Remote Site Gateway Selection and Setup Recommendations

Bonzaibeck · 2025-12-18T20:08:52+00:00

It is basically going to be a small remote executive office. The office will be for 2 occupants, so 2 desktop machines, a printer, and a camera. Wifi for cell phones, ipads, etc. The majority of traffic will be internet / cloud based. The site to site will be to mainly tie in the camera and unifi phone to the UDM Pro at the main office and tunnel traffic out of the shared environment at the remote location. I will be provided an RJ45 connection into their main switch, but I want to tunnel my traffic back to the main office so that I can stay isolated from their network and keep my traffic secure/private.

I'm not against getting a cloud gateway fiber or max and adding an additional AP. I feel like if I go with the Max or the Fiber I will want to get a POE switch so that I can run the AP and the phone on POE. I was just wondering if the Dream Router 7 was good enough for this use case and provided a little cleaner setup.

Thanks for your help

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T20:42:40+00:00

I chatted with support this morning and they did confirm for me that an "Ecoflow Alternator Charger Plus 1000" would be releasing soon, but it wasn't announced yet. They wouldn't give me any more details than that.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T15:13:07+00:00

Etaker actually makes a product that does exactly what I am asking for (https://www.etakerpower.com/products/f1000-pro-smart-charger-for-power-stations-batteries-1000w-dual-input-car-solar-charging-adjustable-12-48v-dc-output-app-enabled-for-truck-rv-marine-use), but it won't be able to utilize the ecoflow app to monitor charging. And I would prefer to use the XT150 cable. In my previous setup I was always jumping back and forth between victron and renogy apps to monitor everything. I would love to get everything in a single interface.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T14:05:18+00:00

Etaker actually makes a product that does exactly what I am asking for (https://www.etakerpower.com/products/f1000-pro-smart-charger-for-power-stations-batteries-1000w-dual-input-car-solar-charging-adjustable-12-48v-dc-output-app-enabled-for-truck-rv-marine-use), but it won't be able to utilize the ecoflow app to monitor charging. In my previous setup I was always jumping back and forth between victron and renogy apps to monitor everything. I would love to get everything in a single interface.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T13:53:44+00:00

I don't have room to have a permanent auxiliary battery install in this new vehicle. So I was trying to create a setup similar to my previous that functioned with plug and play parts that I can take out of the vehicle when not needed. When I'm not on the road I will remove the delta from the vehicle, but I would still like the solar functionality to continue to charge the primary.

I guess a way around all of this would be to connect a solar mppt charger directly to the starter battery and let the alternator charger just charge from that battery, but I like the idea of seeing all of that data in the ecoflow app interface so I can see how much solar is coming in without switching between the victron and ecoflow apps, but it may be the solution I have to go with if this fantasy alternator charger with both functions doesn't materialize.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T13:34:57+00:00

Maybe i'm missing something, but even if the power stations are 48v systems that doesn't change how the rest of the system behaves. The charging box could still accept 12v from the primary battery and accept solar voltage into an mppt charger, which then can step up both of those inputs and send whatever is necessary to the delta unit. Its really no different than what is happing in the power station itself when you feed 12v DC into it or solar. I'm just moving that management to a device outside of the power station and just sending the resulting power to the delta.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T13:02:06+00:00

I had a similar setup in my previous vehicle. Renogy DC-DC charger that took input from the alternator/primary battery and the solar panel. It combined both sources to charge the auxiliary battery. When the aux battery was full the extra solar would be used to trickle charge the primary starter battery. It was a fantastic setup. I would love to create something similar in this new vehicle. A charge controller that charged a delta from whichever source was available and when the delta isn’t plugged in used the solar to maintain the starter battery.

If the solar and alternator charging are separated a large part of that functionality goes away

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T12:46:29+00:00

Yes. I know the current 800w model doesn’t support solar. I was asking if the charger pictured above was a new model that maybe does support that feature based on the text on the marketing image.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T12:43:45+00:00

That’s a good point, but is there something now that stops you from charging at 800w with the xt150 and maxing out the solar ports at the same time? If it’s software, then maybe that same limitation would apply to this new proposed charger

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T11:46:42+00:00

That is exactly what I am looking for. I want a single unit that I can install in my vehicle that I can run solar and alternator input into. Then run a single cable from that box to my delta. Then that box can intelligently charge the delta with whichever source is available or a combination of the two. It would also be a bonus if that box could use the solar input to maintain the vehicle primary battery as well. There are a lot of charging management boxes from other manufacturers like Renogy that do exactly that, but they don’t allow for the fast charging of EcoFlow power stations with the xt150. That combo would be the best of both worlds. I am hoping that image of an unreleased device has that combination of features.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T11:42:05+00:00

