I got 6 SXTs' decided to try one on our mast 3 days later it failed due to water ingress.Replaced it with another SXT and we had none stop storms and rain and as i dreaded that SXT failed too.On our mast we have other types of a antenna with over 6 years with no problems.Come on Mikrotik sort out the design of the SXT I won't be purchasing anymore until i see the that dam clip in door design go.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N ... otostream/

is this Correct?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N ... hotostream

The SXT was up about 20ft on the mast and was vertical. The Ethernet cable was a tight fit and the door clicked shut i made sure of that.One of the reasons maybe that the water got in because the wind was blowing air up into the unit and thus forcing the water up into the unit...OR..... On the picture you can see rust on the microchip where the water come up along the ethernet cable.

I can say 100% that the 2 failed unit's were properly installed.There is a design flaw in the SXT even if water can't get in how about ISP's that are close to the sea like we are the vapour from the air will rust the inside of the unit's.Another flaw is the way the ethernet portl is nearly at a right angle to the incoming cable when the door is close closed.Until these problems are resloved i cant trust these unit's.

I will gladly test your units for free if they last here they will last anywhere

After what happened to the SXT on our mast's i decided to take down a few that i had put up for clients.Now i expect any CPE be bomb proof here is a SXT which was on the roof of a client's house on a pole 5ft from his chimney as you can see the smoke got in.On the same pole i have another unit which i opened and checked and it is nice and clean inside.The SXT that had failed on the mast is slightly different in the mounting of the routerboard see pictures.In the unit that failed the routerboard was loose because it had none of the Black Rubber wedges holding it in place plus as you can see there was no clip to hold it in place.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N ... /lightbox/

Normis, i did waterproof SXT (s) with fishing tank paste, and a layer of electrical wires paste. and all holes is closed, they are mounted vertically.
i think they will explode in next summer!

how correct vertical mount?

you probably didn't mount them according to the documentation. if you do that, it works without problems even after a year of rainy and wet weather (like we have here)

There is a big difference of the rain in Riga and the "Spray" of salt we get here. I live 3km from the Swedish westcost and the air is filled with salt.

My car get a layer salt only after a few days when the storm roars.

So I don't belive water "secure" is enough in these conditions because when the moist salty air blows up from all directions it will
enter the SXT one way or the other. I have an RB that got soaked in water and still worked, but when you add salt to the equation
it's a totallly different ballgame.

So "mounting according to the documentation" will not work in the long run for coastal areas....

Sxt's where designed stupid from the start. With an shielded UTP you can make a short very easy with all the electronics suroundind the utp port. Then you must bend the cable to close the door, but if cable is ftp, is very dificult and the door will have a little crack. Still they are veryy good and cheap but this is no reason for a very stupid design. And is not designer fault, is mikrotik fault or maybe plastic is too expensive.

The water ingress issue of the SXT is discussed in many treads already and althoug many will use them without problems many others acknowledge the problems with the SXT in 'watery' conditions.
First of all, like jcem already mentions, the only protection agains humidity or salt particles filled air is a full sealed unit. The SXT is simply not that.
When straitgh rain is the issue, I already mentioned somewhere in a thread that wind can cause a ´ventauri' effect on drain holes so water is actually sucked or blown into the box instead of the holes drain the water.
Also, when unit is fixed on a mast or bracket, the mast/pole or bracket creates turbulence on the downwind side that can actually blowing water up!
These possible water ingress causes are so variable that it is well possible many people will never have issues, where others have plenty. Imho a serious operator working with outdoor equipments that should 'wheater' the climate and time should not even consider to use SXT's unless he is prepared to have a relative high failure rates with its related downtimes...

The SXT is just what it is to be expected: A cheap outdoor unit that CAN have its use but don't expect the best of it.
The MT claim of a 'full wheater proof unit' can be considered to be over optimistic...
Apart of that there are other design failures of the SXT preventing it ever to become the prime option for serious operators.
The only succes of the SXT is its size and the price.

In marine conditions I'll normally treat boards with Corrosion X heavy, or Boeshield T9. Boeshield will dry to a waxy type coating that's better for really cold conditions though that means you have to be careful not to coat your contacts in the ethernet port. After you treat the board you could submerge it in salt water and it wouldn't damage it, at most you'd have to clean the contacts.

Hi Normis,

have you a date for the new SXT Version?

