WLAE-AG300N Ethernet Bridge

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Jan 102011
 
WLAE-AG300N Ethernet Bridge

I bought recently 2 of those to replace a wireless connection I used before (see here for the details). I wanted to write a bit about those as they have some quirks.

Pros:

  • Quite small and light.
  • Work as wireless bridge, access point and wireless repeater.
  • Has 2 Ethernet (10/100 MBit/s) ports for 2 devices, or more if connected to switches.
  • Works in the 2.4 and 5 GHz band, so you can turn on microwaves if you operate in the 5 GHz band.
  • AOSS/WPS works as advertised: you push buttons on them, and they find each other. For bridging, it’s super-simple. Default is 5 GHz band too.
  • Operation is transparent as it should be.

Cons:

  • Those are not routers and cannot do NAT.
  • The web interface is in Japanese if you buy them in Japan, and the corresponding US model has yet no firmware to download. Good thing I have Google Translate to help me with most of the text.
  • They can only use either 2.4 or 5 GHz. Important when they work as wireless repeaters.

Quirks:

  • Default IP is 192.168.11.100. They also use DHCP if they can. I should move to another network.
  • Changing the channel is not simple. I still don’t know how to do that. Seems that this is no longer possible if I have DFS. I cannot find a way to turn this off, but then, I don’t need to as it picked the correct band anyway.
  • The docs from the Buffalo US site shows small differences between the US and JP firmware. It’s not just translated. But the English manual is a big help.
  • That manual also writes:
    This sticker shows the AirStation’s SSID, default encryption key, and WPS PIN code.  By default, encryption is disabled for AirStations sold in Asia
    That explained why initially the wireless LED was blinking orange, as that manual also said: Blinking :  AOSS/WPS error. After setting a password, the blinking became a solid green (which means: 5 GHz wireless).
  • I have 2 and both are configured identical. Using AOSS buttons, one became a master and the other one a client. I don’t know which one is which though.
  • I set up fixed IPs on both. On one of them it works just fine: no DHCP requests. On the other one, constant DHCP requests. The DHCP server I have offers a good one (identical to the one I configured manually), but it’s not being accepted. At the same time, that unit works just fine with the assigned manual IP address. When I configure it to use DHCP, it immediately grabs one and is happy with it. Looks like a bug to me.

LED Lamps

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Jan 082010
 
LED Lamps

Sharp built a LED based lamp with a remote control named DL-L60AV in Japan. As the name implies, it’s supposed to be comparable bright to a 60W incandescent light bulb. That alone is quite impressive for a LED lamp.

I bought one of those for my wife. Since  you cannot only control the brightness but you can also control the color temperature it did look really nice to have.

It did not take long that it occurred to me that the IR remote control ability means that by using an computer connected IR sender, any computer can control a 100V lamp. No need to twiddle with 100V electronics, no need to use any power electronics like triacs. Being hit by a charged elko once (that was back in Germany, so it was probably 325V)  I have a lot of respect for 100V.

Kuroutoshikou has such an IR controller/sender named KURO-RS. I am tempted to buy one, but I unlikely will have time to play with this.

Unsolicited Review – Bread Knife

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Feb 062008
 
Unsolicited Review - Bread Knife

I know. Completely non-electronic. Not even electric. But, hey, it instantly doubles the amount of articles on this blog. And I was quite surprised finding such a good bread knife in a country where bread is more pre-sliced toast than bread. You can find good bread in Japan and it’s the reason we bought this one. No point in trying to cut pre-sliced toast…

Here is a full picture of it:

The Bready Bread Knife

So why do I write about a bread knife? Because I have never found a better one. It’s smooth, cutting through bread of any type, it’s non-sticky and goes back to its shiny state by simple wiping with a cloth, and it’s long enough for non-standard size bread. It’s pretty perfect.

If you would like to know the brand name I will have to disappoint you: I do not know. We did not keep the packaging. We bought it at our local super market, which won’t help anyone unless you live near our house.

Update: The company’s name is KAI: http://www.kai-group.com/