[Solved] Power Draw....

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mikesal57
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PostPosted: Mon May 09, 2022 11:51    Post subject: [Solved] Power Draw.... Reply with quote
Does power draw affect signal range?

Ex :

Some routers say 12 volts 2 amps = 20 watts

another says 12 volts 4 amps = 48 watts

Is the 48 watts a better router?

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05dyna
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PostPosted: Tue May 10, 2022 15:01    Post subject: Reply with quote
It’s what your device actually draws. Some of the popular routers like the R7800 and EA8500 probably draw 6 to 8 watts at the most.if your power adapter is stock and you needed a replacement for some reason for an 12V 3.5 Amp for the EA8500 (for example) and you purchased a 12V 5Amp as a replacement its not going to harm the device as long as the polarity at the plug is correct as well as the plug size. However but if you purchased a replacement that was rated less amps as your stock you could have a problem.
mikesal57
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 13:02    Post subject: Reply with quote
05dyna wrote:
It’s what your device actually draws. Some of the popular routers like the R7800 and EA8500 probably draw 6 to 8 watts at the most.if your power adapter is stock and you needed a replacement for some reason for an 12V 3.5 Amp for the EA8500 (for example) and you purchased a 12V 5Amp as a replacement its not going to harm the device as long as the polarity at the plug is correct as well as the plug size. However but if you purchased a replacement that was rated less amps as your stock you could have a problem.


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the-joker
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 14:06    Post subject: Reply with quote
In addition what makes a better router is not the power it draws. It is the hardware itself in its distinction, same router with exact hardware with different power consumption does not make one better over the other.

WiFi radios on some routers independent of the power rating or consumption, do not allow changing its transmission power for the radios (in Milliwats - mW). Also transmission power does not necessarily mean that a greater value improves signal range without issues.

Both too high or too low power transmission can adversely affect the quality of the signal.

To give you an example, setting my radios to 1000mW = 1 watt doesn't improve much in quality of signal or range, it degrades the signal and it causes more errors, so I leave it at default levels.

Also setting too high transmission power, where people or animals are in close proximity is really asking for health issues.

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SurprisedItWorks
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 14:49    Post subject: Reply with quote
the-joker wrote:
Also setting too high transmission power, where people or animals are in close proximity is really asking for health issues.

Health is always an understandable concern, but for perspective, 30 dBm is just another way to say one Watt, and this particular 1W comprises photons of 100000x (ish) lower individual energy (and hence DNA damaging potential) than those coming from your desk lamp. That lamp (several Watts if an LED light) is not giving you sunburn or damaging your DNA or heating your internal organs in some bad way.

You indeed don't want to stand right in front of a large military radar - similar photon energies but vastly more power - but this is 1W, not megawatts.

Another example: sunshine. On a clear day near the equator, 1 kilowatt per square meter or so, and with some of the photons (the UV ones) of enough energy to damage cells (sunburn). But we don't flee from the sun.

It'd be really hard to find a way to hurt someone with a Watt (fortunately, or some jackass would be doing it).

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ho1Aetoo
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 15:58    Post subject: Reply with quote
Yes, but 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz can transmit at the same time and that would be at 30dB not 1W but 2W.

In addition, the transmission power does not play any role but SAR and MPE.

and the limits are prescribed by law

A Netgear R7800 has a maximum MPE of 0.92 on 29cm distance and the maximum allowed value is 1

This means that you should not necessarily hold your head between the antennas for days.

https://fcc.report/FCC-ID/PY315100319/2878479

just as you should not spend hours outdoors unprotected in high solar radiation and high uv exposure Wink
the-joker
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 18:48    Post subject: Reply with quote
So the limit being 1 and the calculated being 0.92 makes it all safe during longer periods of exposure. The difference here is 0.08 which is not what I would call a safe margin.

I dont think so, since the reality of actual duration of exposure to those levels is never calculated anywhere except the average time of 30 minutes (Anyone spends more time than that across a spectrum of passive and active), active being the exposure during the actual duration in time you spend in your environment which you control, passive being the exposure during the actual duration in time you spend outside your environment when subjected to everyone elses radios.

And other sources not accounted in that document.

Sure you can argue that no one spends more than 30 minutes at 29cm, but these outside margins also dont account for commutative effect. Not to mention effect into which part of your physiology in particular.

