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Post by SDL on Feb 17, 2019 12:29:27 GMT -8
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Post by tedstur on Mar 27, 2019 10:11:49 GMT -8
I tried this with the Ourweather board. I stuck a wire on using tape (the antenna is exposed). It made no difference and my Ourweather board connects to my wifi and the loses the signal pretty quickly. I have a network monitoring app and the signal strength is decent. Not sure what I can try next. Thoughts?
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Post by gb0101010101 on Apr 2, 2019 14:06:01 GMT -8
tedstur , Did you cut the existing antenna trace and scrape it to expose the conductive material? You will probably have to solder the connection to the new antenna for it to be effective. You could get a high gain WiFi antenna that people use on routers. e.g. www.amazon.com/Gadgets-World-FBA_ALFA-ARSN19M-OMNI-Directional-High-Gain/dp/B0039ORBLKOr get a directional antenna and point it to your router.
You could go to any thrift store and get an old router for a few bucks with external antennas and butcher it for parts.
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Post by SDL on Apr 3, 2019 11:04:16 GMT -8
This is all very true. We are looking at changing to a U.FL SMD connector for an external antenna. I agree with you regarding cutting the trace and soldering the wire.
BP
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Post by rnbowman on Oct 5, 2020 14:14:08 GMT -8
All I can say is do this mod. It works! After several years of working well, my “OurWeather” board seemed to be losing WiFi reception, even though it is in the same place as always and connected to the same router. Signs of a weaker signal are dropped WeatherUnderground connections, and longer time to display the outside temperature on the OLED. Also, the “not connected to WiFi” message appears more frequently, suggesting the board is having more trouble than usual connecting to the router via WiFi. The problem is clearly a weak connection between the OurWeather board and my WiFi network. The internal antenna on the AI Thinker ESP8266 used on the OurWeather board is mostly junk. Finally in desperation, I cut the traces on the internal antenna and soldered in a ufl socket so that I can now connect an external antenna. Don’t try to follow the instructions in the top post. Those instructions are for cutting the traces on an ESP32 internal antenna which are different from those on the ES8266 board. Instead, use this link: community.openhab.org/t/esp8266-antenna-mod-extend-wifi-range/78982The antenna in the above link is exactly like the one on my OurWeather board. Cutting the gold bands of the internal antenna was easy. After adding an external antenna to the new ufl connector, I immediately saw much improved WiFi reception. It would also be very easy to solder a new antenna lead directly to the exposed cut trace. You can connect the mesh shroud on the antenna wire to any ground on the board. What a difference! I should have done this years ago. |
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Post by SDL on Oct 5, 2020 17:18:16 GMT -8
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