Question Router with removable antennas & custom F/W capability

[grandmasterfluffles]

Cudy are a good budget brand and they run a modified version of DD-WRT from the off, whilst having DD-WRT support otherwise. I run 2x Cudy WR3000s at home, one as a router, the other as a Wireless AP in my outbuildings.

Never had as much customisation ability in standard firmware than in any other brand.

 

[videobruce]

mindless1;​

I don't know if I would even try that. For the cost of another adapter w/ correct voltage and coaxial pin size (ID is the toughest spec to fulfill, most are 5.5 OD), I would just go that route especially when one has a 'stash' of adapters collected over the years.

FWIW, I picked up a Netgear R7000 (actually 2, one is a new/open box, the other appears to be mint) for around $22 delivered. Both appear to be working w/ no issues but I only connected them to my Laptop (no Internet yet). Flashed both of them w/ dd-wrt and did initial settings saving the settings backup file.

 

[mindless1]

^ I repair everything I can. Usually it's higher value equipment or to reduce downtime, and my used adapters are great to have in a pinch, but I haven't kept records of how many hours use at what load, so they may not have a long life ahead of them, while adapters and other widgets that I've replaced the capacitors in, usually last longer after repaired than their first tour of duty till they failed.

The network switch it's powering, also had capacitors replaced a ~dozen years ago, longer than it lasted from new until that repair. It also has vent holes added so it runs cooler.

It's about having all your ducks in a row so it only takes a few minutes, and having observed enough adapters fail that when I was already ordering other components on Digikey, just added a few relevant capacitors to the order. It wouldn't be cost and time effective if I was placing separate orders on Digikey for only 2 or 3 capacitors at a time.

 

[videobruce]

My ability to do PCB repairs was never that great, but now with "Essential tremors" in my hands, it's tough to hold a soldering pencil steady enough.

(yes, that is the term, I still don't get the "essential" part.)

 

[mindless1]

^ We do what we can. My goal is to keep equipment working as long as possible, and so far, it's worked. Things I repair last longer than new replacements, because I'm very much about failure modes and autopsies, to fix the problem that caused the fault in the first place, so if the day comes when I can't solder, I've got more years of the equipment working before it needs replaced.