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RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2005 11:03 pm
by daiceman
I just put my first 532 at 230' and it gets pretty cold where I am at. Like -30F/-34C what are my chances of having to climb in the dead of winter to replace a radio that freezes to death?

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 9:24 am
by normis
we put some working routerboards in a freezer and let them stay there for a few hours (days?). it was working fine. as you can see in the specs it says operational temperature from -20C (-4F)

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 4:28 pm
by daiceman
Thanks for the reply.

When we hit -30F this winter, and we always do, I will post how they fared.

Jeff

Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2005 5:16 pm
by jarosoup
You might want to consider using a ceramic heater or at least lining your outdoor enclosure with insulation (if it doesn't get too hot in the summer).

Re: RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Thu Jan 24, 2008 10:58 pm
by johnlaska
We use rb133s and have had a pretty nasty cold snap, -30C . We also live in an area with MAJOR weather swings! Happy to report that during high and low humidity, ice coating the outside unit, windchill, high winds, blah blah and everything survived the weather.

BUT (and it's a big, round, Jennifer Lopez butt)

MAKE SURE that your enclosure is completely tight, I recommend using Butel tape, aka "tar tape," (basically pliable tar that you peel off of a paper backing) to cover over every possible leak area. If your enclosure has weather stripping, keep a close eye on it during the cold months. We have learned that the things that need to heat up on the board (processor, voltage regulator, etc.) will stay warm and warm up other things on the board as well.

Re: RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:12 am
by jp
Do not seal it completely tight. It will draw in condensation as the pressure/temperature/humidity around it changes. You want it tight enough to keep the insects out, but open enough to permit moisture draining. Look at your antennas (panel/sector), they have drain holes in them.

Re:

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 4:23 am
by balimore
----
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regards
Hasbullah.com
----
we put some working routerboards in a freezer and let them stay there for a few hours (days?). it was working fine. as you can see in the specs it says operational temperature from -20C (-4F)

Re: RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Fri Jan 25, 2008 6:57 pm
by johnlaska
JP, thanks for the correction, we will stick a drain/breathing hole in our equipment right away.

(PS: I should have added that we have also insulated our boxes with a thin foam.)

Re: RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Sun Jan 27, 2008 8:27 am
by fcwireless
We just replaced 3 rb153's with 532's

Just after that we got a BIG cold snap. Our 3 new 532's are in northern wisconsin and have been running consistently for the past 3 months with no problems or outages whatsoever.

During this time the temp has gotten down to -40 w/wind chill. The temperature there can sometimes swing 40F between day and night.

We use outdoor sealed plastic boxes and set the cpu-mode to regular during the winter. Seems to be all we need to do..
system routerboard settings cpu-mode regular
although... we are R&Ding a larger outdoor solar powered box with a integrated heat exchanger (don't ask, so far we can't find a way to make it cost-effective and may just need to build them one off for us only)

Re: RB532 + Cold = ???

Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 6:51 pm
by jcremin
Where in WI are you located?