WS-8 or WS-12-AC in non-vented enclosure?

[sbyrd]

Just a quick hardware question. I was thinking of replacing some of my remaining toughswitches with either a WS-8-250-AC or WS-12-250-AC. However, what has kept me from doing it sooner is they are both in non-vented enclosures. They are also in locations that do not lend themselves to be easily replaced or modified.

What are some risks or concerns about this type of setup? I am in Indiana so our weather is standard mid-western weather with cold winters, high humidity, and summers that can get up into the low 90s.

[sirhc]

I would have to assume that if the Tough Switch survives in that box then the WISP Switch will as well.

When we thermal tested our switches they were in a small enclosure with heaters (an oven basically) that kept the inside temperature of the enclosure at 55C and the switches had an 80% POE load so 200+ watts and they preformed just fine.

All components on our switches are rated to 75C or higher operating temperature which is one reason they cost a little bit as you can use cheaper components that are typically only rated to 70C max or less, standard generic/cheaper components commonly used in consumer type equipment.

Personally if you are concerned about heat I would suggest the WS-12-250-AC over the WS-8-250-AC as the WS-12-250-AC uses through hole Poly-fuses which helps A LOT to keep the heat off the PCB whereas the WS-8-250-AC uses SMT Poly-fuses which transfer the heat to the PCB directly.

[sbyrd]

Thanks. I was looking to probably use the WS-12 as the current TS-8-Pro is full and the 12 would give me room for expansion. I was just concerned as the WS has active cooling and wanted to make sure a non-vented enclosure would not cause an issue. Thank you for clearing that up.

[sirhc]

The biggest benefit of a fan or active cooling is air flow. Airflow allows the components better transfer the heat from their surface to the ambient air temperature. Just because your device has a fan in it does not mean it has to be vented to be of a benefit. In fact since I have been a WISP for going on 20 years now I am all to familiar with what WISPs do as far as small unvented boxes. Now do not get me wrong I have learned over the years that spending a little bit more money and making sure my boxes have vents and fans is a great investment and I highly recommend all WISPs go back and improve their NEMA enclosures by adding vents and even fans where possible.

I knew going into this that the majority of boxes would be small and non-vented which is why we put fans in our units. The fans inside provide air flow over the components even in non-vented boxes. Think of it like when you have a burn and how blowing over the burned skin provides relief. This air movement allows the skin to transfer the heat away from the skin.

So in closing a fan helps a LOT even in small sealed boxes to prolong the life of the components because components all have an MTBF (Mean Time Between Failures) and this number is based on the estimated average temperature of the component and anytime you can create airflow over the component you greatly increase the MTBF.

Adding the fan increased the cost of the device as follows:
Our cost for the fan which is a name brand (SUNON VORPAL) not a cheap no name is $4.50
Our cost on the circuit to drive the fan and monitor the Tach was about $2.00

Now in the manufacturing world every dollar on your BOM (Bill of Material) equals about $1.50 to $2.00 on the MSRP. Remember you have the labor to install the component and the MSRP has to have enough room in it to cover the Distributor discount and still leave a profit.

[sbyrd]

Thanks again for the detailed response! Netonix switches in conjuction with Mikrotik RB-850GX2 routers is becoming my new go-to standard deployment setup.

[Mikea]

sbyrd, i have installed my Netonix Switch on a tight IP65 Metal box
like the one in this photo:

box_metal_enclosure.jpg (93.7 KiB) Viewed 8980 times

That is mounted on the ouside concrete wall
look in the following photo:

tower_box.jpg (92.3 KiB) Viewed 8980 times

The installation is in Greece (for enviromental ref)
and the temperatures of the switch can be seen in the following screenshot of iWiSp:

netonix_temp.jpg (285.86 KiB) Viewed 8980 times

So for me there are no risks or concerns about this type of setup!