Anyone with experience with the Ubiquiti Lightbeam? Need to reach about 250' to barn/shop, mounting high on wall of both house and barn will give line of sight over smaller buildings. Underground for this run would be problematic. Thanks
ubiquiti lightbeam
- Thread starter Ashgrove
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fuggle
Well-known member
I haven't used Ubiquiti's product but my ISP uses a competitor's. In my case it works well out to 2 miles rain or shine. I have found that my WIFI routers can interfere if they choose a channel close to the ISP radio. I have to manually set the 5g channel to prevent interference.
ScaldedDog
Well-known member
I haven't used the the Lightbeam, but do use the Nanobeam AC Gen2 bridge nodes for connectivity to my barn. Works great.
Mark
Mark
Half-fast eddie
Well-known member
No Free Time
Member
We use Ubiquiti equipment at work. We frequently run into situations where a building or buildings are on the far side of a rail yard. So far the Ubiquiti devices have solved these issues faster and cheaper than we could do any other way. I was skeptical of using them as we had previously used some alternatives with poor results. I'm happy to report that the Ubiquitis have been reliable and nearly maintenance free.
We have three setups in the ~250' range. All of them use the nanostations. I would recommend looking at an AirMax Nanostation, they are smaller, cheaper, and you will get comparable throughput to a Lightbeam. An additional advantage with the nanostations is they have wider coverage. This has allowed us to reach multiple buildings/antennas from one unit. From your description this might not be of value to you.
We do have one site that uses a Lightbeam. The distance we cover is roughly 400'. The Lightbeam is overkill for this scenario but we had it on hand. The Lightbeam has a more focused antenna, which makes sense given their range rating of 18+ miles. The directional antenna does make them easy to aim. For short distances you can get them pretty close just by "eye-balling" it and then fine tuning with the software.
If you haven't looked at Ubiquiti's online design tools I recommend that you do. They have a few but this one does a good job of showing you potential coverage. https://ispdesign.ui.com/ You can find your location, select the type of equipment, and simulate its placement including mounting height. You have to change the device type drop down from Auto Product Selection to Manual Product Selection to choose your device.
I'll add that the issues we have had with the Ubiquiti devices have all been cabling related. It is important to use a quality exterior rated cable.
We have three setups in the ~250' range. All of them use the nanostations. I would recommend looking at an AirMax Nanostation, they are smaller, cheaper, and you will get comparable throughput to a Lightbeam. An additional advantage with the nanostations is they have wider coverage. This has allowed us to reach multiple buildings/antennas from one unit. From your description this might not be of value to you.
We do have one site that uses a Lightbeam. The distance we cover is roughly 400'. The Lightbeam is overkill for this scenario but we had it on hand. The Lightbeam has a more focused antenna, which makes sense given their range rating of 18+ miles. The directional antenna does make them easy to aim. For short distances you can get them pretty close just by "eye-balling" it and then fine tuning with the software.
If you haven't looked at Ubiquiti's online design tools I recommend that you do. They have a few but this one does a good job of showing you potential coverage. https://ispdesign.ui.com/ You can find your location, select the type of equipment, and simulate its placement including mounting height. You have to change the device type drop down from Auto Product Selection to Manual Product Selection to choose your device.
I'll add that the issues we have had with the Ubiquiti devices have all been cabling related. It is important to use a quality exterior rated cable.
reader2580
Well-known member
We use the Ubiquiti Nanobeams at work to go that distance. Ours go to IP cameras mounted on poles in the parking lot. They are a lot cheaper than running Ethernet cables under the parking lot. The Nanobeams are a little bit more expensive than the Litebeam. The Nanobeams never give us trouble. The previous product from another company that we used had to power cycled an time there was rain, snow, or very cold temperatures. We don't even have most of the Nanobeams properly aligned as the Nanobeams have no issues talking just fine at short distances without proper alignment. I recall they are rated up 30 KM so 250 feet is not an issue. (The datasheet online doesn't show the maximum distance.)
For Internet to my garage 50 feet from the house I use Ubiquiti Unifi APs in a mesh configuration. I have an AP in the corner of my walkout basement closest to the garage. I then have another AP in the garage that communicates wirelessly to the AP in the basement. The AP in the garage used to work as an Ethernet bridge too, but I replaced the AP with a different Unifi model about ten days ago. Nothing needs Ethernet in the garage, but I needed stronger WIFI in the garage and my backyard.
For Internet to my garage 50 feet from the house I use Ubiquiti Unifi APs in a mesh configuration. I have an AP in the corner of my walkout basement closest to the garage. I then have another AP in the garage that communicates wirelessly to the AP in the basement. The AP in the garage used to work as an Ethernet bridge too, but I replaced the AP with a different Unifi model about ten days ago. Nothing needs Ethernet in the garage, but I needed stronger WIFI in the garage and my backyard.
Thanks for all the replies. This project is at a friends house, his wireless internet comes down the tv tower into his office on the
far side of the house. Could we set up a second router as an AP at the side nearer the shop to feed the nano or lightbeam? Since the basement is finished running wire the length of the house, or on the exterior, would incur the wrath of the lady of the house.
far side of the house. Could we set up a second router as an AP at the side nearer the shop to feed the nano or lightbeam? Since the basement is finished running wire the length of the house, or on the exterior, would incur the wrath of the lady of the house.
jblnut
ALLIANCE MEMBER
As far as I know (or can remember) the Lightbeams are Gigabit and the 1st gen NanoStations are 100mb. I've moved to using the NanoLoco AC's and they've been amazing and would work amazing at that distance. Much smaller than either Lightbeam model and great for only 250'.
If you're going to use something to pull internet off the house I'd grab a NanoStation Loco M2 and lock it to your WiFi router in the house. The M2 will grab any 2.4ghz signal and "turn it back into a wire". I'm typing this on internet supplied by the exact same setup right now. Not the most ideal or "perfect" but it works well.
If you're going to use something to pull internet off the house I'd grab a NanoStation Loco M2 and lock it to your WiFi router in the house. The M2 will grab any 2.4ghz signal and "turn it back into a wire". I'm typing this on internet supplied by the exact same setup right now. Not the most ideal or "perfect" but it works well.
I have several Ubiquiti WAP's and a router, they make very good Prosumer grade equipment, but for what you need you might be overthinking it. Why not just use Powerline Ethernet adapters and connect a WAP or router at the other end?
Without reading all previous replies here's my answer. 250' is amateur hour for Ubiquiti stuff. I have numerous links in excess of 2 miles running first gen NanoBeams with cameras in remote locations. I also have a few AC links running at about a mile with perfect signal strength.