Re: External antenna for laptop wi-fi
- From: Paul <nospam@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 04 Aug 2008 23:24:18 -0400
Gene wrote:
My Dell 1505 laptop has a built-in wi-fi set up. The building that I live in has a building wide wi-fi system. When I use the laptop in a certain room of my apartment the wi-fi connection is often marginal and the connection often lost.
My question is - is it possible to connect an external antenna to the 1505 (with a built in wi-fi) in order to to insure a better and more reliable connection to the central system in the building.
If so, how is the external antenna attached to the laptop ?
The laptop could have two antenna wires, visible as in this picture.
http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/ins6400/en/sm/cards.htm#wp1015787
The thing is, the connectors are delicate, and I don't know how much
fooling around they can handle, without a problem. One is labeled
"Main" and the other "Aux". I don't think it is worth messing with,
because there isn't a convenient way of getting out of the
laptop.
*******
You likely have a USB connector, and could connect a series of
USB cables to extend a USB Wifi to the laptop.
wire wire
Laptop -------- hub ------- hub --- Wifi_device
5M 5M 5M
The cable length is limited to 5 meters, per section. That
is 16 feet or so. The hub can be a multi-port USB hub.
Or, you can get a USB extender cable, which has a
"one port hub" on the end of it. That is what is showing
in this picture - the fat end of the cable, is a one port hub.
You can string more than one of these together, to extend
the range. There is a limit as to how many of these can be
used to build a longer extension (5 hubs, 30 meters of cable?).
http://c1.neweggimages.com/NeweggImage/productimage/12-232-008-02.jpg
Depending on the power draw of the USB2 Wifi Device, you may want
a self powered (uses a wall wart) hub, as the last port in the chain.
That changes the diagram, to look like this. Using the Wall Wart, the
Wifi device can draw 500 milliamps if it is needed. With a bus
powered hub (including the one port hub style extender cable),
the current draw is limited to 100mA at the end of the chain
of cables. As far as I know.
x
Wall Wart
|
wire wire |
Laptop -------- hub ------- hub --- Wifi_device
5M 5M 5M
A Wifi device to stick on the end of the chain, is shown here.
You could buy this first, and just connect it to the
laptop, and see if it gets a better signal. You may
not need all that other wire and crap. If this thing
still has lousy reception, then you can stock up on
USB extension cables :-)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=N82E16833124126
I tried to look for an Expressport card with external connector
for the antenna, but the Expressport designs seem to like to
integrate the antenna into the plastic blob on the end of the
card.
Paul
.
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