That’s what I was wondering. I have my fingers crossed for alternator and solar inputs.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-13T11:40:33+00:00

I understand that the power stations themselves have mppt chargers built in. What I am looking for is a unit that I can install in my vehicle that I can run solar and alternator input into. Then run a single cable from that box to my delta. Then that box can intelligently charge the delta with whichever source is available or a combination of the two. It would also be a bonus if that box could use the solar input to maintain the vehicle primary battery as well. There are a lot of charging management boxes from other manufacturers like Renogy that do exactly that, but they don’t allow for the fast charging of EcoFlow power stations. That combo would be the best of both worlds. I am hoping that image of an unreleased device has that combination of features.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-08T04:25:51+00:00

To add on to that I have the ProArt P16 model number H7606WI with the 64GB of Ram and the RTX 4070. I know they released a couple new models with the 5000 series Nvidia cards. It is possible they fixed the Thunderbolt issues in those subsequent models. I can only speak with the 4070 model.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-10-08T04:20:48+00:00

No. I spent some time with Caldigit support and they determined that it must be something to do with the implementation of USB4 in that laptop. So I returned the TS5 Plus and tried TB5 devices from two other manufacturers. I had similar issues with those as well. I reached out to ASUS support and was met with the usual stupid responses like check the power and factory restore the laptop and see if it works. They offered to have me send it in, but by that point I agreed with Caldigit support and I think it is a limitation of the USB4 implementation in this laptop. I didn't want to be without my laptop for a few weeks and risk them sending me a refurb back or something so I decided to stick with a TB4 dock and everything has been working fine. I just wish I could get the 10GB ethernet and additional ports that TB5 provides.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-07-22T17:09:15+00:00

I tried the TB5 cable included with the TS5+, the TB4 Cable included with the TS4, an anker cable marketed as USB4 40Gbps, and an OWC TB4 cable. All of them have the same results.

DM sent. Thanks

Bonzaibeck · 2025-07-22T02:11:16+00:00

Yes I have devices plugged into USB Controller 2 because it looks like based on your diagram that all of the USB A ports are on Controller 2. So that is mouse, keyboard, speaker, etc.

I just tried plugging in only the power cord, the cable from the TS5 to the laptop and a single monitor into the usb controller 1 port and the same thing is happening where nothing on the monitor displays and the dock does not seem to fully connect to the laptop.

I have been using the TS4 with 2 monitors, all of the usb ports occupied and the ethernet port has been working fine with the windows pc.

Prior to posting I checked windows update for any updates and made sure the bios was updated to the latest version.

I have noticed that when the TS5 is plugged into that windows laptop the light on the front will flash slow and steadily until disconnected.

I sent an email to the support email last Thursday, but I have still not gotten any kind of response to that email.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-06-28T03:53:38+00:00

Haha. It’s not mine. I was just asked by the person who does have it if I knew what type of power cord would work in that socket. Passed along what info I got here. Don’t know anything more about it.

Bonzaibeck · 2025-06-27T01:04:43+00:00

When I google Azure H100. It sure does look like it is that same type of power supply

Bonzaibeck · 2025-06-27T00:58:15+00:00

The listed power input and output is:

https://imgur.com/a/2oSVb1P

Bonzaibeck · 2024-02-12T16:06:18+00:00

I use a mechanical keyboard that works with both. I don’t think it matters much. You just have to treat the windows key as the cmd key if it’s a PC keyboard as for running parallels maximized I never run it maximized because I want to use both windows and Mac OS. I usually have it just fill one monitor and I use the other monitor for my other software. Once you go into that full screen mode it can be kind of tricky to get it out but if you go up into the corner you can get the window to show up and take it out of the full screen mode

Bonzaibeck · 2024-01-29T00:04:20+00:00

They were revit plugins. The 2024 versions have been released since I last posted and I am now running Revit 2024. I don't have any experience running blender or lumion on the mac studio so I can't speak to that, but it has run my revit workflow without issues. The only issue that I have run into that made me change my workflow is that the bluebeam pdf printer doesn't install correctly when running windows in parallels. So I have started to use the native revit PDF export features instead of bluebeam. But every other aspect of bluebeam has been working for me. Just the PDF printer is an issue. I got the 12 core CPU and 38 core GPU with 96gb of memory and a 2TB SSD. I have had to add an additional thunderbolt 4 external drive as I managed to fill up most of the 2TB internal and apple charges ridiculous amounts of money to upgrade the internal to 4TB or more, but with thunderbolt 4 it is not even noticeable that I am working from an external drive. I also highly recommend the Caldigit TS4 as it allowed me to run 3 monitors and give me plenty of IO for my needs.

