I'm still playing with seeing if WAP can be set to even lower power or I can set RSSI threshold for individual clients high enough to disconnect one I leave the building.

If all that doesn't work, I will simply run the power to WAP thru a relay and set logic to cut power when shed is armed.

I also already have a 10 minute logic timer for my music.
Triggers include:
- Timer (re)start when any shed door is open
- Timer (re)start after last PIR secure event

Works great for music and I can't see why it wouldn't do the same for the WAP.
I even have line where music shuts off when I press LightOff button. I use that at end of day so lights don't stay on anylonger then they are needed. I could easily add the WAP relay off line to that.

Can you put the "FBI" part at the end of the SSID? For both main and guest. So that when your devices sees the networks. It'll choose "MyName" as "M" is lower in the alphabet than "S" in "Surveillance Van FBI".

KOT

I like this idea and I will use it because I don't want to drop $100+ on a smart switch.
The only issue I take with this is that I don't like breaking out Cat5 cables.
It's not the performance hit that I worry about.
It's the un-neatness of it.

Has anyone seen any Cat5 splice box or enclosure where I could insert a 22/2 wire that would run into relay and cut power to WAP when not needed?

I do have several of those that I've never got a chance to play with yet:
  

[Link: showmecables.com]

Nevermind; apparently I'm answering my own questions today :-)

I sure can.
Do you really think that today's devices are still so stupid as to use alphabetical priority?
It sure is worth a try.

I like What Fins said, tie the power of the the shed AP to the lights in the shed, turn off the lights, no problem.

If you have the power in the shed all of the way down and can still see it in the house, then can you turn the house up so you can see it in the shed and get rid of the shed AP all together?

I've always expected them to prioritize based on order of acquisition, newest first

[Link: support.apple.com].

Yes.. The WAP in the shed is probably set to a higher level in Windows thus windows wants to connect to it before the other WAP. Just change the connection order in your wifi settings.

These are made for 24 gauge solid wire. 22 gauge solid might work, while 22 gauge stranded might be flaky.

Don't judge this thing's network performance by what happens with a 22 gauge wire.

Why not just put a system in that roams?!?! Either ruckus or even luxul...

I get that we want to make a fun experiment and would be cool to break out a cat5 and run it through a relay but the novelty of it will ware out and you will never do it at a clients house.

I would use this opertunity to put in a controller based system to learn what works and doesn't with it.

Just my 2cents

Brendon, unless MFG is willing to give me a killer deal, or I can get this 2nd hand (B-stock, whatever), I won't have few grand to spend on this.

My UniFi works well enough in the house.
On got the Snap stuff to test and that's how that one unit ended up in the shed, where for last 1.5 years I've spent more time than in the house, or so it seems.

It's not unusual for me to use the laptop in the shed for projects, inventory, straightening out the van. Then, later at night work from inside the house, where laptop reconnects to shed's AP. Hell, even after full reboot, it'll still connect to it.

I'll look into it for sure.

Also, someone asked for device mix:
Not a single Apple anything in the whole house.
Windows 7 Laptop
Few Win10 2-in-1s
Android phones for everyone

How to adjust the priority for a wireless network in your device.


Windows
[Link: howtogeek.com]

iOS
[Link: support.apple.com]

OSX
[Link: osxdaily.com]

Android
[Link: play.google.com]

Perfect, thanks.

So are you devices connecting to the main house now?

If so, did you just change each devices priority for which it connects to a known wifi? Or did you change the name of the SSID?

KOT

It might be too soon to tell.

So far, all I did was change the network priority on my Win7 laptop.

I don't remember exactly what the sequence of events was that led the laptop to connect to the shed's AP.
It could be that I started it up in the shed, then closed the lid (sleep) and opened it in the house.

I do know that I (the day I posted the original post) even rebooted the laptop and it still connected to the shed.

In the last few days (since the change) no issues to report.