Besides, one would have to question how these 3 letter agencies have your best interests at heart. It's clear and obvious, that they don't.

In any case, does not inspire confidence. I take these things as they are intended, with a pinch (or a truck load) of salt.

Edit: a nice interesting way to derail a thread =)

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DWCruiser
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 22:14    Post subject: Re: [Solved] Power Draw.... Reply with quote
mikesal57 wrote:
Does power draw affect signal range?



I'd like to add something to the discussion from your question.

- It may not be obvious to some but placing a wireless router as high as possible inside a house is better for signal transmission. It's why you see antennas of any kind normally on top of a hill/mountain. Bookshelf is a good spot.

- As for power adapter. I always save a device's power adapter instead of discarding it. The normal rule is:
---> Same voltage, and same or higher amps ratings for power adapter replacement.

Case in point. A Netgear R9000 i got from the US recently has 100-120V. Australia's power supply is 220V-240V. One of my saved power adapters, rewired to R9000's unique plug with correct polarity, came back into use.

On a related note. The 5V common external power supply for mobile devices in use today was not due to the visionary acts by phone makers. But it was an initiative by the European Commission in 2009. And we all now benefit from it. Left alone to manufacturers (Apple comes to mind), we would contribute to landfills even faster. A simple calculation: Simply multiply the number of mobile phones you owned (since day 1) with number of users in the world, it would be a staggering amount of landfills.

The profit motive is not always aligned to our collective social goodness.

And, we only got one shared home called Earth.

Good day.

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Alozaros
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PostPosted: Fri May 13, 2022 23:27    Post subject: Reply with quote
my poor cat used to sleep on the top of the router...she died...well router died too, overheated... Rolling Eyes Rolling Eyes



there was an article that i read around 2006, where wi-fi routers (G generation) ware tested on rats and those rats ware kept well looked after, in order to see if anything will come trough their lifespan, at the end they lived happily and healthy all their life, next to a working router..with no changes in behaviour or health issues...of course old school WRT54 was not that powerful, but i doubt anything will affect life...

to get back to the theme...some routers have better power amps and better range than other...compare my 740v1 vs 1043v2 vs R7000/R7800/R9000 but if you use a narrow band like 20HT instead of 40HT or even 10HT or 5HT than range increases as well the dead spots...so range is a variable related to different factors...where power is limited...due to country regulations, some vendors impose limitation or just unit is designed like that...

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Last edited by Alozaros on Sat May 14, 2022 7:38; edited 1 time in total
DWCruiser
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PostPosted: Sat May 14, 2022 1:03    Post subject: Reply with quote
A moment of diversion....

Alozaros wrote:
my poor cat used to sleep on the top of the router...


Daughter of a friend of mine once told me that if i want a friend, get a dog. If i want to feel like being useful, like a servant, get a cat. Smile

We have a female dog, 8½ years old, rescued from an animal shelter.

Still, she treats me like me more like a food dispenser to her than a friend. She thinks our robot-vacuum is just a dummy thing, and calmly walks over it if needed, when it's running. Smile

End of diversion.

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SurprisedItWorks
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PostPosted: Sat May 14, 2022 15:15    Post subject: Reply with quote
This thread is already marked solved, so our health distraction is pretty harmless. A final thought then.

The tiny fraction of a watt you absorb from your router (its 2W is spread out in all directions) is nothing compared to what your brain absorbs from your cell/mobile phone right up to your ear when it's "yelling" (using its maximum allowed power output) to reach a far-away cell tower, particularly when the call is long timewise. If you want something to analyze/research re health effects, start there. Meanwhile, speakerphones and ear buds are a way to keep your little transmitter further from your brain tissue and probably lower net brain frying by 10 dB or more.

Edit: most of my mobile/cell phone calls are while I'm home, so I keep my phone there in airplane mode with wifi and "wifi calling" enabled. All my calls are in/out via the router. The phone uses way less transmit power to reach the router than it needs to reach a cell tower a mile or more away. (Our cell signals are weak.)

But at the same time, don't be like the cat. No napping on your router, please.

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Last edited by SurprisedItWorks on Sat May 14, 2022 15:45; edited 1 time in total
the-joker
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PostPosted: Sat May 14, 2022 15:27    Post subject: Reply with quote
SurprisedItWorks wrote:
A final thought then.



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