Posted: Thu Aug 12, 2010 23:10 Post subject: Asus RT-N16 Power adapter
I have seen some posts saying that the power adapter for the Asus RT-N16 is not strong enough. Currently the specs on my adpater is 12V 1.25 amps. I have seen either BrainSlayer or Eko(sorry can't remember) saying that they are using a 4 amp power adapter. I just went to radioshack and bought a 2.5 Amp adapter. Just wanted to see if this is safe for my router and if it will make it perform better.
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 4:07 Post subject: Re: Asus RT-N16 Power adapter
banders5144 wrote:
I have seen some posts saying that the power adapter for the Asus RT-N16 is not strong enough. Currently the specs on my adpater is 12V 1.25 amps. I have seen either BrainSlayer or Eko(sorry can't remember) saying that they are using a 4 amp power adapter. I just went to radioshack and bought a 2.5 Amp adapter. Just wanted to see if this is safe for my router and if it will make it perform better.
As long as it is the only issue, device would use what it
needs. Question is: is it enough? Probably it is.
I read that router heats a bit. That might be another
problem regarding instability. But, posters think it is
the best router they ever had. You probably solved the
problem. What build you put on it?
Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 1380 Location: Pacific North West, USA
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 15:01 Post subject: Re: Asus RT-N16 Power adapter
banders5144 wrote:
I have seen some posts saying that the power adapter for the Asus RT-N16 is not strong enough. Currently the specs on my adpater is 12V 1.25 amps. I have seen either BrainSlayer or Eko(sorry can't remember) saying that they are using a 4 amp power adapter. I just went to radioshack and bought a 2.5 Amp adapter. Just wanted to see if this is safe for my router and if it will make it perform better.
2 main issues with the router have been:
1) Heat problems - some have modified and put heatsinks and/or fans inside the case
better airflow can be had if you elevate the case off the desk
I bought a laptop cooler for mine, with a fan on the bottom, that is USB powered
The router sits on that laptop cooler, and has cool air blown through it from the bottom
2) power issues - the router is powerful, and if you have lots of stuff running,
as well as a bunch of USB connected, you might be overloading the stock power adapter
It never hurts to put a higher amperage power adapter on a router because
the router only uses as much amps as it needs.
It DOES hurt if you give it more voltage, i.e. if you put a 16V adapter on it.
12V, 2.5A should be good for your router. _________________ Soylent Green Is People !
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Netgear Nighthawk R7000 - DD-WRT Build R46220
Linksys EA8500 - OpenWRT IPQ806x Trunk R16375 5.4 Kernel
Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 492 Location: Toronto, ON, CA
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 18:55 Post subject:
Received the power adapter today and so far it is working fine. I already addressed the heat issue using a notebook cooler as well. Hopefully this will make this great router stable and reliable enough and not require regular reboots. _________________ Asus RT-N16 [Build King Kong 18050M NEWD-2 K2.6 + Optware + My Page]
Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 492 Location: Toronto, ON, CA
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 19:46 Post subject:
Bad news, adapter did not fix stability problems. Using latest BrainSlayer build, I tried to transfer some files to my laptop from my server using wifi. Within a few minute of starting file transfer, router crashed and rebooted. Will try Eko build to see if it is build issue but I don't think it is. _________________ Asus RT-N16 [Build King Kong 18050M NEWD-2 K2.6 + Optware + My Page]
Joined: 24 Aug 2009 Posts: 2070 Location: South Florida
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 20:00 Post subject:
Am I starting to see a contingency between the problems with the 610N's and their default CPU clock speeds? Why doesn't someone underclock their CPU for a couple of days and see if that has any effect on the stability of these routers.
I myself have no problems with the RT's, and have been running them OC'ed to 532,266 for months at a time..