Normis, do you attempt to open up the SXT, or just spray it up into the door opening? Obviously, you'd have to block the RJ45. Will spraying up into it through the door affect the antenna?

there is no water problem in my SXT , my SXT works fine even heavy rain, powerfull cpe product for me. thanks mikrotik.

I'm tired of Mikrotik SX5HND.
I have four of them and I am having moisture (water inside) problems during the last 30 days of rainy seazon in Brazil.
I had to buy 2 more sets to replace the misfunctioning ones.
Of course the mounting was done just like the manual and the videos.
I can see corrosion inside the Rj45 conector.
I think I need a mutch more professional and trustable device.
Any sugestion?
Thank you

Ive also posted threads about this, there clearly is a problem, but no one admits it.

We were lucky enough to be able to switch the SXT's out with OmniTIKS and have send the SXT back to our distributor as not fit for purpose. Had hundreds of Engenious units in the field and never a problem, but failures within our first 100 SXTS. Working out about 15% failure rate now after 6 months.

Its not mounting issue, even an idiot can see that water can ingress into the SXT unless you use copious amounts of silicone.

Water get inside SXT no matter what you say. I found water but units are not damaged. I bought oil spray and some kind of protection spray for inside pcb. And after 1 year of sun the plastic will crack if you open the units.

Maybe it is not a problem with sxt at all ... In the past I had problems with water and some antennas on a mountain tower and it turned out to be a problem with the cable itself. Temperatures on that tower ranged from -30 in the winter to +30 in the summer and since the altitude was above 1000m also difference between day and night was quite big. Water got into the antenna coax cable, worked its way up (sun heat?) to the connector, condensed and over time caused corrosion and short circuted the connector. I have seen it happen a couple of times. Check your cables, cut them open and look for signs of moisture ... it was quite easy to spot on a coax, it may be a bit harder on ethernet cable. What cables are you all using on towers? How old are they? Even the best cables wont last for decades and remain weather proof.

JF

For us rain never got inside the case, its salt spray and fog / mist that caused the issues.
From what I can tell its due the the 4 little "breathing holes" - They are located too close to the PCB. Maybe if they had another little bit of plastic on the inside so air doesnt have direct access to the PCB

We used to have them fail within a few months before we started spraying them with a type of conformal coating. Since then they have been working fine.

It would be much better if the conformal coating was applied in the factory.

As I just posted in another thread, for over a year we have had three absolutely un-modified SXTs deployed in a windy environment less than 1km from the ocean, with not a bit of trouble.

Maybe we are lucky and the units we received (manufactured in 2011) were better-made than later runs; Maybe securing the Cat5 to form a drip-loop below the case makes a huge difference; Maybe rust is already forming inside the case from salt air and humidity; Maybe the case is about to disintegrate from being in the sun for a year. I haven't had to touch them since the install, and until something does go wrong I'm not inclined to disturb them.

My point being, whatever the common flaw is that brought about these reported failures, it doesn't seem to affect all of them.

Actually from this image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/67505737@N ... otostream/

It doesn't look like rust at all. It definitely looks like the cover was open.

Or the catX cable that didn't have a "drip loop".

We just had another 5 of the original SXTs fail due to visible corrosion - (These were installed before we started spraying them with a conformal coating)
They were working fine for around a year until a power outage, after powering back on they will not hold configuration.

Deleted because not related.

crap again, we are talking about sxt's we don't need links with antenna enclosure, we are not so dumb's

Hi,

I have mounted the SXT's according to documentations and I have also made sure the door has closed correctly. 1/2 of the SXT's I have installed at this site I have put silicon around the door edges.

I have units from each failing....

Take a look at the pictures as you can tell the water hasn't got in via the door it looks likes is come in from the drip holes. If you look the water makes seem to go up like some kind of wind vortex has caused the water to enter then go up.

The company I work for has around 3000 outdoor access points consisting of Routerboard, Ruckus, Engenius, Ubiquiti. The only water damaged AP's we have is Routerboard SXT's. OmniTik's Grooves etc are fine no problems what so ever.

These units have come back from a site in John O Groat's in Scotland which has a high amount of wind/rain. Maybe you guys who are not seeing these problems don't have them in the same out door conditions. But in a country with a climate like the UK these are not ideal for outdoor use.


