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Daisy Chain BT11 Access Points

It can be challenging to support turn-by-turn indoor wayfinding in long hallways. To provide continuous Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) coverage, the access points (APs) must be within 30 to 50 feet (10 to 15 meters) of one another. If your site has several long hallways, you'll need a lot of access points (APs).

Purchasing a large number of full-featured APs can get expensive. And powering them can quickly use up your switch ports.

The BLE-only BT11 is an economical choice in any area where you're either overlaying an existing wireless network or supporting only location-based services (not Wi-Fi).

By daisy chaining these APs, you can power four APs per switch port (the directly connected AP and three others).

illustration of a switch and four daisy-chained APs

Before You Begin

Place your APs to ensure continuous BLE coverage and location accuracy. See Access Point Placement for Location Services.

To daisy chain BT11 access points:

Enable PoE Passthrough to extend power from the first AP to the enabled Ethernet ports and/or the module port. This allows the first AP to provide Power over Ethernet (PoE) to devices connected to Eth1 on the AP. To configure PoE Passthrough, see PoE Passthrough.

Connect the first BT11 AP to a Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)-enabled switch or a 30-watt (W) power injector. Then connect up to three other APs in a daisy chain.

Note:

If you use a 15W power injector or a switch without LLDP enabled, you can power only two daisy-chained units (the directly connected AP and one other).

Tips

  • If the APs lack sufficient power, they will reboot. This issue can occur if:

    • The first AP is not connected to an LLDP-enabled port or 30W power injector.

    • The daisy chain includes more than the recommended number of APs.

  • Be mindful of the cable length between the switch and the first BT11. A device loses 4.5W of power for every 100 meters of cable separating it from its power source.

  • If the switch port has MAC limiting enabled, increase the limit to allow the actual number of APs in the daisy chain.