On another note, all my RT setups have been hooked up to APC UPS's. It is possible that the cleaner sine wave from the UPS's, as well as their voltage regulators, have not given me any stability problems... _________________ Optware, the Right Way
Asus RT-AC68U
Asus RT-N66U
Asus RT-N10
Asus RT-N12
Asus RT-N16 x5
Asus WL520gU
Engenious ECB350
Linksys WRT600Nv1.1
Linksys WRT610Nv1
Linksys E2000
Netgear WNDR3300
SonicWall NSA220W
SonicWall TZ215W
SonicWall TZ205W
SonicWall TZ105W
On another note, all my RT setups have been hooked up to APC UPS's. It is possible that the cleaner sine wave from the UPS's, as well as their voltage regulators, have not given me any stability problems...
Makes you wonder, I have 2 rt16's in my basement avg temp 80 degrees both plugged into a smartups 1000 along with a another router and switch and they run without issue using the std adapter. They handle about 40-50gb a day of up down traffic from web and ftp servers. They use the lates bs recommended build 14896 big
Joined: 31 Jul 2009 Posts: 492 Location: Toronto, ON, CA
Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2010 21:30 Post subject:
Just tried latest Eko build as well with the same result. Large file transfers over wi-fi causes router to crash and reboot after 5-10 min of file transfer. Looks like the stability issue are hardware related and has nothing to do with cooling or power. Since my unit is one of the first ones, I might RMA it and hope new hardware revisions have solved the problems. _________________ Asus RT-N16 [Build King Kong 18050M NEWD-2 K2.6 + Optware + My Page]
Yeah i plan on using a notebook cooler as well. I don't really have any problems right now with the router itself. I guess I'm just trying to be proactive in case issues may arise. Also I am running:
DD-WRT v24-sp2 (07/28/10) big
(SVN revision 14853M NEWD-2 K2.6 Eko)
Bad news, adapter did not fix stability problems. Using latest BrainSlayer build, I tried to transfer some files to my laptop from my server using wifi. Within a few minute of starting file transfer, router crashed and rebooted. Will try Eko build to see if it is build issue but I don't think it is.
Personally I thought the wireless sucked on the recent builds for the asus rt16. I moved my wireless over to a 3500L and put the netgear firmware back on it. I didn't contribute it to any thing but build problems as I did not have the reboots just sucky performance and speed. The last eko build 14853 and the last BS build 14896 were a night and day improvement in the speed and reliability for the rt16's
Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 1380 Location: Pacific North West, USA
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 5:56 Post subject:
jumran wrote:
Just tried latest Eko build as well with the same result. Large file transfers over wi-fi causes router to crash and reboot after 5-10 min of file transfer. Looks like the stability issue are hardware related and has nothing to do with cooling or power. Since my unit is one of the first ones, I might RMA it and hope new hardware revisions have solved the problems.
I will try some wireless transfers this weekend on my unit.
I've mostly been using gigabit to do huge transfers (LOVE the SPEED!!!)
I have the Asus N13U wireless-N usb adapter, so will use that for testing huge file transfers.
How big is HUGE? Talking DVD-sized image? 4.5GB? _________________ Soylent Green Is People !
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Netgear Nighthawk R7000 - DD-WRT Build R46220
Linksys EA8500 - OpenWRT IPQ806x Trunk R16375 5.4 Kernel
Joined: 10 May 2008 Posts: 1380 Location: Pacific North West, USA
Posted: Sat Aug 14, 2010 15:24 Post subject:
With the Asus RT-N16 and all the air holes - you can feel the router temp quite easily.
Without any added cooling and just sitting on the desk, the router will warm up.
The top and bottom of the router get very warm, especially when doing larger transfers.
With my cooling on the laptop cooler stand, no matter what I do on the router,
it is always cool to the touch, cannot feel any warmth whatsoever.
Since there are all the holes on the top of the router, I think there are
laser type temperature gauges out there that you could test through the holes.
I'd just go by touch - if its cool to the touch, you should be fine. _________________ Soylent Green Is People !
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Netgear Nighthawk R7000 - DD-WRT Build R46220
Linksys EA8500 - OpenWRT IPQ806x Trunk R16375 5.4 Kernel
I just assume added bucks for cooler make the router a bit
expensive. If put new adapter over, even more. What might
be next best in this situation? Netgear 3500L?