Yes, I did the analysis and comparison with the stock PCB antenna in a previous video. You can find the results graph here: ruclips.net/video/MTwWnZG8wUY/видео.html The Pi Zero 2 W uses the same wireless chipset and antenna as the Pi 4, so the results are comparable.
\i did this to my pi 4 once using your video and man was it difficult to do with my simple iron but i got it. This Explanation sure is an upgrade and would've helped back then and will for the next one!
I purchased one of your modded W 1s at the beginning of 2021 and it worked great. I'll be checking your eBay page for these to be back in stock so I can also grab a modded W 2s.
Glad to hear it has been working great! They probably won't be back in stock there for at least a little while since they are on back order pretty much everywhere, but hopefully in a few months after things calm down a bit I'll be able to get some more and modify them.
I'm glad there's a tutorial like this. I've got a CaribouLite on the way, so I decided to pick up a 2 W CanaKit. I want to add an external antenna because I'm worried about the SDR blocking the wifi antenna in some orientations, and I think it'd be cool to have an enclosure with 3 radio antennas sticking out from it :P
Having both antennas connected should 1/2 the RF power of the output (3dBm), but pulling one cap must not disconnect the antenna fully, hence the other 3dBm difference .
Yes, the winners have been drawn and all winners have been notified via email. They have a period of time to respond (7 days via the giveaway terms) and the full list will be announced after everyone has confirmed.
Yes, I do have measurements of the on board antenna as well. It's not strongly directional, so almost any antenna with a little gain will give a stronger signal, provided the antenna is oriented properly.
AmScope SW-3T24Z with SM05 Barlow Lens, LED-144W-ZK ring light, and RU050 C-Mount for my camera. You can get away with a lot less though if you are not trying to film at the same time! It's large enough that I can do it without the microscope and then I just use a loupe to confirm that the joints are good, so that's the cheapest way to start. It's definitely eyesight dependent though, and if you do a lot of surface mount soldering, investing in a good binocular scope is well worth it.
Thank you for this. I went to a laptop repair shop, they have the right tools for this job. It works better with external antenna but there it's a problem, the board gets very hot. I did the test with 2 boards, the one I added external antenna and another one with normal antenna. The boards are raspberry pi zero 2 w. Did you noticed any increase in temperature after adding the external antenna? Thank you.
No there was no temperature increase. If it's heating up (particularly around the wifi chipset) then there is probably an impedance mismatch somewhere. Double check the solder joints to make sure they are good low resistance connections, ensure the line to the on-board PCB was cut cleanly to avoid reflections, and make sure the antenna and any coax extension used are rated for a 50 ohm characteristic impedance, and the antenna is a proper dual-band WiFi antenna.
Given that it is carrying high frequencies (GHz range) I wouldn't recommend it. While a glob of solder might be able to make a connection at DC, it's unlikely to behave well at high frequency which would likely degrade performance or cause the device to produce harmful interference on other frequencies. Using the 0 ohm resistor gives the best result for a proper impedance matched connection.
Hello and thank you for the video!I have a question since am not that much into electronics!A similar resistor with the double rating power will do aswell for the job or i need a resistor with the exact same characteristics please?
The key things you want for best results is a resistor of the correct package size (so it fits), and a nominal resistance of zero (it's typically a few milli-ohms in practice). The package power rating generally doesn't matter for this application because a zero ohm resistor should ideally not be dissipating hardly any power at all.
Hi, I've done the mod yesterday, removing the curved trace after the resistor pads wasn't an easy task! Anyway I've managed to install the resistor and the antenna connector... everything seems connected properly, but even if it's receiveng signals, the reception seems worse than before. Maybe the antenna connector is too close to the usb port? I don't know what to check :/
A few things to check: - Make sure the cut for the trace was right up next to the pad. If there is a stub, you can get reflections which will hurt integrity. - Check all the solder connections for cold solder joints. Just because it's not falling off doesn't make it a good connection. - Check your antenna orientation, especially if you are using a higher gain antenna. Remember that with a high gain antenna, you are stealing power from some orientations to improve it in other orientations, so antenna position relative to the base station matters. - Check all antenna connections (U.FL, SMA/RP-SMA if any) - Try a different antenna from a different manufacturer. Especially if you got the antenna from a third party seller on Amazon, eBay, or Ali Express, some of those antennas are low quality, or don't match the frequency band. You want to look for an antenna that is made for dual band WiFi. - Make sure the antenna you are using and any coaxial cable extensions are all 50 ohm characteristic impedance. If there is an impedance mismatch, then you will get reflections which will degrade performance.
