So we’re getting ready to do our first 900 mhz Canopy install and while i am famialir with the network side of things i’m not familiar with cabeling and some other things. If anyone has any input on the below questions it would be appreicated.
Type of modular RJ-45 plugs used for the AP’s? Since we’re using some pretty thick outdoor/shielded cat5 i’m guessing the average rj45 connector will not cut it.
Also do you cut away some of the shielding to get it into the AP? The housing that comes on the AP doesn’t allow for much larger then an average sized cat5 to get into it.
Does anyone do installs on the side of peoples house or is everyone doing the install on the roof? What do you use to prevent and avoid putting leaks into people’s homes?
With the gps sync going over the main ethernet link do you run a seperate cable to the timing port so you can default the system from the ground still? What type of cable and connection would you use for that?
Type of modular RJ-45 plugs used for the AP's? Since we're using some pretty thick outdoor/shielded cat5 i'm guessing the average rj45 connector will not cut it.
Motorola recommends purchasing your outdoor cables from www.best-tronics.com. These cables will fit inside the housing and connect to your AP's with no problem. Not sure about the type you may be using.
Also do you cut away some of the shielding to get it into the AP? The housing that comes on the AP doesn't allow for much larger then an average sized cat5 to get into it.
Again, the cable from best-tronics.com will fit.
Does anyone do installs on the side of peoples house or is everyone doing the install on the roof? What do you use to prevent and avoid putting leaks into people's homes?
We don't dabble in the residential arena, except for the install at my house! In that case, we used a silicon gel to fill the holes drilled in the roof.
With the gps sync going over the main ethernet link do you run a seperate cable to the timing port so you can default the system from the ground still? What type of cable and connection would you use for that?
You AP's and and BHM's are the only devices that will be receiving the sync via GPS. The AP's propogate the sync to the registered SM's, and the BHM's propogate the sync to the registered BHS's.
If you are using a CMM Micro, the GPS sync pulse is sent up the CAT5 cable. If you are using a regular CMM, you need to run seperate CAT5 cable runs terminated into RJ11 jacks from the modules to the RJ11 switch in the CMM.
You do make a good point with a good idea. If you are using the CMM Micro, it is not a bad idea to still run the second CAT5 strand and leave it unterminated at the bottom end in the event you need to default the units. All you have to do is tie together the appropriate pins and you would be good. Is it worth the extra cost of running the cables? Good question.
Hope this helps.
nice to have to be told from someone other then motorola that motorola suggests a certain vendor for cableing. would have been nice if they had told us this in advance so we wouldn’t have spent time looking into what type of cable to get on our own.
For my client installs I buy my network cable from my fairly local wire supply store. I do not use shielded cables for customer cables, just the outdoor gel filled, which these use regular RJ45 plugs. I haven’t had any issues with any installs yet. (About 150 installs)
I mount the antenna where it is needed. I prefer on the side of the house, as to not run into issues from on the roofs. If I have to install on the roof, as the lag bolt is going in, I squeeze silicone onto the threads to seal it up.
When we put up the AP’s on the towers, they always get both the ethernet and timing cables run to it, no matter what the configuration. Saves on having to run a cable later up to the AP on the tower.
hey bubba!
'getting ready to do our first 900 install’
and
’what kind of cable do i use’
makes anyone with some sense think you need to take a deep breath and tell us what you’re up to.
this forum is an awesome avenue for all kinds of information, but sometimes people assume (you know) too much.
the thing about the installs on the side of people’s houses is the clincher.
we’re pretty sure that can be done.
start at the beginning . . . and there are lots of folks that can (and will) share their re-invention of the wheel.
(shielded cable on tower sites, use the foil and the grounding wire therein to ground the cable to the tower)
(if you use a cmm micro, you need only run a single cat5; you set the AP to ‘receive timing from the power port’)
we’re up to a 900 mhz canopy install on our tower… i would assume that is enough info… here’s where i’m coming from. Work in I.T, have a couple of cisco certifications, done some server administration, and network admin/I.T. type work. the extent of my cableing experience then is running cat 5, terminating it on patch panels and at the jack. but we are a local Telecom so there are plenty of people around that have a better understanding of most of the things that i do not so hopefully that covers it.
so we have, without the surprises that will probably come, gotten most of the details for our install completed and i am trying to tie up a few loose ends just so everything is straight in my mind.
got the cabling worked out for the most part so at this point i’m really trying to figure out the best way to do installs on someones house and decied what to do with the default plug idea. on that note if you cross the pairs on a already powered up AP will it default it or do the pairs have to be crossed when you reboot the AP?
If the AP is powered up and the default plug is in the RJ11 jack, you must power cycle the AP. It will detect the presense of the default plug and default the IP of the unit to 169.254.1.1/16. At that point, login to the unit, make your appropriate changes, and make sure to UNPLUG the default plug prior to power cycling the unit or else when the unit boots back up, it will still be at the default IP address.
soooo… we don’t need to use the timing port for anything since we’ll be getting the gps sync over the ethernet cable. We could run an extra 6 cables up our tower, leave one plugged into each timing port at all times. Then if we need to default the AP we can cross the pair at the base of the tower, unplug the AP’s ethernet cable, plug it back in, and then uncross the pair from the timing cable? This should default the system and make it so we do not have to climb the tower if we need to default the AP? Then we just have to make sure that none of the wires from the cables that go to the timing ports are crossed.
On all the tower installs we have done, I run both lines to each AP. It saves from a tower climb to reset a radio if screw something up. As well works as a back-up if for any reason my CMM-Micro fails at a tower site.
If I am not connecting the timing cables to anything, I still put the RJ-11 plugs on both ends. Then I take a RJ11 wall box and short the proper wires in it to use as a reset jumper, and leave it on site. This way the cable will never short by acciedent and go into default after a software upgrade.
stuen93 - correct.
However I really like moose’s idea.
i think that will probably be what we end up doing.
on a different topic is there any way to get some promotional images or logs from Motorola to use in our marketing?
If not, you can Google images > canopy for some nice pic’s