Question Considering a wireless bridge to protect my modem / router from electrical problems. Will this work?

[medic5678]

I've got a MOFI 5500 Modem/router and it's working well with a Waveform antenna. I've got a few acres of property, with extensive wired and wireless devices . I'm concerned that I'll take a power surge and I'd like to protect the MOFI modem as much as possible. So I've also got an old Asus RTAC66u router and can pick up another one to run a wireless bridge, so all of my wired devices will ultimately run through one of the bridged routers to the other one, with no physical connection between them. Of course, one of the routers will be connected to the MOFI, but that's pretty minimal exposure. Anyone else do this?

 

[Aeacus]

to protect my modem / router from electrical problems

Unless you ran your electrical devices off from a generator (sealed, well grounded, closed system), i see no other great way to protect said hardware from electrical problems. Plugging devices into mains (main electrical grid) for power, will always have the inherit risk of surges/brown outs/ black outs and the like. Best you could do, is having an UPS between mains and devices.

Also, wireless electricity is not a thing. Wi-fi connection or cell signal are completely different and you can not power said devices on the wi-fi/cell signal alone. You still need a power source.

 

[bill001g]

I have discovered lightning is almost magically in its ability to destroy stuff. I had a lightning strike close but not a direct hit. My neighbor had a few gfci breakers burned out.

I have surge protection on every device and UPS that also have more surge protection built in. The power supplies on various equipment did not surprise me as much as all the ethernet ports I lost. It damaged ports and in some cases did not kill the switch that was connected to the other end. Ethernet for safety reasons already is isolated from the power many times both optically and magnetically. It should not have been possible for current to get into ethernet. It was in many places in the house so it had to come in via the power.

I have replaced everything but I can't see how you stop this. Normal power outages and stuff like low voltage the UPS work fine. Surge protection likely stops the more normal ones. So I would be sure to buy at least surge protection power strips. Still what likely would happen is you burn out the power brick and not the modem itself. At some point though how much money do you spend protecting stuff compared to maybe even keep a spare laying around. I most use the UPS to keep the 1 second power outage from kicking me offline more than for protection.

 

[Inthrutheoutdoor]

Surge protector strips and UPS's are great for average, small, and quick overall power fluctuations, but if you live in an area where lightning strikes and large, frequent power oddities occur, the only REAL answer here is to get a whole-house Surge protection system professionally installed between where your power lines comes into the house and the main breaker panel.

No they are not cheap, but neither is replacing your entire house and all of it's contents if it burns down either 😀

 

[medic5678]

Unless you ran your electrical devices off from a generator (sealed, well grounded, closed system), i see no other great way to protect said hardware from electrical problems. Plugging devices into mains (main electrical grid) for power, will always have the inherit risk of surges/brown outs/ black outs and the like. Best you could do, is having an UPS between mains and devices.

Also, wireless electricity is not a thing. Wi-fi connection or cell signal are completely different and you can not power said devices on the wi-fi/cell signal alone. You still need a power source.

Not sure you understood what I'm saying. If I take a surge in one of the devices that is wired, it can't reach my modem via network cables, because the bridge is wireless. The surge stops at the router on that side of the bridge. No mention of wireless electricity or powering anything via wifi signal. Do you understand what a wireless media bridge is? Basically, I'm trying to isolate my modem as much as possible rather than having wired devices connected over 2 acres going all the way to the modem.

 

[bill001g]

The confusion appears you are only thinking about surge between devices. That is the most unlikely source. The most common is it comes in via the power and unless you are running everything on separate solar systems they are all connected to the same electrical grid. The surges that you get via ethernet are pretty much only cuased by lightning and that could cause a surge in anything that is connected including even a dedicated battery system.
The key thing to protect is the power. Ethernet cables that you actually worry about outside you would use shielded cable but you would also have to install grounds on each end to connect the shield to and even then lightning would likely get past that in some cases.

 

[medic5678]

The confusion appears you are only thinking about surge between devices. That is the most unlikely source. The most common is it comes in via the power and unless you are running everything on separate solar systems they are all connected to the same electrical grid. The surges that you get via ethernet are pretty much only cuased by lightning and that could cause a surge in anything that is connected including even a dedicated battery system.
The key thing to protect is the power. Ethernet cables that you actually worry about outside you would use shielded cable but you would also have to install grounds on each end to connect the shield to and even then lightning would likely get past that in some cases.

If you get a direct hit by lightening, you are pretty much out of luck. What happens then is unpredictable. The more isolation, however, the better. Of course, I'm protecting the modem electrically as much as possible from power. I can't protect everything else in the same way, except via GFCI breakers. The MOFI modem is more vulnerable, and by far, if I've got it wired to 100 other devices across 2 acres. I did have a flakey TP link router that I bought new. One plug in a switch downstream (that would be isolated via the bridge) and it instantly knocked the CMOS in the modem silly. Had nothing to do with lightening, so your most "unlkely" source was what I have already experienced. I thought here I am, having to deal with a messy return, with no internet for days. Fortunately, it reset itself. but I fiddled with it for a day, reset it many times, etc. For 2 cheap used routers for about $60, I can stop that sort of thing from happening again. Any short in a device, that would surely be no problem. In addition, it eliminates any problems due to voltage quality variations across my property. I did also buy a cheaper modem, not as fast, in the event the modem goes down again.