Ubiquiti Point to Point Questions

CaptainCrunch

CaptainCrunch

Getting comfortable
Feb 13, 2023
389
727
Texas
I'm looking span about 50 feet with my network and wired is not the best option. I've been trying to learn about PtP bridges to see what would fit my needs. The signal would be sent through 1 ceiling and 1 wall. The connection will handle traffic from 4-5 cameras, mostly 5442's and maybe a color4k. There are a lot of options on Amazon and Aliexpress. Most of them are no-names, or at least no-names to me. I don't need the top of the line but I also don't want go cheap and end up with something unreliable. I think I've picked out a few that seem like they would work for me and I figured I would get a 2nd through 6th opinion from people here who have much more experience than I do.

Ubiquiti NanoBeam 5AC - $100 - includes PoE adaptor, extra GbE port (might not be of much use to me)
Ubiquiti NanoStation 5AC Loco - $50 - needs PoE adaptor ($6-20)
Ubiquiti LiteBeam 5AC - $65 - includes PoE adaptor

They all claim 450+ Mbps throughput and I'm pretty sure that's plenty for my needs. There's a chance I may want to add a second "remote." If I do, it would be about 80 feet from the master and about 10-15 degrees to one side of the existing remote.

I'm sure the NanoBeam is better than the NanoStation. It's also twice the price (before the adaptor purchase). Like I said, I don't need the best. I just need something above the "good enough" cut off. Is there another model, or brand, I should be considering? Are any of the 3 above not worth considering?
 
I don't think I'd go with a Loco, I'd stick with one of the other 2 OR.....if operating not from a passive POE injector but instead from 802.3af/at compliant POE is highly desirable, then consider the Loco's big brother, the NanoStation 5AC (NS-5AC-US) for $120. Yep, it's more but as stated it will operate from 802.3af/at POE.

It has a secondary port that very well may power a POE camera depending on the PSE's output and the total demand of the attached PD's (radio and camera).
 
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TonyR said:
I don't think I'd go with a Loco, I'd stick with one of the other 2 OR.....if operating not from a passive POE injector but instead from 802.3af/at compliant POE is highly desirable, then consider the Loco's big brother, the NanoStation 5AC (NS-5AC-US) for $120. Yep, it's more but as stated it will operate from 802.3af/at POE.

It has a secondary port that very well may power a POE camera depending on the PSE's output and the total demand of the attached PD's (radio and camera).
Click to expand...

Tony, I know you're well versed on this. It's only 50-80 feet, what about just using something like a Unifi Mesh 6 or similar instead of a point-to-point setup?
 
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MTL4 said:
Tony, I know you're well versed on this. It's only 50-80 feet, what about just using something like a Unifi Mesh 6 or similar instead of a point-to-point setup?
Click to expand...
I haven't looked at the antenna profile of the UniFi Mesh 6 so not sure if it would be as well suited as the NS radios; it might be more omni-directional than uni-directional. With 5GHz you need the best focus for direction because 5 doesn't have as much punch through walls and doors as 2.4GHz but the 2.4 won't have the throughput you'll need for all the cams the OP listed.

I believe the NS AC series, and particularly the NS-5AC-US, will provide a better antenna profile for what the OP is doing, if I understand correctly.
 
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TonyR said:
I don't think I'd go with a Loco, I'd stick with one of the other 2 OR.....if operating not from a passive POE injector but instead from 802.3af/at compliant POE is highly desirable, then consider the Loco's big brother, the NanoStation 5AC (NS-5AC-US) for $120. Yep, it's more but as stated it will operate from 802.3af/at POE.

It has a secondary port that very well may power a POE camera depending on the PSE's output and the total demand of the attached PD's (radio and camera).
Click to expand...

The extra port will be of minimal use in the original setup. I won't get any use out of it on the master unit. I could hook a camera up to it on the remote unit but that won't eliminate the need for a PoE switch for the other cameras. The only advantage might be if I use exactly 5 cameras. Then I could use the 4 PoE ports from the TP-Link TL-SG1005P and one from the remote unit. But even then, for $45-50 more than that switch, I could go with the TL-SG1008MP and add 3 more PoE ports for additional cameras.

As I continue to overthink this decision (as I regularly do), I keep doing "vs" searches. I ran across one this morning that mentioned some of them being too powerful for the distance I'm considering. Although there is a clear LOS in the example, it's also 7x the distance (350 feet) than what I'm looking at. But the Loco is the recommended unit. Is there a reason you wouldn't consider it?
 
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CaptainCrunch said:
I'm looking span about 50 feet with my network and wired is not the best option. I've been trying to learn about PtP bridges to see what would fit my needs. The signal would be sent through 1 ceiling and 1 wall. The connection will handle traffic from 4-5 cameras, mostly 5442's and maybe a color4k. There are a lot of options on Amazon and Aliexpress. Most of them are no-names, or at least no-names to me. I don't need the top of the line but I also don't want go cheap and end up with something unreliable. I think I've picked out a few that seem like they would work for me and I figured I would get a 2nd through 6th opinion from people here who have much more experience than I do.

