit “PMP100” Syncinjector feeding it. Switched to gigabit, no change. As far as the telnet commands, tried all that, definitely detecting no sync on power port. One of the APs will have dozens of log entries acquiring and losing sync on power port.

Telnet+> syncpowerport
Sync over Power Port is No Sync
Canopy Sync over Power Port is on
Cambium Sync over Power Port is off

We replaced all 4 sectors with 450i today, switching to a “Cambium Sync” Packetflux injector. All is good now. I was joking with the tower guy that according to the Powerpoint slide I have, 450v will be available August 2023, so we should have waited a month. I wonder when it will really go on sale. Unlike ePMP 4600, as I understand it we could deploy 450v in our network today using 5 GHz, even replacing 450i/m and using existing 450/450b SMs. No prohibition on selling service due to experimental license.

the AFC for 6GHz is supposed to be out next month too, haven’t heard anything new about it though

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