I have been having issues with my Opal GL-SFT1200 router in repeater mode when staying at hotels. The wifi signal would regularly drop. It used to work fine.
I realized I had changed the power supply, having bought a multi-port high-output power supply to bring less equipment with me.
This power supply has more than enough power for the router, but I am wondering if it is in fact overpowered and perhaps causing the router to overheat or something?
The power supply can easily charge an iPhone and iPad.
I have been testing the router with the bulky power supply that came with the router, and so far no wifi signal drops. I set it up initially using the third-party power supply and indeed the wifi was dropping.
Perhaps it could be a faulty cable, I hadn't considered that possibility until just now. I am using short USB cables purchased on Amazon. All are rated for higher power delivery (30 W or more).
But I am curious if this high-power port USB power supply could be over-powering the router? Or is that something the router would regulate on its own?
The SFT1200 cannot be destroyed by to much power of the power supply but by to much voltage. These 100W supplies deliver 5V (or nothing) without communication with the device. Only if the device requires a higher voltage, the power supply is allowed switch to a higher voltage.
I own two of the SFT1200 and had never problems like that. But one of the power supplies suddenly died a few days ago. When I opened it, I saw that it was very well built with line-filters against rf-noise.
Sometimes these filters are missing in the power-supplies, the rf-noise can disturb the router.
I would recommend to use the original power-supply ICP20-030-3000D because it is of high quality with appropriate line-filters.
Warning: If you want to open a power-supply, you should know what you are doing. There can be dangerous voltages inside although it is disconnected from the mains.
Very interesting, thank you. As mentioned, when I used the supplied power supply, I didn’t notice any wifi drops. Will be at another hotel this evening, will try using the supplied power adapter again and see what happens over a longer period of time.
The WiFi drops were consistent and frequent enough that I should see one after an hour or so if not much sooner.
This has happened at multiple hotels, so I know it’s my configuration and not the hotel wifi.
So I think I figured out what is going on. I tried again using a completely different third-party USB wall charger. Same router drops. Noticed this time it was the router actually restarting, as I have enabled the new feature of turning off the LED after 10pm, and I kept seeing it come back on.
Noticed this happening again after I disconnected my phone from the charging cable, also plugged into the bulk charger.
Realized that what is probably happening is that when the devices are unplugged (or maybe even when they are plugged in, too), the charger is changing up the power delivery to the ports. There must be a slight power interruption, causing the router to reboot.
I assumed so, because some of them advertise how plugging in multiple devices will change the maximum power output available to the ports. Seems that re-negotiation interrupts the power long enough to shut down the router.
It’s a bummer I can’t consolidate my power supply equipment, but glad to have figured out this issue.
It depends on the power chipset of your charger, which probably some ports are fixed output and some have to negotiate protocol to provide bigger power.
Yes I was wondering if there might be chargers that have fixed output ports.
The ones I have been using specifically have ports that can charge tablets and phones fast, so my guess is that those types of multi-chargers are going to have ports that re-negotiate power.
I'll have to see if I can find a multi-charger that specifically states it has fixed output ports and can still charge a tablet.
This item https://a.co/d/0OHnpPn so far seems to be working if you want high-speed USB-C charging with standard USB-A ports.
Initial tests seem to indicate that the power to the A ports is not affected by plugging/unplugging devices. Will be testing it out fully this weekend.
The previous multi-port charger had high-speed USB-A ports. But since the Opal router doesn't need a lot of power, the standard A-ports are fine.