MarcotteMW wrote

I need to know what equipment is needed to extend my WIFI coverage over 500' outdoors so I can get the needed WIFI to my electric gate with wifi capabilities as well as to my security cameras.

The problem is not only to extend your existing WiFi network. The problem is the electric gate with WiFi capabilities and the WiFi of the security cameras. Those devices need to send data back to the AP in your house, so it's not only a question how to extend your WiFi at the house, but also how to extend the coverage of the devices at the gate.

For 500' (~150m) you need strong directional antennas such as those built into CPEs.

For 150' (~45m) you could use an EAP225-Outdoor mounted at the house, if (and only if) your security cameras also have external antennas, which can cover ~50m. But keep in mind that even plain air is an obstacle for microwaves, so the data throughput will decrease with an increasing distance. This is what makes the whole thing unreliable, e.g. if it starts raining.

See this story for an example of extending the WiFi on a RV park. Just imagine the smartphones & laptops of the RV guests are clients much like your electric gate and CCTV are clients and you see the solution for your task. This is an example for a reliable, working application of CPEs in conjunction with access points at the edges.

MarcotteMW wrote

f I understand now, based on the campground link I need both CPE and EAP at each location needing wifi. Therefore there will be a CPE and EAP as AP at house connected to modem with CPE and EAP as client at east and west locations. The east and west units will be power via PoE/Power Adapter but no required router or additional hard wiring?

Did I understand correctly that the electric gate and the security cams all operate at 2.4 GHz? If so, read on, if not, replace »EAP110-Outdoor« by »EAP225-Outdoor«. EAP110-Outdoor is 2.4 GHz only (so-called single band AP), while EAP225-Outdoor supports both, 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz (so-called dual-band).

I would try an EAP110-Outdoor in the left-most (west) corner of the house for the nearby cams. Changes are that the security cams can send a good enough signal back to the EAP over this short distance. The EAP covers up to 100m (~300') and the security cams probably cover between 30m (~90') and 50m (~150') if the devices have a free line of sight.

If this works reliable, EAP110-Outdoor would be sufficient. But the dual-band EAP225-Outdoor has an advantage: if the security cam's coverage is not good enough, you could just add another EAP225-Outdoor at the camera's pole and link it wirelessly with the EAP at the house over a so-called mesh network (you can imagine a mesh net as a replacement of the EAP/CPE combo in my RV park story with only one device). Such a mesh network simplifies installation of an additional EAP in case of troubles caused by a weak signal of the security cams.

In other words:

• The EAP/CPE combo in the campground story can be replaced by a single EAP225-Outdoor for distances up to 100m (~300').
• A single EAP110-Outdoor can be used to extend the WiFi directly to the cams if the cams can cover the actual distance.
• For the east gate you still would need one CPE at the house and a CPE/EAP combo at the gate due to the larger distance.

In both cases (EAP110-Outdoor or EAP225-Outdoor) the security cameras must be able to connect to the EAP as clients (much like smartphones do).

For the east gate I would set up a link with two CPE510 since it's a little too far away for the same concept used for the west cams. One CPE at the house (can be on the same pole as the EAP-Outdoor for the west cams) links to the second CPE at the east gate. Both CPEs should have free line of sight, too.

To get the data from the CPE at the east gate to the electric gate and security cams in a reliable manner, I would use an EAP110-Outdoor mounted at the east gate and wired to the CPE510. The gate and the cams connect to the EAP-Outdoor as clients, the two CPEs transfer the data to/from the router in your house.

So you would need:

• one EAP-Outdoor mounted on the roof (or at the wall) of the left-most house for the security cams in the west (see picture below),
• two CPE510 for the directional link from the house to the east gate,
• one EAP-Outdoor for distribution of the remote WiFi signal at the east gate.

No additional routers/switches are needed, all devices share the same main network and all devices are powered by PoE using the included adapters. Only the EAP and the CPE at the house need to be connected with your main router/switch.

Hope you got the idea. If you still have more questions, just ask.

MarcotteMW wrote

If the gadgets at the east gate require 2.4 GHz will the CPE510 work since it's tying into the EAP for communication to the gate, cameras and Ring doorbell?

The CPE510 is only for a stable link from the east gate to the house. The reason I would choose the 5 GHz CPE510 is that it doesn't interfere with the 2.4 GHz gadgets at the east gate. See the network diagram:

The CPE510 AP forwards traffic to/from its LAN port (in the PoE adapter) over the link to the CPE Client and over its LAN port to the EAP-Outdoor (preferably an 2.4 GHz EAP110-Outdoor which doesn't interfere with the 5 GHz link), which in turn will forward the traffic wirelessly to/from the cameras/gadgets. So you just connect the CPE510 AP's LAN port to your home network/router.

The EAP225-Outdoor at the left-most house supplies WLAN directly to the cameras/gadgets. Its LAN port (also in the PoE adapter) has to be connected to your home network/router, too.

In case the cameras don't perform well b/c of a weak WiFi signal from the cams you have the choice of simply adding another EAP225-Outdoor at the west pole and link it wirelessly with the EAP at the house over their 5 GHz radio. Note that unlike CPEs, EAPs cannot be configured as repeaters, they are just APs. But meshing allows to link them wirelessly (in fact, meshing creates an additional »internal« 5 GHz client much like a repeater does).

But I think one EAP225-Outdoor mounted at the house will be sufficient, since EAPs have a higher receiving sensitivity, too, and changes are that the camera signal can successfully reach the EAP at the house. In any case I would try this first before buying gear which is probably not needed at all.

@MarcotteMW, my pleasure if I could help a farmer, you're doing a great job much like my grandparents as farmers did! :-)

Hi MarcotteMW,

yes, you just connect the EAP110-Outdoor to the LAN of the CPE510.

If you have a CPE510 V2 or V3, you connect the LAN ports of the CPE's and EAP's PoE adapters as shown below (be careful to not connect a PoE port to a LAN port by accident, it could destroy the LAN port!):

If you have an older CPE510 V1 which has two Ethernet ports on the CPE itself in addition to the two ports on the PoE adapter, you can save energy by using only one PoE adapter and the CPE's PoE pass-through function, which will pass PoE power from its input port (LAN0) to the output port (LAN1). Then cabling looks like this:

If you have such a device offering PoE pass-through, you will see a setting »PoE Passthrough« in the »Management« menu:

As for the configuration of the EAPs: They are always APs and don't have any other mode. They are much easier to configure than CPE510.

Just set any SSID (WLAN name) you want except that it must not be the same as the one used for the CPE510. Then add security credentials (WPA2 key, AES encryption).

I guess since your neighbors are far away, you can use WiFi channel width setting at its default of 20/40 MHz for the EAP110-Outdoor and 20/40/80 MHz for the EAP225-Outdoor. As for the WiFi channels leave it at its default »Auto« on EAP110-Outdoor and select unused WiFi channels on EAP225-Outdoor (a different channel than what's used by the CPE510 and probably your home WiFi router if any). This are the only settings needed to make the EAPs working.

Make sure to ground the CPEs and EAPs as described in the Quick Installation Guide. This is important to mitigate against electrostatic discharges (ESD) which happen during lightning storms.