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Questions About Ap121U Hardware


potato

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Hi everyone,

I think im going to purchase a wifi pineapple from the hakshop but first I have a few questions:

The ALPHA website says that the hornet-ub runs off 12V DC but I have seen people ruining it from 5V DC USB ports, How dose this work? Dose the pineapple work on both voltages or are they undervolting it?

My second question is dose it still say alpha on it when if I buy it from the hakshop? If not I can easily have an alpha sticker made somewhere but I think having a no-name black box looks VERY suspicious and it looks more suspicious with the pineapple sticker on it

Third, what the least directional antenna for the pineapple? I would like to be able to throw it in a backpack and not worry about where the antenna is facing

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Hi everyone,

I think im going to purchase a wifi pineapple from the hakshop but first I have a few questions:

The ALPHA website says that the hornet-ub runs off 12V DC but I have seen people ruining it from 5V DC USB ports, How dose this work? Dose the pineapple work on both voltages or are they undervolting it?

My second question is dose it still say alpha on it when if I buy it from the hakshop? If not I can easily have an alpha sticker made somewhere but I think having a no-name black box looks VERY suspicious and it looks more suspicious with the pineapple sticker on it

Third, what the least directional antenna for the pineapple? I would like to be able to throw it in a backpack and not worry about where the antenna is facing

1) It's just running with lower voltage, I personally always use the AC Adapter.

2) I didn't get my hardware from the hakshop, mine has no logos on it at all. But Alfa's site shows a logo, http://www.alfa.com.tw/in/front/bin/ptdetail.phtml?Part=AP121U&Category=106129 . Putting Alfa on it wont make people think any more/less suspicious of it. It's a professionally made enclosure, not a altoids can :P.

3) The antenna that comes with it is omni-directional, but you still have to worry about how it's pointed. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk722/tk809/technologies_tech_note09186a00807f34d3.shtml

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It will run on between 5-12v.

The alfa Site shows it with an alfa logo but since we were the first to bring it to market (and worked with alfa in the prototype phases) and had requested black, brandless, that's the way it comes from other distributors.

It comes with a 5dbi omni. Larger omnis can be installed. Standard rp-sma connector.

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I wanted to chime on this topic after I actually took some measurements, but from looking around inside, I'm reasonably sure of this. There appears to be two step-down regulators inside the Alfa. One likely steps the 12V down to 3.3V required by the chipset, and the other likely steps the 12V down to 5V for the USB port. Problem is, these regulators need a volt or so to work, so the 5V regulator really needs 6 or 7 volts to work properly. If you run the MK4 from a 5V supply, my guess is the unit itself will work fine, but anything plugged into the USB port will be running on a flaky 3 or 4 volts. From reading the forums, it seems at least some USB devices work on the lower voltage, but obviously some don't. If you're using the USB port, you'll either need 7 to 12 volts, or a powered USB hub. Personally, I wouldn't run a USB device at 4 volts. Just asking for trouble.

I won't be able to actually measure the voltage on the USB port until Tomorrow or Tuesday. Will post my findings when I do.

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I did in line amperage readings of the pineapple mk4 with 5volts at time of launch without wifi, with wifi, and with wifi + 3g modem. I can't remember the specifics (its in the power section of the book) but I believe it was something like 0.7a, 1.2a and 3-5a respectively.

I power my mk4 off my laptops usb port with a 3g modem just fine and I can verify the same works for the "pineapple juice" usb battery pack too.

Something to note: my 3g modem is the Tmobile zte model. It works great (and I buy megabytes in cash without the need to show ID), but I do have to use a powered hub for the CDMA modems.

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Another issue... USB Ports I think originally were supposed to put out an even 5V (Been a while, I could be wrong), but 5.5V seems popular nowadays. If I'm right about all this, a 5.5v USB port will work much more reliably than a 5V USB port. I still wouldn't run it at 5.5V personally, but it might be somewhat reliable in some circumstances. Maybe that's how Alfa claims this can run from a USB port?

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Thanks for the reply's everyone, So from what you all have said it appears that I can power it from anywhere between 5-12V DC and the power will get stepped down as needed and that the antenna the Pineapple comes with is semi-directional and also that if I power the pineapple with 5v that the usb port may run at a lower voltage

Dose anyone know of an antenna that is completely independent of direction or is a di-pole as good as it gets? I'm looking for something I can just throw in my backpack, walk around and capture packets or theoretically mirror a free access point and turn all the images upside down for the lulz not that anyone would ever do that...

Edited by cscash241
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Thanks for the reply's everyone, So from what you all have said it appears that I can power it from anywhere between 5-12V DC and the power will get stepped down as needed and that the antenna the Pineapple comes with is semi-directional and also that if I power the pineapple with 5v that the usb port may run at a lower voltage

Dose anyone know of an antenna that is completely independent of direction or is a di-pole as good as it gets? I'm looking for something I can just throw in my backpack, walk around and capture packets or theoretically mirror a free access point and turn all the images upside down for the lulz not that anyone would ever do that...

a regular antenna....

Felder_um_Dipol.jpg

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