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WIFI not working - bad antenna design. #4

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alfrankgit opened this issue Jun 2, 2023 · 16 comments
Open

WIFI not working - bad antenna design. #4

alfrankgit opened this issue Jun 2, 2023 · 16 comments

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@alfrankgit
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alfrankgit commented Jun 2, 2023

Yesterday I got my BTT Pad 7 and tried for hours to get it to connect to my WIFI properly and stay connected for more than a few seconds: no chance!

As I've been an IT service technician since 1988 I tried everything: new OS image, all kinds of authentication and WIFI generation settings, connecting via nmtui in the linux shell. Nothing brought me any closer to a stable connection, so I reset everything to the state it was before which works for all my other, very diverse, equipment. The Pad 7 still failed to stay connected.

Today I took a simple 2.4 GHz WIFI antenna home with me from work, removed the heat sink from the CB1 module, unplugged the internal WIFI antenna, plugged mine in, put the heat sink back on, turned the Pad 7 on: it instantly connected to my WIFI router.

And it doesn't disconnect anymore and has good ping times.

Now I got curious and removed the back panel of the Pad 7 (caution: remove µSD card first), disconnected the speakers and took a look at the printed foil circuit antenna.

I couldn't believe what I saw: the antenna trace (the "snake" in the lower horizontal part of the foil) is connected directly to the GND surface (big vertical rectangle in the top part), see the first picture.

To be sure I measured the resistance between the shielding and the core of the antenna cable: 0 ohms, see second picture.

ARE YOU SERIOUS???

Please revise your antenna design ASAP or your customer service will be flooded with WIFI problems!

IMG_3395

IMG_3397

@alfrankgit
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alfrankgit commented Jun 2, 2023

Quick and dirty hack for the more daring users:

Cut the antenna trace directly adjacent to the GND plate.

IMG_3398

This results in a working WIFI antenna which still has at least double the ping times of my external one.

@alfrankgit
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@alfrankgit
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My final solution: use a foil antenna from an MKS DLC32 board:

IMG_3402

IMG_3403

Looks very primitive but has half the ping-times of the hacked original one, almost as good as my external one.

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Jun 26, 2023

Tried connecting the Pad7 i received today, Trys twice and gives up then freezes the unit. Have to turn off and on to restart. Im going to have to hard wire and that wasnt what i needed.

@alfrankgit
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Tried connecting the Pad7 i received today, Trys twice and gives up then freezes the unit. Have to turn off and on to restart. Im going to have to hard wire and that wasnt what i needed.

You have to replace or "fix" the antenna as I did. It's a hardware issue: a very badly designed antenna.

@alfrankgit
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IMG_3806

This is the antenna that ships with the standalone CB1 boards. It looks like a much better design but I haven't used it yet.
At least there's no connection between the ground and the antenna traces.

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Jun 26, 2023

I have two of the CB1 antennas, Ones for the Manta M8P i can hopefully get going now, The others for the cb1/pi4b adapter im going to use with the Mini e3v3 thats currently running marlin. I take it they dont have the little button socket to install the better antenna

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Jun 26, 2023

Swapped the antenna and still nothing. Im wondering if its the 2.4ghz Pad 7 to my 5ghz router thats the problem here.

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Jun 26, 2023

P7

@GavinHanson
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Quick and dirty hack for the more daring users:

Cut the antenna trace directly adjacent to the GND plate.

IMG_3398

This results in a working WIFI antenna which still has at least double the ping times of my external one.

Did this on my one, it seems to pick up loads of wifi networks now but connects to none of them!

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Aug 15, 2023

I still havent gotten mine working right. The main connection trouble was SKY HUB, Even set up for 2.4ghz. I brought a new router which runs just 2.4ghz and the Pad connected straight away and updated everything without any trouble. BUT, And heres the next nail in its coffin, Putty cant pick it up even with the IP address the Pad 7s showing. Its just not there. So i tryed WinSCP, Angry IP scanner too, Nothing. so whats wrong and why are BTT not coming back to me on the support tickets? They did once which i replied to with as much information as i could put together but they just blanked me. Im guessing theres a problem with the CB1 itself so its being replaced with a Raspberry CM4 module as soon as there back in stock. They are tested before their sent out, Something BTT should start doing by the looks of things.

@GavinHanson
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I ended up removing the entire wifi antenna from mine, drilling a small hole and fitting one of these, its been flawless since, also on Sky Hub.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bingfu-Antenna-Wireless-Express-Network/dp/B0B5KY4KV3/ref=sr_1_12?crid=2304E8ZZV81F7&keywords=mini+Wifi+antenna&qid=1692102641&sprefix=mini+wifi+antenna%2Caps%2C94&sr=8-12

8B126A88-E05F-4C0C-860B-52C440443232_1_105_c
0A12586E-E0E3-405E-A884-129DEA62A0BC_1_105_c
6DADA795-EAD3-42FA-9024-5ED38B3F78E4_1_105_c

Check the BTT Pad 7 Facebook page, there's a few pics of my mod on there and quite a few people willing to help. BTT arent known for quick responses.

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Aug 15, 2023 via email

@GavinHanson
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Haha I'll take that manta off your hands for my voron 😂

@Gixie69
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Gixie69 commented Aug 15, 2023 via email

@Hugowhitee
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2024 and Im having the same problems. Antenna has a very bad design. Does someone know if I can connect it with ethernet to my wifi booster? I always get a failed message.

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