Manual

PowerBox (RB750P-PBr2)

An outdoor router with four feeding ports: power and data to four devices at once.

The PowerBox (product code RB750P-PBr2) is a small outdoor router whose whole reason to exist is one property: it can power four devices over the network cable. Cameras along a fence, two access points on a site, an intercom at the gate. One cable out, power and data in it.

The catalogue records the default configuration router with ether1 as the WAN port, and the port layout is verified, so you will not see the "port layout not verified" note here.

Watch two numbers: the ports are 100 Mbit and there is 64 MB of memory. That last figure is exactly the line at which the configurator raises its small-board warning.

The ports

  • ether1: 100 Mbit, no PoE-out. Your WAN port by default.
  • ether2 through ether5: 100 Mbit, all four with PoE-out. This is what the device is for.

Because the catalogue records four feeding ports, the PoE-out per port field appears in the tool, with only ether2 through ether5 in its dropdown. Per port you choose auto-on, forced-on or off. The script writes that as poe-out on that port.

The tool knows which ports can feed. About the power budget it knows nothing: not how many watts a port can deliver, not what the supply provides, not what the total is. Switching four ports on is therefore no guarantee that four devices come up. Add up what you connect, look at the supply you use with it, and read PoE-out per port and Cables and PoE in practice.

Five ports is more than the three the VLAN roles demand, so those are available. Which ports join the bridge is covered in Bridge and ports.

What is inside

From the catalogue: MIPSBE and 64 MB of memory. The licence level and the switch chip are not recorded for this model, so this page does not quote them.

At 64 MB the small-board warning appears: RouterOS v7 runs on it, but there is not much room. Keep the configuration small, do not install packages you are not using, and check what is left with /system resource print after pasting.

hw_vlan is empty for this model, so you will not get the warning that bridge VLAN filtering turns hardware offload off. That is a difference from the PowerBox Pro, where that note does appear.

There are no radios and no modem. The catalogue therefore records no Wi-Fi package and no Wi-Fi generation.

What it is good at, and where it runs out

Good at: a handful of powered devices in a place with no mains socket, with a router in the same box. For a camera setup that is exactly the shape; see Recipe: connecting cameras.

Where it runs out:

  • 100 Mbit. On a fast connection this device is the bottleneck. Four HD cameras add up; see Wired speed is lower than expected.
  • 64 MB. No hotspot, no containers, no large firewall sets.
  • No Wi-Fi. All Wi-Fi roles are greyed out with "No wifi radio".
  • No modem. LTE / 5G router is greyed out with "No LTE modem".
  • The power budget. The tool has no view of it, and it is the most common reason a device does not come up.

Which roles fit

  • Home router: the ordinary choice when this is the router for the location.
  • Office router with VLANs: available, because there are five ports. Handy for putting cameras in a VLAN of their own.
  • Switch: when a router is already in place and this device only feeds and forwards.
  • VPN gateway, Router + CAPsMAN and Hotspot: available. Mind the 64 MB with hotspot.
  • Core router: technically offered, but this is not a core device.
  • Harden only (baseline): for a PowerBox that is already running.

The quickest route to a working configuration

  1. Pick One device and search for PowerBox or RB750P.
  2. Pick Home router, or Switch if a router is already in place.
  3. Walk through the wizard and keep ether1 as the WAN.
  4. Then go to advanced, the Ports section, and switch PoE-out on for the ports you actually use. Leave the rest on off.
  5. Set an admin password, reset the device and paste the script. See Using the script.

Afterwards check on the device with /interface ethernet poe print what each port is set to and whether power is flowing.

What trips people up

  • Switching four ports on and hoping. Add the consumption up first. The tool does not do that for you.
  • Reaching for forced-on when in doubt. That puts voltage on the port without detection. On equipment that expects no PoE, that can do damage. Use auto-on unless you know exactly why not.
  • Looking for PoE on ether1. That port does not feed, which is why the tool's list leaves it out.
  • Forgetting the 100 Mbit ceiling. Four cameras plus internet go through the same 100 Mbit.
  • Confusing it with the Pro. The PowerBox Pro has gigabit ports, an SFP cage and more memory, and it does raise the warning about VLANs and the switch chip.

Want to try it right away? Open the configurator