MikroTik hAP lite Review

AREDN has recently added support for the MikroTik hAP lite in the nightly build.

At first glance this device seems to be very similar to an AirRouter node. They both have the WAN port broken out as well as LAN on 1-3 and dtd on 4, so you won’t need a managed switch.  However, there are some significant differences, most of them favorable.

The hAP has twice the RAM is the AirRouter which comes in handy if you use it for tunneling.

The hAP offers POE output on the dtd port.  Note that POE output is currently configured on in the firmware by default.  Microtik specs the output as 2 volts less than the input to it may not be too useful with a 12v input.  Also the current is limited.  I attempted to power a Nanostation M2 off the dtd port but the output would fault out from excessive current draw before the NS finished booting.  The good news is the hAP seems to protect itself from damage.

Update: Seems I was mistaken regarding the POE output. Turns out I had the POE output set to “disabled” in my AREDN settings, but the port is live during boot-up regardless of the setting.  So, the Nanostation seemed to power up but when the AREDN firmware took over it turned the power back off.

The hAP has MIMO 2.4GHz band radio for mesh access, compared to the single chain AirRouter.  However, its dual PCB antennas don’t seem to perform quite as well as the AirRouter’s rubber duck.

Now for the two features that I like the most about the hAP:

First, while the hAP accepts POE input on the WAN port, it also has a barrel jack for power input. This cuts down on the cable and poe adapter clutter. While the included wall wart is 24v, it is rated to operate at 12v also.  Note there have been some reports of it not connecting to other nodes when set to 5MHz bandwidth with 12v power.

The big payoff is that this device has a second wifi radio on 5GHz which is configured as a standard wifi access point that just works seamlessly.  Unlike the “mesh access point” mode found in earlier versions of mesh firmware, wireless security can be enabled to keep out the curious stranger.

These two features greatly simplify using the device as a mobile access point to get your phone or computer into the mesh through a nearby 2.4GHz node. It only requires one connection – power to the barrel jack.  Compare this to this photo of an AirRouter, POE adapter, access point and a bunch of cables that I used previously.

And to think how thrilled I was that I could power the access point off the 5v USB port.  All this is now replaced by the one small hAP.