Ubiquiti NanoBeam 5AC - $100 - includes PoE adaptor, extra GbE port (might not be of much use to me)
Ubiquiti NanoStation 5AC Loco - $50 - needs PoE adaptor ($6-20)
Ubiquiti LiteBeam 5AC - $65 - includes PoE adaptor

They all claim 450+ Mbps throughput and I'm pretty sure that's plenty for my needs. There's a chance I may want to add a second "remote." If I do, it would be about 80 feet from the master and about 10-15 degrees to one side of the existing remote.

I'm sure the NanoBeam is better than the NanoStation. It's also twice the price (before the adaptor purchase). Like I said, I don't need the best. I just need something above the "good enough" cut off. Is there another model, or brand, I should be considering? Are any of the 3 above not worth considering?
Click to expand...

I don’t know if what you stated was true or a mistake. But, the PtP Wireless hardware is intended to bridge two locations via line of sight.

It isn’t designed or made to go through walls and doing so will severely impact the speed & quality of the signal.

As an aside they do make a suction cup window mount and this would be much better than trying to span several walls of unknown construction such as plaster / mesh, brick, etc.

Lastly, the signal output can be adjusted up / down based on your environmental needs to achieve the best signal to noise ratio.
 
Teken said:
I don’t know if what you stated was true or a mistake. But, the PtP Wireless hardware is intended to bridge two locations via line of sight.

It isn’t designed or made to go through walls and doing so will severely impact the speed & quality of the signal.

As an aside they do make a suction cup window mount and this would be much better than trying to span several walls of unknown construction such as plaster / mesh, brick, etc.

Lastly, the signal output can be adjusted up / down based on your environmental needs to achieve the best signal to noise ratio.
Click to expand...

What I stated was true and not a mistake. PtP Wireless hardware is intended to be used with clear LoS. However, I'm relying on physics to assist me here. The signal will travel through obstacles and the obstacles will impact the signal to some degree, anywhere from minimal to severe. One of the other members here has reported a successful connection with a similar setup.

Point to Point Wireless Bridge Recomendations

900's would have better vegetation penetration as long as its not extremely dense, as higher frequency has better bandwidth but lower vegetation penetration and lower the frequency, lower bandwidth but better penetration....but they'd likely be older, removed-from-service radios. I'd perform a...
ipcamtalk.com ipcamtalk.com

It's certainly not the ideal use of the equipment but if the results are above the "good enough" threshold, that's good enough for my needs. I don't need 100% of the potential speed and quality. I need enough speed and quality to get the signal moved from where it is to where I need it to be. The construction is not completely unknown. The connection viewed from the side is shown in the picture below. My biggest concern is insulation. If I can't angle the signal as well as shown in the picture and the signal has to go through the ceiling and wall instead of just the ceiling, will the foil backing of the insulation in the outer wall going to be an issue? And that's if there's a foil backing. Any other projects around the house has shown all of the other backing to be paper on the exterior walls. Unfortunately, I'm not able to get to that area to install a wired connection. And I'm trying to avoid running the wire around the outside of the house due to the length of that run. Windows are not an option. The only way to get the ideal LoS is to mount them on the outside of the house. And once I run the wires to be able to mount them there, I may as well just finish the run with wire, exactly what this project is trying to avoid.

IMG_7223.png
 
anotherone said:
Have you thought about a power line adapter. I have one running to shed 150 feet away and I get 200 mbs over it.
Click to expand...

Outlet space is limited given the current installation of the rest of the system. And the second outlet would be outside. I have a pair of gigabit powerline adaptors with pass-thru ac that I may be able to put my hands on to test out.
 
Just so I am clear you want to install another camera (inside) the house?!? Or is this new camera physically outside (somewhere) on the property?!?
 
All the current cameras are set up on the outside at the front of the house. I'm able to access the attic in those areas to be able to run wires through the attic. I want to install cameras at the back of the house on the outside. I do not have access to that area to run wires through the attic. The unit on the bottom right of the picture is outside. It would be about 15 feet from the exterior wall. If I can get the unit on top left of the picture high enough and far back enough, the signal will only need to make it through the ceiling above the back porch. Otherwise, the signal would need to make it through the back wall as well.
 
CaptainCrunch said:
But the Loco is the recommended unit. Is there a reason you wouldn't consider it?
Click to expand...
That linked discussion and subsequent replies were missing...."the signal would be sent through 1 ceiling and 1 wall" that you stated in your OP.
Yes, a Loco at 350 ft. clear LOS would be no problem.

If you try the NS as I suggested I will be VERY surprised if you don't have to decrease the TX power of the linked units.
 
TonyR said:
That linked discussion and subsequent replies were missing...."the signal would be sent through 1 ceiling and 1 wall" that you stated in your OP.
Yes, a Loco at 350 ft. clear LOS would be no problem.

If you try the NS as I suggested I will be VERY surprised if you don't have to decrease the TX power of the linked units.
Click to expand...

I think the part I'm confused about is what the 2.5x cost of the NS over the loco adds. The NS has an extra port and can run off of 802.3af/at compliant POE. Neither of those two are benefits to me. The NS has a little higher gain. But the power appears to be the same. I'm looking at the datasheet for both and it's not much of a help.

 
CaptainCrunch said:
The NS has a little higher gain.
Click to expand...
:cool: Yep, the NS has a larger antenna. That's why I recommended it over the Loco when considering "the wall and ceiling."
 
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