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Access network design for branch, remote, outdoor, and campus locations with HPE Aruba Networking access points and mobility controllers.
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What would cause APs to overheat and how to monitor/view

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  • 1.  What would cause APs to overheat and how to monitor/view

    Posted Jan 20, 2021 07:29 AM

    Hi All
    I have a site of 32x (205) APs - 7210 controller and running Version 8.6.0.4

    One AP was reported as faulty and sending an engineer to investigate - he reported touching the AP it burnt his hand, extremely hot to the touch - he checked a number of APs around as well which all were also extremely hot.

    We getting the reported faulty AP shipped to us for further investigation on it - but it appears the APs are overheating as users connected to the APs that are very hot, struggle with obb things like obtaining IP for an SSID.

    The MAX TX for both 2.4 and 5 is well withing normal I would say - 2.4Ghz 6db to 18Db and 5ghz 16Db and 21Db --- I have reduced both - 2.4Ghz is now 6db to 16 and 5GHz is on 8 to 18 now in the hopes to reduce heat.

    Found a "show ap thermal" command - but it helped nothingshow ap thermal
    The environment is running slightly hotter than usual (its a hot day) but aircons and cooling are running --  environment is probably hoter by two or three degrees in total.

    So my questions are:
    1.) what can potentially cause the APs to overheat as they do now
    2.) what would expected behaviour be with overheating APs
    3.) How can we monitor and see from controller or Airwave if there are any such events?



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    Hendrik
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  • 2.  RE: What would cause APs to overheat and how to monitor/view

    EMPLOYEE
    Posted Jan 21, 2021 02:11 AM
    To assess whether there's really a thermal issue here (the back of the AP doubles as a heatsink and is supposed to be hot), it would be good to see some pictures of the physical deployment (unobstructed airflow around the back of the AP is expected/needed) as well as actual temperature measurements for the metal back. "Hot to the touch" can be very subjective, and it is possible that the surface temperature is still within the expected (and safe) range.
    The maximum acceptable temperature of an accessible metal surface for products like this is +70C, which is safe, but feels quite hot.
    Under normal use an AP should not overheat unless there's some hardware failure. Most newer AP models have built-in mechanisms to shut the AP down in case of overheating, but these may not protect the AP from permanent damage (focus is on safety).

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    Onno Harms
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    Original Message