Mr3040 / tl-wr703n

We have over 100 MR3040 In un-opened original packing and some TL-WR703N and WR703N Clones. Plus several 10's of OPEN-WRT supporting hardware and routers. Plus new cables , pigtails antenna and more.

We no longer have any use for these new unused items.

We would be happy to donate to a community project or to individuals with a valid need for such items. (i.e we are not offering them to individuals to make a quick buck by selling them on eBay)

Obviously we could sell these on eBay or similar but time , packing and taxes and charges make the exercise commercially unviable.

Based in the UK 15 mins from Cambridge.

Location
Cambridgeshire, England
Phone: +44 (0) 1223 901990

2 Likes

Unfortunately, they are too old, underpowered and not supported by a modern OpenWrt out of the box. I suppose they can be used to Wi-Fi-enable a wired-only or a USB device (like a printer). And a custom cut-down firmware can be built for them for this use case. Just an FYI.

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These items are not supported by a new off the shelf build of OpenWRT.

Its pretty easy to load them up with an older build of Open-WRT or build your own.

They are and always will be useful for some projects and developments - PirateBox , MiniPwner , DSLR Controller etc........

Or, Sadly Landfill.

We wanted to avoid consigning these "New" Un-Used items to landfill. Hence the offer on this forum.

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Are any of the units swelling, as you have over 100 x 2000mAh batteries in the MR3040s that have never been charged, and the UK postal system is a bit funny about batteries.
Is this collection only?
Last supported Openwrt for MR3040 and WR703N was 19.07.10.
What's in the 10's of Openwrt support hardware and routers?

@DirkVanDerWalt are these any use for radiusdesk deployments?

We have opened 5 randomly selected MR3040 units and the batteries appear to be fully functional. No swelling, no smell, they charge and the units operate as per the TP link user guide.

There are probably another 50+ bare board 2.4/5Ghz routers and a good few hundred WR703N clones.

We do have heavily Customized OpenWRT firmware and circuit diagrams for the hardware. But a standard OpernWRT build works perfectly on them.

Collection is preferable, anyone collecting can feast on other supporting hardware, that is all destined for landfill if not repurposed, Most of it is New unopened unused.

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These are upgradeable to 16/64 by swapping the flash and RAM chips. I think there is a similar enough model to use release builds directly without needing a custom build for the larger flash (larger RAM is automatically detected and used on any build). Then you have a router which can run new builds, though not anything to get too excited about. The one thing that the AR9331 does do well is conserve DC power. They will use less than 1 watt all up making it excellent for remote sites with only a solar power system.

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Its probably not worth the effort.

The older hardware that works well are those with enough resources like the old Unifi or Meraki or Aruba.

Also being stuck on 19.07 means a fair amount of the newer features will not be available.

So it is doable but I would rather opt for newer hardware especially since one can get them so cheap these days.

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Hi @Mr3gf,

I work as an IT Technician at Cambridge University. I think this would be a great learning/tinkering platform for me and other 3-4 interested coworkers. We are all interested in learning more about OpenWrt as well as other "hackier" things that can be achieved with such devices. I have experience with OpenWrt and custom firmware so I would be leading weekly meetings for a while, exploring different projects.

Would you be willing to give us 15 pcs of the TP-Link MR3040 703n? (I’m sure the guys will brick at least one so it’s good to have a spares). Of course, they would only be used for educational purposes and will remain part of our Team's stock.

We would also be very happy if we could also get a copy of custom firmware, diagrams and some of the antennas, accessories, etc.

Thanks,

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It isn't, not at all.

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if soldering, flash reading and writing, etc, is part of those projects, why not ... ?

just remember:

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Soldering is only part of the job, the easiest one[0]. The bigger issue is maintaining the patches long term, yes, this isn't 'difficult' either, the bigger problem is never forgetting to rebase[1]

--
[0] at least for the flash, for the RAM not so much, but both would need doing
[1] especially during times when OpenWrt moves to newer kernels, the default has switched, but the older kernel is still around - so the patches still apply unchanged to the old -unused- kernel, while the default/ new kernels remains unpatched. It's a pain, for all eternity.