| ARGH! Ubnt radios freezing! This comes back and kicks me in the ass every single year!
It's -25C out here (So not stupid cold, just cold) and I have...
SITE 1
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2 M5Bullets frozen solid, crashed and need hard boots
1 M5Powerbridge in the process of shitting itself. Passing maybe 2Meg when normally 50Meg+
SITE 2
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1 M5Bullet frozen solid, crashed and needs hard boot
SITE 3
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1 M5Bullet jamming and passing traffic when it feels like it, link holds, packet loss and high pings like crazy
1 M5Powerbrige in the same vote
SITE 4
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1 M5Powerbrige in same vote as Site 3
SITE 5
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1 M5Bullet in same vote as Site 3-4
Gawddammit! What a shitstorm!
Last year it was only one M5Bullet that kept acting up, now it's a pile of radios!
Does anyone else have issues like this?
What's WORSE is I have other radios hung in areas 5X as treacherous as these sites, and they don't flinch... WTF! Site 4 and 5 are the only ones even remotely in windy/high locations. |
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 InssomniakThe GlitchPremium
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON
kudos:1 | I dont quite live as north as you do, but occasionally does get that cold here. Solution? Lower the output power. Worked for me on all freezing issues I had.
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OptionsDSL Wireless Internet
»www.optionsdsl.ca |
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| reply to voxframe
No shit? 
How much do you lower it? I'll try anything at this point!
Pleasepleaspleaseplease work!
Grrr F*** U Ubnt!  |
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| reply to voxframe
Holy crap it works! ... Somewhat
Brought back 2 sites by dropping power levels. The others are still acting up but not as bad. Just don't have the guts to play the limbo game and see just how low I can go before I kill the link and have to climb a mountain. Dropped them by 4db and crossing fingers.
On a side note...
------------- Ubnt Spec Sheet
Power Rating Up to 24V
Power Method Passive Power over Ethernet (pairs 4, 5+; 7, 8 return)*
Operating Temperature -40C to 80C
Operating Humidity 5 to 95% Condensing
Shock and Vibration ETSI300-019-1.4
--------------
-40C to 80C MY ASS!!!! |
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| reply to voxframe
I have only 6 PB5's and 12 Rocket M5's. All of them are at 20db or lower and have never frozen up. It's -27C here this AM and hit -31 overnight. |
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| reply to voxframe
Had this problem yesterday it is -27 here in NB and my issue was the power supplies in the outdoor cabinets where cold. Just for testing I heated up the cabinets and the radio's came back online. I do not know if this is the reason for the radio's coming back to life but it worked. |
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| reply to voxframe
Well so far we've resorted to wrapping bullets in insulation, dropping power, changing PoEs, wrapping PBs in garbage bags full of insulation...
Let me tell ya Ubnt... I ain't happy!
I can see this with the bullets, but PBs???!!! |
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| reply to voxframe
I just wish I knew what the hell the cold did to these things. Maybe I could do some kind of contortion to get around it. None of these fixes are making things stable again. Each helps a bit, but nothing is smooth.
It seems that it affects the CPU directly as I can't do anything with the radio when it's frozen. GUI doesn't work, LAN or WLAN side doesn't matter, it doesn't reboot, it just freezes and comes back like nothing happened.
This might sound crazy, does anyone know a simple command line I could issue to these to crank their CPU to the limit for a couple minutes to warm them up? I know starting Airview always worked well for me, but lately I can't do that because of all the firmware screwups, and the fact that it usually never works due to some Java problem (If anyone knows what that's all about too, please let me know) |
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 John GaltForward, MarchPremium
join:2004-09-30
Happy Camp
kudos:5
2 edits | This is what happens when the electronic components used are commercial temperature rated devices (0C to 70C) rather than the more robust industrial rated devices (-40C to 85C).
How do you think that UBNT keeps the radio prices so low? Using more expensive components? |
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| reply to voxframe
This is most likely a power supply issue. Bad crimps, cable, POE's etc..
Bullets make to much heat to "freeze" IMO. But I don't have to deal with the real cold stuff here in IL.
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»www.wirelessdatanet.net |
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 CMack
join:2004-07-30
canada | reply to voxframe
I have never used Rockets or Bullets however, we use the PS2-PS5 externals with no issues over the past 5 years in -30, no issues. My guess is it's how the internal antenna marry's to the Board. see photo, there are 4 UBNT AP's at the very top (cant see them) of a 130ft tower in hoar frost (every year), all customers working 5x5. |
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| reply to voxframe
Definitely not power. I wish it was. Would make it simpler.
