On August 7, 2014, Michael Torrie wrote: > Every power brick I own says
> right on it, 110-240V, 50-60 Hz. Even those tiny Apple or Amazon USB > power plugs that are less than 1 inch cubed can handle any voltage and > any frequency. That's interesting. And a very useful argument. Thanks for that tip. I had completely forgotten that most power supplies these days were intelligent enough to handle things like that. So in this case the only issue would be finding an adapter that would fit the plug (because I know they won't use the American outlet configuration). But that won't be very hard, I'm sure. :) Modern ATX power supplies are the same way, right? It's been so long since I actually looked at a power supply that I can't recall, and I don't have one that I can easily get to right now to look at. :( So if I go this route, I want to be able to reliably tell him that all he needs to do to convert his devices for Brazilian power is to get an adapter that changes the outlet configuration (size/shape/orientation of the prongs) and the circuits in the power supply will do the rest. > I expect that a $50-$100 AP will work just fine. I bet one of the > ubuiqiti networks products would suit you fine, and they are well under > $100. They are little linux boxes, but they choose the hardware > carefully, and ship with the right drivers. You might use their specs > to find a WiFi NIC to try on your server. Frankly, if an AP from Ubuiqiti is under $100 and comes with an internationally compatible power supply, then that's all I think would be needed in this setup. I can very easily tweak the IP settings so that the AP can act as a secondary firewall so that you have the "DMZ" are and the "private" area. The server(s) sit in the DMZ area and are publically available on certain ports where as anything connecting via the AP is not publically available. Especially if this AP is just a little linux box that could be (in theory) ssh'ed into, that sounds ideal to me and I think I can convince this guy to go for it. Got any model #s or anything I can look for? I've never heard of them that I can recall, but it sounds good to me. I just want to be able to put down on the recommendation a specific model or set of models. Just saying a "Ubuiqiti Networks AP" isn't going to quite cut it. But if I can say tack on a couple of good models to the end of that, i.e. "Ubuiqiti Networks AP, i.e. UN12345 or UN67890" that would be good. I did want an AP vs. the Nic on the box handling it, but didn't realize that his arguments against would be so easily thwarted. :) Thanks for the info Michael! --- Dan On Thu, Aug 7, 2014 at 5:45 PM, Michael Torrie <[email protected]> wrote: > On 08/07/2014 03:57 AM, Dan Egli wrote: > > Honestly the problem is power and money. I'm designing this for someone > who > > is currently in the USA, but I know that they are eventually moving to > > another country. They already have to get a different power supply when > > they leave. They're currently planning on heading to Brazil next. Brazil > > power is quite different from other locations. It's not just different > > prongs on the plug or power at 2x the voltage and 1/2 the Hz rating. The > > power there (from what I understand) is 220v and 50Hz vs. the USA 110v > and > > 60Hz. While I'm sure there are ways to convert from one power type to > > another (APC stands for American Power _Converters_, right? they'd > probably > > have something that would work), it's still a huge hassle and would be > less > > of a hassle if the AP wasn't present in the equation at all. > > I'm happy to report that this has not been an issue for quite a few > years (at least in the last ten or so). Every power brick I own says > right on it, 110-240V, 50-60 Hz. Even those tiny Apple or Amazon USB > power plugs that are less than 1 inch cubed can handle any voltage and > any frequency. So not the issue you think it is. If you do have an AP > that ships with a rare power brick that's not international compatible, > just replace the brick with something that is. > > As for converting line voltage, hertz typically doesn't matter, except > for old analog clocks, and converting voltage is easy using a > transformer, though I've not needed a transformer while traveling for > many years, as nearly everything is capable of handling any voltage > these days. > > > Then there's the fact that a good AP can cost upwards of $200 (the new > > Linksys WRT1900AC is $280!). That's money that could be used to place a > > quality Wi-Fi NIC in the server that works correctly and handles AP mode > > well. > > I expect that a $50-$100 AP will work just fine. I bet one of the > ubuiqiti networks products would suit you fine, and they are well under > $100. They are little linux boxes, but they choose the hardware > carefully, and ship with the right drivers. You might use their specs > to find a WiFi NIC to try on your server, however. > > I can tell you from recent experience that a finding a quality Wi-Fi NIC > is rather difficult, and getting good Linux support is even more > difficult. Many NICs don't support host (ap) mode even if it's the > right brand, and often Linux drivers are, well, lacking in quality and > features. Furthermore, I've not had good luck with stability either. I > have used atheros and intel chipsets, and neither was satisfactory for > me (little x86 box). hostapd would often just go stupid, requiring > frequent kicks. At least with a dedicated external AP, you can reset it > as needed without hurting your server. > > > > /* > PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net > Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug > Don't fear the penguin. > */ > /* PLUG: http://plug.org, #utah on irc.freenode.net Unsubscribe: http://plug.org/mailman/options/plug Don't fear the penguin. */