MikroTik if you want to redesign them we are more than happy to test the redesigned units on this site.

Hi Normis,

Thanks for the fast response, this design looks much better!

I have got some of the original design SXT's in stock can I send these back to my distributor and get them replaced with the newer designed ones?

Regards,

sb1mpo

Is this new design available now? Have you made any changes to the door design?

Hi,

here are my own experiences:

Having a couple of SXT's running in Kenya (Nairobi) without problems.
Another few SXT's running in Congo (Pointe Noire) failed all after only a few months.

Issue: Saltwater from the Sea entered the non waterproof design of the SXT and led to corrosion on the board.
The ones in Kenya last longer (until today >1y), as no salty Air in Nairobi.

Therefore it would be better to have a fully sealed design...

Solution for now: Use plenty waetherproof Silicon to make SXT's waterproof.

Heiko

@Normis
Is it possible to recognize newest design devices without unit disassembly?

Regards,

Thanks for info.

Regards,

The wind tunnel looks much better... but I think the door could do with improving as well.

Interesting that Mikrotik deny any problems, and then make design improvements in the very areas we've all been complaining about. Glad to see the changes, but agree the door still concerns me.

For the record, I also saw problems in exactly the same place on the boards.

Had SXT mounted for testing at my workshop for months and even went to extra effort of totally sealing with 50mm copper foil on the back + sides for rf screening plus varnished sealed + painted, used 1M of cat5 from SXT to junction box for connection as the SXT was as i thought sealed? ......... and all it took at a exposed high location was 2 weeks of high winds and "driving rain" (similiar to power hosing) for water to ingress by cat5 cable to internal rj45 socket, it would take more than just a "wind tunnel" in the design to prevent the same from happening again?

If wind is driving water up the Ethernet cable and into the case, a little plumber's putty where the cable passes through the door should help.

If wind is driving water up the Ethernet cable and into the case, a little plumber's putty where the cable passes through the door should help.

I think it would take a lot more than just "plumber's putty" to solve this as the cat5 cable flexes at the entry point to the SXT, the present design may not cause any issues in certain weather conditions but the SXT fails for me, and would require at my location a waterproof rj45 socket connection which uses a rubber grommet over the cat5 which also flexes as the cat5 does in high wind and a screw tight compartment rather than snap lock?

The right type is flexible and slightly adhesive. If you secure the Cat5 to the equipment pole a few inches below the level of the door, that 6" length isn't going to move around enough to break the seal.

I agree that a rubber grommet would be ideal. Until we have something like that, my suggestion is the nearest thing.

The right type is flexible and slightly adhesive. If you secure the Cat5 to the equipment pole a few inches below the level of the door, that 6" length isn't going to move around enough to break the seal.

I agree that a rubber grommet would be ideal. Until we have something like that, my suggestion is the nearest thing.

Even with 6" of cat5 cable loose it would suprise how much that cable will flex as it being pulled in different directions as the wind changes direction on a exposed location and in my case that movement did break the seal and allow water in and upto the J45 socket and then down inside the cat5 cable?

@Normis
As previously mentioned the present SXT design will not cause issues for customers in most climates or locations but could I suggest Mikrotik gives the option for others who have a issue with water ingress, that in the design it is possible to attach a waterproof ethernet socket and put on screws to firmly close rather the comparment snap lock method?

http://www.interprojekt.com.pl/gold-wir ... p-739.html

Interesting that Mikrotik deny any problems, and then make design improvements in the very areas we've all been complaining about. Glad to see the changes, but agree the door still concerns me.

For the record, I also saw problems in exactly the same place on the boards.

According to this logic, each year there would be no new cars and phone models, because last years model is "good enough"

This sort of comment is why I seriously consider switching our considerable estate from Mikrotik. Clearly you don't take your customers seriously, rather concentrating on volume sales to many people than working with the installers than install 10's of thousands of your units.

Comparing it to cars: Toyota realised they had a problem , they recalled millions of cars and fixed it. A non waterproof external access point in my mind is a design flaw and needs recalling.

I totally agree with you TheWiFiGuy!

It should be a sealed unit with a CAT5 gland built into the unit similar to the Ubiquiti Bullet Titanium.

I would agree if you changed the product description "SXT is a low cost, high speed 2GHz outdoor wireless device".

Maybe add: its not waterproof so its not really suitable for outdoor.