We've wrapped the bullets in thermal insulation wraps, and the PBs in garbage bags filled with insulation. So far it did the trick.
It's definitely cold temps.
What scares me is these aren't seriously cold temps. -25C sucks, but it ain't deathly cold.
Bullets I can understand freezing. There's no spacing or insulating area in the casing. Not to mention if it's attached directly to the antenna (Especially something like a grid) that cold is being conducted directly to the board VIA the connector. For the PBs, my only theory is the metal bolts in the back to the metal bracketing. All other radios like rockets and nanos are all plastic so no direct conduction of thermal to the board itself. (Rockets kinda with their SMA connectors, but they are a lot smaller in comparison and have some coax to go through before they get to the radio) |
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| reply to voxframe
Here in winterpeg, we've already seen -30 and i haven't had one lock up yet. That being said, I have heated cabinets. It's really really easy to keep at least the POE's and switches warm.
We have a small heater taped glued to the door side of our cabinet. Between the gear, insulation and heater, the heater turns on for about 15 minutes out of the hour in cold cold weather. A cheaper solution would be to attach a light blulb (size of your choice) to a thermostat in your box. |
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| reply to voxframe
It's strange too because we have mountain sites the same as CMack where the tower is completely one solid block of hoar frost. You can't even tell there ARE antennas on it. And those aren't affected.
These are all sub 50foot installs. On buildings or Trylon towers. It totally doesn't make sense.
I'm curious if maybe this is a batch issue? |
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| reply to voxframe
We have a couple Bullets in use, and quite a few Bridges. I don't think we have seen this issue. I know this year we have seen some 15F temps. And last year we had a few 0's (I think was the coldest) And hadn't seen this.
I remember having issues like this with our older Deliberants and such for customers. Almost all of our power boxes are outdoor, without any insulation. Some just have 2 POEs chained together. So there isn't any heat to speak of in that box. I just find it pretty hard to believe a bullet would freeze. Ever held one of those on the bench? They get pretty darned warm even at idle. And of course they are "rated" at -40C
Of course after saying this, mine will magically start to do the same thing 
I have heard in the past that as ambient temps drop, devices require more power (current) to operate. I can't recall why, or if it's even true. But, if there is any kind of issue with cabling, POE, or crimps, it will show it's ugly head at the worst time. If it is true, your wraps might be helping in the form of the radio needing less current since it's warmer. It would also correlate to the lowering of power output solution.
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»www.wirelessdatanet.net |
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 RhaasPremium
join:2005-12-19
Bernie, MO | reply to voxframe
Maybe they are just cold and lonely?
How about climb up and whisper sweet nothings in its ethernet port??
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I survived Hale-Bopp! |
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LLigetfa
join:2006-05-15
Fort Frances, ON
kudos:1 | reply to voxframe
said by voxframe:I'm curious if maybe this is a batch issue?
Unless all your spares are of the same production run, I would start swapping them out to see.
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Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and formal education positively fortifies it. -- Stephen Vizinczey |
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jcremin
join:2009-12-22
Siren, WI
kudos:2 | reply to voxframe
said by voxframe:It's strange too because we have mountain sites where the tower is completely one solid block of hoar frost. And those aren't affected. I would think the frost would actually provide some insulating value, much like snow since it isn't completely solid like a block of ice. Might not be much, but maybe enough to help keep the wind from wicking away whatever little bit of heat the devices are able to produce. |
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InssomniakThe GlitchPremium
join:2005-04-06
Cayuga, ON
kudos:1 | reply to voxframe
said by voxframe:It's strange too because we have mountain sites the same as CMack where the tower is completely one solid block of hoar frost. You can't even tell there ARE antennas on it. And those aren't affected.
These are all sub 50foot installs. On buildings or Trylon towers. It totally doesn't make sense.
I'm curious if maybe this is a batch issue?
What killed me wasn't even the cold itself. It was the wind. The hoar frost is probably acting as insulation against the wind. Where the building sides can even see the wind accelerate on the exposed walls.
--
OptionsDSL Wireless Internet
»www.optionsdsl.ca |
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| reply to voxframe
I was kinda thinking that theory, but was wondering if I wasn't just grasping for any kind of answer at that point either. It's true though, any of our "exposed" radios on high points, are around half a foot deep in that frost on an average day. |
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