Panda wi-fi adapter works with Alfa router


Alfa wifi adapter Panda wi-fi adapter

The picture on the right is an Alfa AWUS036NH wi-fi adapter. According to Alfa Network Inc.,this is the adapter to use with the Alfa R36A router. The R36A doesn't have the capability to receive a wi-fi signal like a wi-fi extender does. ...but if you want to use the R36A like a wi-fi extender, Alfa supplied the R36A with a USB port that will allow you to connect the AWUS036NH adapter; that was my setup. My router sits up on my roof, right below the signal booster that is connected to my outdoor wi-fi antenna. To protect the router from the elements (i.e., rain) I put it in a weatherproof box, but the adapter has a 9 dbi antenna hooked up to it, and I couldn't get it to stick out of the box, so I put the adapter underneath the weatherproof box, with the antenna sticking out past the rain gutter on my roof.

I tried to protect the adapter from the elements by putting it in a plastic (sandwich) baggie. The first time it rained with my new setup, water got into the baggie. I removed the baggie, and the adapter seemed just fine afer the next several times it rained (Summer is the rainy season in Florida), but the adapter finally stopped working after a paticularly heavy thundrstorm. I detached the adapter, and was planning on hooking up the signal booster to a coax cable that runs from an older Alfa router in my house. Then I thought, why don't I try hooking up a Panda PAU06 (300 mbps) adapter that's just lying around my house? The Panda adapter worked, and I was able to stick the antenna out of a gap at the top of the box made for wires. I also clamped down the weatherproof box with a bar clamp too better seal the waterproof box, and keep it from moving around on the roof when it gets really windy.

The AWUS036NH wi-fi adapter is working again; it just needed to dry out. However, the Panda adapter is working so well that I don't plan on replacing it anytime soon. If I need to replace the Panda adapter, I can always go back to the Alfa adapter.