TheWiFiGuy, this device doesn't have an IPxx certificate, so it is not advertised as submersible.

You can see that it does have holes, but if installed according to instructions, 99% of users don't have any problems with water.

Just look one post above at what n21roadie said. If you have some specific conditions where you require a 100% waterproof device with IP67 enclosure, you can look at products that "Made For MikroTik" companies offer. Several offer such cases.

http://www.mikrotik.com/mfm

My only requirement is to stick the device on a pole and use it as a CPE in a location it sometimes rains. I was under the impression an SXT could manage that. We've had at least 10 units fail over the last year, possibly more. sb1mpo also has issues, as does N21Roadie.

Please: If Engenius can manufacture an enclosure that works (lets use the 2611p as an example - now discontinued ) then why cant Mikrotik also design a case that is that well made.

Im not going to get into a flame wars with you: you know there is a problem. I know there is a problem. How you handle it will speak volumes.

I would agree if you changed the product description "SXT is a low cost, high speed 2GHz outdoor wireless device".

Maybe add: its not waterproof so its not really suitable for outdoor.

Agreed:

Why dont they just make a higher cost external, waterproof CPE device: I dont care if it costs more, I never asked them to make it as cheap as possible.

TheWiFiGuy, this device doesn't have an IPxx certificate, so it is not advertised as submersible.

You can see that it does have holes, but if installed according to instructions, 99% of users don't have any problems with water.

Just look one post above at what n21roadie said. If you have some specific conditions where you require a 100% waterproof device with IP67 enclosure, you can look at products that "Made For MikroTik" companies offer. Several offer such cases.

http://www.mikrotik.com/mfm

Instead of fighting to get one device adapted to your needs, you might be better off using RB911 in a IP67 case. Always choose the right tool for the situation.

I was trying to use the SXT onto a grid from a “Made for Mikrotik” http://reflectors.com.ua/
Yes – a dish has higher gain but also much higher wind loading than a grid, there is many situations like a timber pole mast where windloading is a very important consideration?
I was happy with the performance of this grid but ingress of water has shelved this plan for now, all I ask is that the SXT enclosure is designed to accept (not include) a waterproof Ethernet socket and screw points to seal the click to seal compartment?

http://forum.mikrotik.com/viewtopic.php ... 25#p288054

@n21roadie
I really like your ReflectorTIK2, where can I order them? Price in euros?
The OmniTik's are reliable units, but they lack a bit of gain and shielding from unwanted noise. With your solution I can basically setup sector AP's without the need of buying relative expensive antena systems with the outdoor boxes and the boards etc. etc.
What about a 120 degree shield?

Now you seem to be so smart in making shields and holders for SXT and the omnitik, why not make a shield that covers the SXT as well?
I mean, they can do with some un-wanted off-directional signal shielding. And by making a shield you probably also prevent wind blowing water ingress.... catch two at one...
This shield should be able to be used on stand alone SXT instalation or when SXT is fit on disks or with Reflector like you already make. Now you'll be able to catch three in one go......

MT technician reading this; why are you guys waiting for outsiders to improve your product line?
Look at your biggest competitor. They swarm the market and listen to their customers what they want and have good 'antenna's' for where the market is going.... They do it all themselves. You guys exist longer then them. But I think you are missing the train here... Look at ubnt's product portfolio compared to MT.

I am a real MT adapt, but I must confess it is hard at times to keep my believe in MT. Where is a MT 3x3 radio? When can we see 802.11ac implementation? Many of us still waiting for GPS synch.
Now we see new bandwidth opened in Europe. How long will it take ROS to allow it to use?

Come on MT, you guys can, and should, do better....

(No ofense to all these 'good' guys trying to improve MT products and make a penny this way. Maybe a better co-operation between you guys and MT is needed to offer products that can withstand the competition in both price and quality.)

@n21roadie
I really like your ReflectorTIK2, where can I order them? Price in euros?
The OmniTik's are reliable units, but they lack a bit of gain and shielding from unwanted noise. With your solution I can basically setup sector AP's without the need of buying relative expensive antena systems with the outdoor boxes and the boards etc. etc.
What about a 120 degree shield?