Also don't worry about the U.FL outer connector touching the USB port. Both of these items are ground connections, so they are directly connected on the board and it isn't an issue if they touch
@@funtechusorry for the late reply, but I've probably missed the notification. The problem was the resistor! It looked okay, but it wasn't soldered properly, or maybe not fully functional (I recovered from it from another PCB). I bridged the two pads and that made everything work again. I can't tell if the signal improved, as I didn't take any measurements before, but it works pretty well. I've got another board with the original PCB antenna, I can use that for a comparison maybe. I've read, that the best solution would be a 0 ohm resistor, but honestly it was the smallest component I've ever soldered, if the signal is good enough, I will probably not risk messing up the situation 😅 Thanks for the support!
@@allan80supra I guess it depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to use the on-board PCB antenna then I don't see any benefit to attaching the U.FL connector which will degrade performance.
@@funtechu what I'm most interested to see is the performance of the stock antenna vs external without trace cutting as if it is an improvement over all that would be great, if there is also no/minimal penalty to having the un-used connector there even better!
@@allan80supra Gotcha. Comparisons vs stock (without a U.FL connector attached) are covered here (ruclips.net/video/MTwWnZG8wUY/видео.html) but the summary is that the external antenna is slightly better even with minimal gain. PCB antenna with U.FL connector attached, and the trace not cut degrades both the performance of the PCB antenna when the external antenna is disconnected, as well as the performance of the external antenna with it connected, so it's worse than both. I don't have a video for that comparison, but I did run those tests as well, and having the un-used connector gives a 4.5dBm penalty over the stock configuration which is pretty substantial. So in short, it's best to just pick what works for you (PCB or external) and then just go with it.
I've been unable to keep them in stock because the main distributors have long backorder times, and the secondary distributors limit you to one or two per person max. So I plan on modifying more when the primary suppliers are back in stock but that may be a while. Check the link the description for a link to my website. There is information there for how to get on the waiting list if you are interested, or how you can send it to me for modification if you manage to get a hold of some Pis yourself.
It's necessary in that you need to make that connection, and it's necessary that it is a good connection that is close to 0 ohms. But people have had success using a small clipping of a thin strand of wire as well, so using a jumper resistor isn't strictly necessary (it is basically just a wire in a nice package after all).
Do you have a link to the resistor you used? As a noob it shows me a ton of 0201 0 Ohms resistors on Mouser ... Also, whats the purpose of a 0Ohm resistor? + thanks for the great vidoe, really! Cheers from Austria
I don't recall which one I used because I typically buy resistors in bulk, but any 0201 0 Ohm resistor should work fine. I typically sort by price for whatever quantity I'm getting (typically 1000). Currently on Mouser it looks like RC0201JR-130RL is the cheapest for low quantities (1-10), but it will change from time to time. Typically Yageo or Vishay are good options. The purpose is just for a controlled impedance, high bandwidth jumper connection, so it's essentially a wire. You could certainly use a small piece of wire instead, though the resistor gives consistent results every time, and a known frequency response.
It looks like there is a Raspup version that worked on the original Pi Zero W so maybe ( blog.puppylinux.com/raspup-820-released ). However, not all distros that worked on the Pi Zero W work on the Pi Zero 2 W (some older raspbian versions don't work I know). So you would have to try it out to see.
![Add External Antenna to Pi Zero W [Tutorial]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Y648CjIiEv8/mqdefault.jpg)
The Signal with the built in antenna would have been amazing for comparison! :D To see how much an added antenna improoves it all.
Yes, I did the analysis and comparison with the stock PCB antenna in a previous video. You can find the results graph here: ruclips.net/video/MTwWnZG8wUY/видео.html
The Pi Zero 2 W uses the same wireless chipset and antenna as the Pi 4, so the results are comparable.
\i did this to my pi 4 once using your video and man was it difficult to do with my simple iron but i got it.
This Explanation sure is an upgrade and would've helped back then and will for the next one!
Glad you found the new explanation helpful. It is indeed a bit more difficult to do with just a soldering iron!
I purchased one of your modded W 1s at the beginning of 2021 and it worked great. I'll be checking your eBay page for these to be back in stock so I can also grab a modded W 2s.
Glad to hear it has been working great! They probably won't be back in stock there for at least a little while since they are on back order pretty much everywhere, but hopefully in a few months after things calm down a bit I'll be able to get some more and modify them.
I'm glad there's a tutorial like this.
