All weather rugged modular enclosure

  I found a metal box enclosure that is well suited for my "All weather" access point, i bought it for 50USD in one of the local electrical store here, the box is 2mm thick and has a powder coated paint, it is heat and fire resistant and fully water proof, as you can see in the pic, it has a lock too! there's a 3mm base plate that goes with it and underneath there is an access panel plate that you can remove and drill a hole for whatever purpose.

This box will house my proprietry Wi-lan HP45-24 radio unit and set as a client, a 2.4ghz 500mw HyperLink Amplifier connected to a Linksys WRT54G with a third party firmware and set as an access point, the Wi-Lan HP45-24 radio will be the main link back to my base radio.

Front side Wi-Lan HP45-24

I bought this unit last summer of 1998 and the maximum thoughput is 4.5mbps only, the original firmware of this unit was version 4.xx and limited to 5 channels only, recently; i upgraded the firmware version to 6.xx and now it has 8 channels, BTW the frequency of each channel is not a wi-fi standard, bear in mind that this unit is a proprietry, it is still within the 2.4ghz ISM band but not the way wi-fi band was allocated.

The back side of the wilan has a 10base-T Lan connection, an Antenna connector, and a "Link Test" connection probe, which you can use to test the signal level by using an spectrum analyzer or a simple "Digital Volt-meter", this unit requires a dual volt, a +12v and a +5 volt, the original PSU that comes with this unit has a low amp rating and for indoor use only, instead of using it, i opted to use a regular ATX power supply, i removed the uncessary wires from the ATX PSU, all i need from the PSU is the regular power lead that is used to power up HDD/FDD/CD, i removed the power lead for the mainboard, and i shorted the PWR-ON lead to the ground lead for constant ON., my friend suggested that i should install a switch instead of shorting the leads and since this box will be located in the roof i don't see any purpose installing a switch.

The whole idea of this enclosure is to be as "modular" as possible, i.e. if the PSU blows-up i can simply remove the PSU and replace it, OR if i need to relocate the whole box, i can simply unscrew all the antenna and take it away with me.

 I mounted the Wi-lan unit and the PSU unit to the base plate of the box.

  My initial approach for the main power is to house it inside the box, i come-up with this after mounting the Power Extension cord, the wilan unit and the PSU, later on i decided to drop the power cord extension as this may cause an electrical hazard plus is takes some space, and since this unit will be "modular" i come-up with an idea of mounting a power socket at the bottom of the box, i have a broken PSU lying around and i took the mains power socket and flush mount it at the access panel plate and cover the sides with epoxy.

    My friend was very concerned about my idea and he told me that the socket is too dangerous as it is exposed and not water proof enough, I told him that the socket is secured enough because the matching lead that will goes into it is secured and water tight plus i will put some kind of rubber shielding around it. If you are unsure about the way it looks, have a look at your PC's power lead, as you notice, the main power lead contact point is buried at least 4 mm deeper, and there is no way a water can get into it especially the whole box will be installed in a upright position.

I cut a PC power lead and solder it directly to the mainsocket, i use a lot of shrink tubing and a "Vulcanized Tape" to secure the electrical leads from touching the base plate although it doesn't touch even without the tapes but better to be sure of safety. The other end of the power lead will be connected to the ATX PSU.

I bought few N-Type flush mount connector, and mount it at the panel access plate, to make a pigtail of this kind of connector.

I stripped a RG58 50 ohms coax cable,I also stripped the shield of center wire to 1mm enough to insert it at the center pin of the N-Type connector, then i stripped 1mm of the outer shield enough for the inside shield to touch the center pin of the N-type , I folded back the braid shield and inserted the tube half way just enough for me to solder the center pin an I then pushed back the tube towards the base of the N-Type then i solder the edge of the tube to the base, make sure you solder the whole edge around it and also make sure you strip the coax cable as short as possible and connect it to the N-Type connector as close as possible, after soldering the tube i crimmped the tube.

After soldering the coax I mounted it at the panel access plate next to power main socket.

 From left to right - Main socket, Antenna connector attached to amplifier, another antenna connector with RP-TNC on the other end (reserved puporse) and the last one is a N-Type lightning arrestor connected to wi-lan radio (yeah i need a protection for that unit, wi-lan is an expensive radio and it is not a common wireless unit, they are mainly used for backhaul

Hyperlink 2.4Ghz 500mw Outdoor Amplifier

Altelicon 2.4Ghz Lightning Arrestor

Inside the box after making all connections

I don't intend to use the Linksys Power Adapter, instead i made a cable for it and i will attach it to the ATX PSU, since the Linksys only require +12volt and 1 amp of power, the PSU is more than enough to power my Wi-Lan radio and the Linksys radio, however my amplifier requires more voltage and i cannot use the PSU supply, instead i cut the power lead of my amplifier and i solder a power socket to be connected at the PSU aux power (the one where the monitor power lead is connected). From Left to Right - amplifier power lead - Wilan power lead - Linksys power lead.

This is what it looks like after putting everything in place as you can see the ATX PSU fan is facing the hole i drilled underneath to blow the hot air out, it is also an option to install a PVC tubing at the outside hole to prevent any water to get in and a filter pad to prevent dust, bugs etc..etc.. i might as well add a 80mm fan at the hole or at the pvc tube to take more hot air out.

Behold!!!!....

The monstrosity i created...

What i have achieved is an enclosure that is weather proof and fully modular in case i need to replace any component particularly the PSU, it also allows me to move the whole box anywhere i need to put it, plus it is a lot more easy to disconnect all antenna connections.

I hope you enjoy my DIY "All weather-rugged-modular enclosure"