Now you seem to be so smart in making shields and holders for SXT and the omnitik, why not make a shield that covers the SXT as well?
I mean, they can do with some un-wanted off-directional signal shielding. And by making a shield you probably also prevent wind blowing water ingress.... catch two at one...
This shield should be able to be used on stand alone SXT instalation or when SXT is fit on disks or with Reflector like you already make. Now you'll be able to catch three in one go......

The grid dish are available at http://reflectors.com.ua/ http://reflectors.com.ua/newref/
Price SXT25 cost me $55 each,

Shielding - I am waiting for "SXTHG- High Gain SXT, 17.4dB antenna, more directional, 1 watt, Gigabit ethernet (metal shield), 5Ghz. Available May"

ia this in SA yet realy want to try this out im shore it will work

@n21roadie
I really like your ReflectorTIK2, where can I order them? Price in euros?
The OmniTik's are reliable units, but they lack a bit of gain and shielding from unwanted noise. With your solution I can basically setup sector AP's without the need of buying relative expensive antena systems with the outdoor boxes and the boards etc. etc.
What about a 120 degree shield?

Now you seem to be so smart in making shields and holders for SXT and the omnitik, why not make a shield that covers the SXT as well?
I mean, they can do with some un-wanted off-directional signal shielding. And by making a shield you probably also prevent wind blowing water ingress.... catch two at one...
This shield should be able to be used on stand alone SXT instalation or when SXT is fit on disks or with Reflector like you already make. Now you'll be able to catch three in one go......

The grid dish are available at http://reflectors.com.ua/ http://reflectors.com.ua/newref/
Price SXT25 cost me $55 each,

Shielding - I am waiting for "SXTHG- High Gain SXT, 17.4dB antenna, more directional, 1 watt, Gigabit ethernet (metal shield), 5Ghz. Available May"

Our RB Metal is completely waterproof and sealed. Like I said, if SXT is not the device that fits your needs, you can choose another product from our lineup, or combine one of the RouterBOARD models with some MFM case.

?? You must be joking. RB Metal is single chain. SXT is dual. Are you really suggesting single chain unit should replace dual one? Let's blame it to the early hour! (??)

@normis: Ah, similar as metal and SXT combind! That would make my day and lots of others.
So, RF shielded, watertight, directional or sectorial and hopefully a bit more gain than the 14dBi we are getting now from the SXT.
Make us happy!

The grid dish are available at http://reflectors.com.ua/ http://reflectors.com.ua/newref/
Price SXT25 cost me $55 each,

Did you manage to buy from them? I've send an e-mail to their address but the mail is bounched as beeing unroutable, and their Skype is never answered...

The grid dish are available at http://reflectors.com.ua/ http://reflectors.com.ua/newref/
Price SXT25 cost me $55 each,

Did you manage to buy from them? I've send an e-mail to their address but the mail is bounched as beeing unroutable, and their Skype is never answered...

Yes I bought two reflectors, I sent a email saying you were unable to contact them?

The grid dish are available at http://reflectors.com.ua/ http://reflectors.com.ua/newref/
Price SXT25 cost me $55 each,

Did you manage to buy from them? I've send an e-mail to their address but the mail is bounched as beeing unroutable, and their Skype is never answered...

Yes I bought two reflectors, I sent a email saying you were unable to contact them?

No, thanks. I made a typo in the mail address and finally got them contacted via Skype.

I actually proposed them to make some shield for the SXT units as well. Operators (also small time starters or 'newbees') and manufacturers need to understand that now we see the usage of 5Ghz sort of exploding everywhere, both on domestic level (new multi band routers are penetrating the market now) as well as in the more professional fields.
Only 5 years ago I was the first, and thus only, to use 5Ghz here in my valley. Now a scan reveals easy 20 AP's and we are also all going more and more using 40, and later (802.11ac) up to 80Mhz wide bands......
Initially I had some 50 clients, now the combined operators must have at least 1000 clients. That is 1000 antenna's al trying to get their radio signals send somewhere.....
The spectrum is really getting filled here and so it develops the need to shield your antenna's (special the AP's) as much as possible from unwanted signals....

If they make a good shield that could also serve in preventing further water ingress that still seems to hamper several users of the SXT's... catch two flies in one go. Apart from that, the SXT is a good product. I am very happy with them. I even had two falling out of my hand. One died (no more radio), the other one still works normally

I am awaiting on the high power + screened SXT but would request heavy duty mounting bracket and galvanising of the grid?