D-Link DWL-900AP FAQ & Mods Page

D-LINK DWL-900AP FAQ & Modification Page

Disclaimer : This page is provided in good faith however no responsibility can be taken for loss, damage or injury as a result of the information provided here. Performing these modification may void your warranty.

The 'N' connector antenna mod guide is here

There seems to be a quite a few DWL-900APs around at the moment (and people using them.)

They are avilable from numerous sources both local and international. Here's a basic FAQ.

The prerequisites for some of the techniques here are basic soldering, patience, the abilty to read and follow instructions and not being a complete gumby.

Where's all the technical info / manual / latest drivers / support / warranty registration

An easy solution is to use a suitable regulated plugpack found cheaply at your local electronics supplier. Jaycar and Altronics are two here in Perth.

Alternatively you might want to pull some power off your PC (only about 10W maximum - quite small.) This is easily facilitated by cutting off the original plugpack (and discarding) and joining the power lead to a spare PC power connector (you can use a Y-Split power supply lead.) The RED wire is the 5VDC supply. Make sure you get the polarity right - it should be centre positive.

If you REALLY want to get fancy you might consider Power over Ethernet (PoE) - very useful if you want to remotely power your AP (if it's mast or roof mounted for example.)

There's a good guide at nycwireless but caveat - Australia uses the "T-568A" wiring protocol for Cat 5 not the US "T-568B" - the unused Cat 5 pins [4, 5, 7, 8] (which are reused for the DC power) remain the same. The only difference between the two protocols are the COLOUR ASSIGNMENTS. If I get motivated / the time I just might do an Australian guide. Slightly clue enabled persons should be able to work this out themselves.

The connector on the back of the DWL-900AP is a "R-SMA" (the R is for Reverse - which apparently means it is reverse gender, NOT reverse polarity, NOT reverse thread.)

If your antenna doesn't use this connector you'll need to find a pigtail to change it.

Perth users might want to check out http://www.e3.com.au for potential pigtail suppliers.

I've opened up the unit (remove the 2 screws beneath the rear rubber feet and unclip the 2 halves) and had a look. It's a little tight on space but it looks like you can remove the original R-SMA connector and replace it with a slightly more useful chassis mount N connector. I'll be pasting up these exploits as I do them. Stay tuned!

The DWL-900AP works fine with Macintosh systems (even though they are not specifically listed on the data sheet) - you will however have to perform the initial configuration of the device (via USB) with a Windoze box. Any subsequent parameter changes will also have to be done with the supplied Windoze SNMP tool. In most cases after an intial setup its "set and forget."

Myself and some users have experienced difficulties when installing the USB driver under Windows 2000 - usually exception errors and the mighty blue screen of death! After discussions with D-Link US (who blamed the OS) and D-Link Australia (who were much more helpful in suggesting USB power problems) it seems you need to have the device directly connected to the PC - NOT via any USB hub device.