Which Banana Pi product is actually meant for consumers? 
There’s no clear line…
But again:
There isn’t even a shield on the new module 
!
And I’m not sure it ever will have one… time will tell.
I don’t get it at all. Why make mounting spots for shielding but not install the shielding itself? Is that really that expensive?
I’m not sure what I should tell you!
May be there is hope? 
@simon @sinovoip Please consider taking back and replacing the bad modules buyers have received with the new and upcoming BE14 design.
I bought mine in March 2025 and it’s stuck with low TX power of 6 DBM at default which makes it useless to me.
Thank You!
There is NO visible SHIELD on the new BE14!
→ Maybe it will be added later, and maybe the board itself will have better noise performance / SNR…
BUT:
We don’t know, because it’s not released yet.
I wouldn’t wait for an answer/offer that may never come!
I recommend you sell this board and wait for reviews of the new one.
→ I’m sorry 
You can check out my previous post to solve this problem. BPI-R4 using OpenWRT mainline image TX Power low-problem solution - Banana Pi Router design / BPI-R4/BPI-R4 Pro(MT7988) - banana pi single board computer open source project official forum BPI team
As far as I know, a new version of BE14 will be released later. This picture is not the final version yet, the shield is being planned, please be patient.
What’s there to plan? WE NEED IT!)))
I am concerned as to why you are so eager to reply when you (by your own admission) do not have relevant information either.
I have three, I’d love to swap mine out. Or at least claim a credit card warranty process for my units when a new, proper, end-user, shielded, and production ready, version becomes available.
You’ll likely have to figure out what to do with the broken be14s yourself. Sinovoip, like banana in general, doesn’t take responsibility and won’t admit they’ve released junk. So, hoping for any help exchanging or returning faulty be14s is pointless. Personally, I bought an R4+be14 back in 2024, and even if they’d arranged to replace the old be14s with working ones, I still wouldn’t have been able to use it—the warranty had long since expired.
I can try to explain:
Technical reasons
I was interested in the BE14, and the only reason I didn’t buy it was the price and concerns about power consumption.
The price didn’t drop, and additionally the power consumption turned out to be 5.76 W at idle 
I’m very interested in the MediaTek Wi-Fi chips on the BE14 as well as Qualcomm. I’m still looking for a Wi-Fi module that fits my needs in terms of performance, range, and power consumption. Sadly, Banana Pi hasn’t provided anything like that yet…
Responsibility reasons
Political reasons
I have very relevant information about Banana Pi, especially about the BE14 (new and old) :
Please do not buy open-source hardware too early after release!
- The software will take time to mature.
- The hardware could have bugs!
Interesting. When was that idle power of BE14 measured? What are expected idle power for WiFi 6 and WiFi 7 in your observations?
I believe improvement in software will bring down idle power.
Its from the documentation: https://docs.banana-pi.org/en/BPI-R4/BananaPi_BPI-R4-NIC-BE14
18.06.2024 … and that’s just the idle power draw 
But there’s a reason why Banana Pi released a heatsink with a fan for BE14.
R4 Lite
R4 Pro
BE19000 - W1700K
BE3600 - AW7990-AED
Idle isn’t my biggest concern — it’s the average and peak power consumption.
BE14 and BE19 are cutting-edge Wi-Fi 7 router boards.
Hopefully the next BE14 will have good Wi-Fi performance as well 
.
After ASIARF has changed the power consumption values on the AW7990, I’ll continue down that path… and if I have time, I also want to try Compex .
The new version requires verification of software and hardware functionality, as well as the size and effectiveness of the shielding layer. We have also added a hardware power meter to test actual transmit power. These steps will take time, so please be patient; the new version will be released some time from now.
Hello to all Banana 4 users, I’d like to ask you as a true Banana BRL R4 user.
What’s the current system stability situation with the MT7915 and MT7925 modules? If I order them from AliExpress and install OpenWrt 24.10.5, will I encounter issues with system stability, signal noise, and range, or are there any other issues I should be aware of?
But I was told about the 7925 module on the OpenWrt forum:
I don’t know how true this is.
and
and
How are things with the AW7915 and AW7990?
My question and challenge is to find working WiFi modules, install them, install OpenWrt 24.10.5, and start using them right away. What do you think about this and what WiFi modules do you recommend? This is critically important to me.
I found a second picture:
: