I did some testing today on wifi power in the 2.4GHz band,
to compare my Turris Omnia wifi 6’s wifi power
to the devices it is mean to replace.
No need to go into detail on the results,
but can I ask the engineers there
if it is safe to raise the radio1 (wifi2) 's
2.4GHz transmit power from 16dBm/39mW (the driver default)
to the maximum 19dBm / 79mW (in Luci)
or will it fry the cat and burn down the house?
(no need to tell me about legal limits in different countries, I spend ~37% of my life dealing with lawyers they even buy me lunch; or worry that I might annoy the neighbours, there is no chance of that ).
Transmission power is not the only important parameter when trying to increase range. The optimal placement of the router, the optimal positioning of the antennas, the bandwidth, and an unobstructed channel are crucial. High power will often increase the reflections of the actual signal - to the detriment of the reception quality.
There is no restriction or limit on how to set the transmit power. Often a simple repeater for $20 will help if placed appropriately.
Thanks Jarda.
Kindly accept that I understand positioning, bandwidth etc
(I did my testing on the 2.4GHz band set to a 20MHz wide channel)
and I do use repeaters and subrouters where needed:
I have multiple networks of multiple routers.
However in testing a 7 year old Linksys WRT1900acs
at 8m gives me a signal 0f -25dB
and the TO6/radio1 (wifi2) at 8m gives me a signal of -50dB on radio1.
Radio0 (wifi1) is better, -38dB but I use that for 5GHz.
I tested with multiple receivers, different routers and the above is just a sample,
and the actual values fluctuate and depend on the quality of the receiver, humidity etc.
It is not a criticism, these are different devices,
but as these values are logarithmic, for deployment the difference is significant.
So, allow me to repeat my question:
will increasing the power from the driver default of
16dBm/39mW to the maximum 19dBm / 79mW
cause any overheating/damage to the components?
I assume the default was set for a reason.
It is a great piece of equipment and I don’t want to damage it.
I don’t see why a standard SW configuration would cause HW damage. Isn’t the default setup related to the allowed wifi performance in the European Union ?
I don’t see why a standard SW configuration would cause HW damage
eg Several of my devices on 1st startup ask if power is 50 or 60c/s.
A hardware component meant for many different devices
can advertise many different possible settings through its API
meant for different use cases.
Just because a setting is available doesn’t mean it is safe to use in every device.
It depends depending on available power, cooling etc of the system.
In this case only one of the engineers could answer how high it is safe to raise the power level.
Does your wifi card have an adhesive heat sink on it? Could help with greater heat dissipation. They’re really cheap. I put one on mine but haven’t altered the default power settings.
Actually I’m less worried about heat - the box seems reasoanly aired, and is metal .
The question is more whether there is a power draw issue.
for interest, just ordered a laptop, and among the options were (different levels of) heat sinks on different components. Had never had that choice before.
they even buy me lunch;