Can someone review my Banana BPI-R4 shopping list?

Banana Pi Router design BPI-R4(MT7988)
1

Please, can someone review my shopping list to tell me if I have a complete setup for a fully working Banana BPI-R4 with simultaneous WiFi on 2.4GHZ, 5GHZ, & 6GHZ?

  • Banana Pi BPI-R4 board
  • 100W USB C charging brick (will be using a spare MacBook Pro brick for now)
  • USB-IF Certified Charging Cable Power Delivery 3.1 (240W max)
  • MT7916AN Wi-Fi 6E AX3000 Mini PCIe Module (specifically AsiaRF AW7916-NPD)
  • SMA RP to IPEX connectors x3
  • Wi-Fi 7 6E 2.4GHz 5GHz 6GHz Antenna x3
  • MicroSD card with SD card adapter
2

The charger and usb-c cable are way overkill I’m using a BK378 charger (65W) and a 2m braided generic cable without e-marker that costed me 12€ total on Aliexpress.

For the antennas and cables you could buy the bundle on the same page as the WiFi 7 NIC if you plan to upgrade later or have the case.

You might not need a MicroSD if the onboard 8GB EMMC is enough for you.

3

But sdcard is useful if you do not want to stay on pre flashed os…of course there are ways like uart boot but sdcard is easier for testing a full system. So i suggest to have at least 1.

4

I said that because when I brought the board I forgot to take one and using an USB stick you can update the EMMC by booting on the pre flashed NAND and then the NAND by booting on the newly flashed EMMC.

5

Why You want to generate costs with usb-c charger / power supply? I use 12v 3A and there is no problem with it.

6

In my case wherever there is a power jack I buy a usb-c adapter so that if any of the charger dies I can swap with any others.

7

Thanks I might consider that. In my case however I just have the USBC stuff laying around.

8

This is a great tip, thank you. The AsiaRF kit is a lot more expensive than this bundle.

9

Happy to share my experience, of what’s not been covered yet.

  • Case, What are you using? Does it have mounting holes for the antennas?
  • CPU and RAM heat sinks or fan?
  • Ensure you get the right type SMA RP to IPEX, there’s a smaller RP connector out there be careful, I accidentally purchased it.
  • The AsiaRF AW7916-NPD can only do 5 or 6GHz at one time, not both. Can confirm card runs on OpenWRT snapshot (quite well at least this date in time)
  • USB to TTL Serial UART RS232 Adaptor (Good for when you can’t figure out a problem and other functions listed in the manual )
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10

You may want to check out this thread.

The idea there basically changes the “UART debug port” into a serial console which often available on professional network gear.

You make use of the same USB-to-UART adaptor cable (I like those all-in-one integrated) to connect to the extended and now exposed port while your BPI R4 is in production environment. No more need to open the case for diagnosis in rare but going to happen occasions.

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Yep, i love to have console port on front like sophos, watchguard, fortinet and so on, even on my current appneta m35 pfsense firewall i have one. There is nothing stoping bpi to make hw for pros, i’d love rack unit too.

12

Can’t agree more. In fact, Banana Pi already did the work: adding the three pins, having a port opening in the official case. They simply have to pick a simple & more appropriate receptacle that will fit nicely into the case opening.

Maybe it’ll be available in BPI R5 or BPI R6 :smiley:

cc @sinovoip @simon

13

I’m having a strange problem with the AsiaRF AW7916-NPD purchase. When I go to purchase the card, I get an astonishing $59 FedEx shipping charge.

If instead I choose the package that includes the antennae and pigtails, the shipping charge is only $27.50.

There seems to be a bug with their shipping calculation.

14

Which port to use as wan? May want to add a sfp module.

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