I've got a CaribouLite on the way, so I decided to pick up a 2 W CanaKit. I want to add an external antenna because I'm worried about the SDR blocking the wifi antenna in some orientations, and I think it'd be cool to have an enclosure with 3 radio antennas sticking out from it :P
Thanks for your fantastic video!
I just finished my mod of my Pi zero 2, and works wonders.
Absolutely fantastic detail. Thanks very much for the vid.
Having both antennas connected should 1/2 the RF power of the output (3dBm), but pulling one cap must not disconnect the antenna fully, hence the other 3dBm difference .
Any update on the winners of the contest? Thanks for offering the chance at the modded board. It is very kind of you.
Yes, the winners have been drawn and all winners have been notified via email. They have a period of time to respond (7 days via the giveaway terms) and the full list will be announced after everyone has confirmed.
Hey, your tutorials are amazing. We want to feature them on our channel (with proper credits). If it sounds good, then kindly reply.
could this possibly give the pi 0 2W a 5ghz compatibility? thanks :)
Did you measured the signal level of the on board antenna as well?
Yes, I do have measurements of the on board antenna as well. It's not strongly directional, so almost any antenna with a little gain will give a stronger signal, provided the antenna is oriented properly.
Congratulations for your manual skills. Which microscope are you using ?
AmScope SW-3T24Z with SM05 Barlow Lens, LED-144W-ZK ring light, and RU050 C-Mount for my camera. You can get away with a lot less though if you are not trying to film at the same time! It's large enough that I can do it without the microscope and then I just use a loupe to confirm that the joints are good, so that's the cheapest way to start. It's definitely eyesight dependent though, and if you do a lot of surface mount soldering, investing in a good binocular scope is well worth it.
Thank you for this.
I went to a laptop repair shop, they have the right tools for this job. It works better with external antenna but there it's a problem, the board gets very hot. I did the test with 2 boards, the one I added external antenna and another one with normal antenna.
The boards are raspberry pi zero 2 w.
Did you noticed any increase in temperature after adding the external antenna?
Thank you.
No there was no temperature increase. If it's heating up (particularly around the wifi chipset) then there is probably an impedance mismatch somewhere. Double check the solder joints to make sure they are good low resistance connections, ensure the line to the on-board PCB was cut cleanly to avoid reflections, and make sure the antenna and any coax extension used are rated for a 50 ohm characteristic impedance, and the antenna is a proper dual-band WiFi antenna.
A bit late but is that 0 ohm resistor really needed ? Bridging those teo small pads with some solder should also do the trick …right ?!
Given that it is carrying high frequencies (GHz range) I wouldn't recommend it. While a glob of solder might be able to make a connection at DC, it's unlikely to behave well at high frequency which would likely degrade performance or cause the device to produce harmful interference on other frequencies. Using the 0 ohm resistor gives the best result for a proper impedance matched connection.
Hello and thank you for the video!I have a question since am not that much into electronics!A similar resistor with the double rating power will do aswell for the job or i need a resistor with the exact same characteristics please?
The key things you want for best results is a resistor of the correct package size (so it fits), and a nominal resistance of zero (it's typically a few milli-ohms in practice). The package power rating generally doesn't matter for this application because a zero ohm resistor should ideally not be dissipating hardly any power at all.
Thank you very much!@@funtechu
I often see these "soldering flux reballing" material you use in that video, mix of tin and flux. What is it and where to buy? Many thx
It's called solder paste. The specific one in the video is 4860P-35g from MG Chemicals which you can buy many places online.
Hi, I've done the mod yesterday, removing the curved trace after the resistor pads wasn't an easy task!
Anyway I've managed to install the resistor and the antenna connector... everything seems connected properly, but even if it's receiveng signals, the reception seems worse than before.
Maybe the antenna connector is too close to the usb port? I don't know what to check :/
A few things to check:
- Make sure the cut for the trace was right up next to the pad. If there is a stub, you can get reflections which will hurt integrity.
- Check all the solder connections for cold solder joints. Just because it's not falling off doesn't make it a good connection.
- Check your antenna orientation, especially if you are using a higher gain antenna. Remember that with a high gain antenna, you are stealing power from some orientations to improve it in other orientations, so antenna position relative to the base station matters.
- Check all antenna connections (U.FL, SMA/RP-SMA if any)
- Try a different antenna from a different manufacturer. Especially if you got the antenna from a third party seller on Amazon, eBay, or Ali Express, some of those antennas are low quality, or don't match the frequency band. You want to look for an antenna that is made for dual band WiFi.
- Make sure the antenna you are using and any coaxial cable extensions are all 50 ohm characteristic impedance. If there is an impedance mismatch, then you will get reflections which will degrade performance.
