Update firmware on Hubs used as repeaters

[andihawes]

Dear Forum.

i have a SH2 as my main 'gateway' router and then 3 other SH2 and 1 HH4 as repeaters wired in.

Do the repeaters, both SH2 and HH4, update themselves with firmware if in this config?

How would i do this if not?

PS: i cant find the firmware version on the HH4 anywhere?!?! Where would it be?

[rbz5416]

Seems a totally bonkers setup but that's your choice.

Updates are "pushed" to the Hubs & I believe only the one connected directly to the Internet would update. There's no manual update facility so the only option would be to rotate them, with all the pain of reconfiguring that would entail.

[WSH]

No, they only update when plugged in as the router and it can’t be done manually.  I was once sent a second HH5 by mistake.  They never ask for it back, so I used one as a wireless access point and one as a router, rotating to keep them up to date.  I ended up doing that for a couple of years in fact.

With the SH2 allowing the config to be exported you could set up two different profiles, reimporting the role as necessary.  As the things auto reboot every 14 days anyway, rotating them might not be that much work but as rbz5416 says, with the price of repeaters these days there are easier ways of doing it especially if you want to rotate four of them.

[Edinburgh-wg]

@rbz5416 Bonkers or not, if it works for them, that's great. 

[WSH]

Well, what helped in the HH5 days was that the updates were less frequent than today. I’ve just looked up the recent updates for the SH2. To give you some idea of the frequency:

v0.37.00.07084-BT Jul'22
v0.38.00.20147-BT Feb'23
v0.39.01.04077-BT Jun'23
v0.40.00.04147-BT Aug'23
v0.41.00.07076-BT Nov'23
v0.41.01.10137-BT Dec'23

I'm not sure I'd fancy doing it today.

[spile]

Using a router as a repurposed wireless point makes sense as a cost effective option.

[andihawes]

it works anddoesnt cause any issues, with my limited knowledge of these things.

In a perfect world, what is the perfect set up with a wired house and needing 5 wifi points in totlal, 1 being 100m from the house?

[andihawes]

hmmm, does sound like a bit of a job to update them all....

[licquorice]

Why do you need to update them? If they are working leave well alone.

[rbz5416]

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@andihaweswrote:

In a perfect world, what is the perfect set up with a wired house and needing 5 wifi points in total, 1 being 100m from the house?

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Probably a mesh system. A decent system would possibly allow a reduction in the number too, as the WiFi in the SH2 doesn't have a great rep. But we'd really need to know more about the property size, construction & your usage. I cover a three bed, brick walled semi with a couple of TP-Link Deco units.

My take on using old routers as APs is that it made sense years ago, when domestic mesh systems were pretty much non-existent. But now it's a bit like an Evri driver using the family Fiesta to deliver parcels. It gets the job done after a fashion but the correct tool would be a van.

But as others have alluded to, if it works for you...