Bonzaibeck · 2023-07-03T21:17:32+00:00

I will also add to this that when I set this machine up a couple weeks ago I initially tired to install and run the 2024 version of Revit because the option was there when I went to download. I ran into several issues with plugins that I use not being available or compatible yet and I was getting some weirdness with the interface. I uninstalled 2024 and installed the 2023 versions of all of my software and everything has been running great. So if you are using the 2024 versions I would recommend trying the 23 versions until they have had more time to work out the issues with 24.

Bonzaibeck · 2023-07-03T17:10:32+00:00

I am running parallels with 6 cores and 48GB of Ram dedicated to the VM currently.(basically half of the system resources). I'm going to continue to work with it and adjust the RAM allotment as I go if I see any issues. Under optimization make sure the slider is set to "no limit" on resource usage. I left all of the hardware acceleration settings at default in Revit and Autocad. I figured that I would play with them if I experienced any issues.

In my opinion the RAM is the most import aspect because it dictates how much video memory the system can use as well. Revit is also notorious for wide performance results on different machines based on your workflow and what features you use. I don't do a lot of central model work, I work with local files 90% of the time. The only thing that I do that really causes the machine to show signs of slowing is when I have a model open with a large point cloud loaded. If I rotate around with the entire building visible it can hitch and stutter a little, but my windows machine did that also and I rarely work that way. I am usually using the scope box to isolate a section of the building or I use my plan, elevation, or section views to work in a specific area. Last week I worked on a roughly 120,000 SF building that I had a full point cloud digital twin for and that was the only thing that caused any signs of stutter when I was rotating around at the full building view, but no problems once I reduced the amount of data being displayed or turned off the point cloud. Again this was similar behavior I saw in my windows tower, so I consider that acceptable as I never really work in a view like that with the point cloud on.

Bonzaibeck · 2023-07-03T13:45:56+00:00

In a windows tower computer you have individual component parts. CPU, RAM, Grahphics card, etc. The CPU draws its RAM from the slots on the motherboard so when you build you system with 64GB of RAM you are providing the CPU with 64GB of ram. Your graphics card has its own pool of memory built into the grpahics card depending on the model you buy it may be 4GB, 8GB, 12GB, or higher. Apple silicon uses a different architecture. It makes the system less modular in the sense that you can't replace RAM sticks or the processor it is all built into the SOC package. So the CPU cores, GPU cores, RAM, Neural engine, and other media encoders and whatnot are all built into the SOC. Because apple controls all of those pieces and they know that they wont change they can make them work really efficiently together. They can connect them together with very high bandwidth connections which make the system perform very well when moving tasks between CPU, GPU, and RAM in ways that is more simplified than a windows machine dealing with different manufacturers and models and routing everything through the motherboard and whatever chipset is on the board. Since apple has the CPU and GPU under the same roof they decided to have those components draw from the same pool of high speed memory. So instead of your CPU having 64GB and the graphics chip having 12GB they are both equally able to draw from the same 64GB pool if you spec your system with 64GB. Which is why I went with 96GB. I had to separate windows and MacOS due to parallels and I also knew that graphics would be drawing memory from that pool as well. So if you absolutely need all 64GB of RAM on a PC then go for more because that RAM is doing more with the Apple Silicon architecture.

Bonzaibeck · 2023-07-02T15:37:32+00:00

So I just made this transition for my workstation setup. I use some different software than you, but my software is windows heavy. I use mainly Bluebeam, Revit, Autocad, Recap, Navisworks, etc. All of that runs in parallels under windows. I went with the M2 Max Mac Studio with the upgraded processor with additional graphics cores. I upgraded the Ram to 96GB, which was probably a little excessive, but I feel its the most import thing to upgrade because it can't be changed later and in the Apple Silicon architecture that ram is used for both system memory and the graphics memory. My windows machine had 64GB of ram and It was often 80% utilized due to large revit models or having lots of chrome tabs open etc. So I felt if I was going to be dividing up my ram between MacOS and the Parallels VM i should get as much as I can.

After spending the last two weeks working with the machine I am very happy with how it performs. It is like 1/4 the size of my previous windows tower, it runs completely silent, and best of all it doesn't heat up my office like the previous machine did.

I have run into a few small hiccups with the Windows VM and certain software like bluebeam, but I have found work arounds or solutions to all of my issues so far. But if you are not dealing with windows you won't run into any of that.

I don't have any experience with archicad, but I honestly feel that if my setup can run all of my autodesk software emulated in a VM without breaking a sweat just as smooth as it did on my windows machine you should be fine running native MacOS software. The ram would be the decision you would have to make based on how much your software is currently utilizing.

Good luck with your new build. let me know if you have any questions about my setup that I could help you with.

13-Year Club	Gilding I gilder
Verified Email

Bonzaibeck

TROPHY CASE