Also don't worry about the U.FL outer connector touching the USB port. Both of these items are ground connections, so they are directly connected on the board and it isn't an issue if they touch
@@funtechusorry for the late reply, but I've probably missed the notification.
The problem was the resistor! It looked okay, but it wasn't soldered properly, or maybe not fully functional (I recovered from it from another PCB).
I bridged the two pads and that made everything work again. I can't tell if the signal improved, as I didn't take any measurements before, but it works pretty well.
I've got another board with the original PCB antenna, I can use that for a comparison maybe.
I've read, that the best solution would be a 0 ohm resistor, but honestly it was the smallest component I've ever soldered, if the signal is good enough, I will probably not risk messing up the situation 😅
Thanks for the support!
@@Fred_Klingon Awesome, glad you got it working!
for the "no disconnect" test was that with an antenna connected to the u.fl? if so compared to the no antenna signal strength?
Yes, all three of the examples had antennas connected to the U.FL connector.
Would be interesting to see the performance test stock and stock with connector but no antenna or PCB cut.
@@allan80supra I guess it depends on what you are trying to do. If you are trying to use the on-board PCB antenna then I don't see any benefit to attaching the U.FL connector which will degrade performance.
@@funtechu what I'm most interested to see is the performance of the stock antenna vs external without trace cutting as if it is an improvement over all that would be great, if there is also no/minimal penalty to having the un-used connector there even better!
@@allan80supra Gotcha. Comparisons vs stock (without a U.FL connector attached) are covered here (ruclips.net/video/MTwWnZG8wUY/видео.html) but the summary is that the external antenna is slightly better even with minimal gain. PCB antenna with U.FL connector attached, and the trace not cut degrades both the performance of the PCB antenna when the external antenna is disconnected, as well as the performance of the external antenna with it connected, so it's worse than both. I don't have a video for that comparison, but I did run those tests as well, and having the un-used connector gives a 4.5dBm penalty over the stock configuration which is pretty substantial. So in short, it's best to just pick what works for you (PCB or external) and then just go with it.
What does the antenna do?
I'd venture to guess that it picks up a stronger WiFi signal for the Pwnagotchi to pwn.
Can this be done with a Pico 2 W?
@@davkdavk Unfortunately they didn't put the U.FL pads on the Pico 2 W, so it's not as simple as on other Pis.
@funtechu Thanks for the reply!
Do you still offer the RPi Zero 2 with this mod already done for sale?
I've been unable to keep them in stock because the main distributors have long backorder times, and the secondary distributors limit you to one or two per person max. So I plan on modifying more when the primary suppliers are back in stock but that may be a while. Check the link the description for a link to my website. There is information there for how to get on the waiting list if you are interested, or how you can send it to me for modification if you manage to get a hold of some Pis yourself.
is the resistor nessicary?
It's necessary in that you need to make that connection, and it's necessary that it is a good connection that is close to 0 ohms. But people have had success using a small clipping of a thin strand of wire as well, so using a jumper resistor isn't strictly necessary (it is basically just a wire in a nice package after all).
Do you have a link to the resistor you used? As a noob it shows me a ton of 0201 0 Ohms resistors on Mouser ...
Also, whats the purpose of a 0Ohm resistor?
+ thanks for the great vidoe, really!
Cheers from Austria
I don't recall which one I used because I typically buy resistors in bulk, but any 0201 0 Ohm resistor should work fine.
I typically sort by price for whatever quantity I'm getting (typically 1000). Currently on Mouser it looks like RC0201JR-130RL is the cheapest for low quantities (1-10), but it will change from time to time. Typically Yageo or Vishay are good options.
The purpose is just for a controlled impedance, high bandwidth jumper connection, so it's essentially a wire. You could certainly use a small piece of wire instead, though the resistor gives consistent results every time, and a known frequency response.
@@funtechu hey, thanks!
Can I install puppy linux on the pi zero 22 w ???
It looks like there is a Raspup version that worked on the original Pi Zero W so maybe ( blog.puppylinux.com/raspup-820-released ). However, not all distros that worked on the Pi Zero W work on the Pi Zero 2 W (some older raspbian versions don't work I know). So you would have to try it out to see.
@@funtechu Your URL returns a Page not found is the any other links as i would like to try it ?
@@uksuperrascal it looks like RUclips just put in the closing parentheses - blog.puppylinux.com/raspup-820-released
Thank you video is posted at ruclips.net/video/F_qXkAmVXjk/видео.html - thanks again mate!