Dell Laptop WI-FI High Gain Antenna Mod, Increase Internal Network Cards Range and Signal !!!

Step 5 Bouns to be continued........

Here is a little tase of how far you can go with this. This is a pic of my dell with the antenna mod and a 1watt 2.4ghz wifi amplifier @30db gain, moded to run off usb power with a 15db anntena !!!

Take a look at the signal after this they were off the screen !!! I was in my car in the middle of a townhouse parking lot.

If there is any interest I will do an instructable on how to mod the amp to work from usb power :)


Well if you liked my Instructable show some love and comment :P

Comments

[rmonge]

How do you supply energy to the amplifier through USB cable?

[D33ZZ]

HI interested indeed of your usb wifi amp so it doesnt come already usb? but yes instructions would be great.

[xxgemini]

Hey guys... Well I havent got around to do usb amp isble. So I just tell ya how in words. Its realy simple. The amp came with a wall wart power adaptor, but thats not to travel friendly. Usb plugs have @ 5.0v available to power things. You can pick up an amp from Ebay for @ $60.00. I used a 1watt amp. Then you need a usb plug, I just choped 12" off an old usb mouse. So in the usb plug red is positive and black is obviously negative. They are the 2 outer most pins. The 2 inner data ones we wont be using. Now open up the amp with the 2 screws, and very carefully remove the power plug jack. I used a dremel. there will be 3 solder points under the jack. If I remember correctly the far left is positive and the middle is negative. I just touched the wires to it for a second till the amp light came on to find the right pin. Now feed the usb cable through the hole where the power jack used to be and tie a knot so it wont get pulled out. Now solder the Red and Black Usb wires to the solder pads on the amp. Close her back up and shes ready to go :) I used it at BWI airport the other day and picked up like four pages of routers....lol

[grimgroper]

how much does this effect ur battery life? if it drains it quickly you might wanna look at this mod as well...
www.instructables.com/id/Increase-the-capacity-runtime-of-your-laptop-bat/

also would 2 antennas be beneficial? like the routers that have 2? 

[Topcat2021]

That is a great modification that you have done. It was the inspiration for performing a similar mod to a dell inspiron 5150. The antenna mod works great.
I ordered a 1 watt broadband amp to use with the laptop and it also works great but I'm wondering about the specs on the amp that you used as the wall adapter is 6vdc @ 2000 ma, this power requirement far exceeds usb power. Can the amp be used at lower power? Right now I'm thinking about making an external battery pack with a charger for portability.
Wish me luck and again great work
Dan

[jabra]

I dont have any background in elec and comp field at all...I would need more help from you guys please tell me exactly model# of the amp you were using xxgemini so far I found one on ebay # 280246755001 Not so sure if this is the one you used. I wish we could have some pics from you very soon. Just wanna build an amp for my dell inspiron too. Thanks!

[cj082108]

PLZ DO AN INSTRUCTABLE FOR THIS TOO! UR FIRST ONE WAS GREAT! THANK YOU! I would totally appreciate it if you could email me [e-mail] when you have an instructable with a link to the page. thanks
cj

[User1]

I would be curious as to the amp you used for this.  Link or model number?  Nice job on putting your instructable together btw.

[p0g068]

dude yus a bad a. ss thank you for the Instructable ( got me some tools and a antenna)

[Tobiastdog]

who makes the amp and about how much should I expect to pay?

[jeuno]

Who is the manufacturer of your amplifier?

[Ratfinkracing]

Very neat how do those USB antenna's work? i understand there's power but how does it draw in signal? through the data side of the usb?

[ellisgeek]

um the usb is for power

[jeuno]

There are some usb devices that claim to extend the signal. I think that is what he is talking about. Not the particular amps power source.

[nevarDeath]

This is wonderful! I'm putting this dell 1390 card in my Acer Aspire One and wasn't sure what connectors and stuff I needed for the external antenna. Thank you so much!

[edwardbuck]

Hello, I read this several months ago, but I have never been able to get this mod to work. I thought maybe I had a bad antenna or cable, so I purchased another of each, but still no luck. I have tried two different high gain antennas and two different U.FL to RP-SMA cables, but I don't get any better signal than with my builtin antenna. Any ideas on what I'm doing wrong? I have a Dell Vostro 1700 with Dell 1390 WLAN card. If I disconnect the high-gain antenna from the pigtail, I get no signal, so it appears that it is making connection, but if I get one bar with my internal antenna, I still only get one bar with the high-gain antenna. Thanks.

[Kikurimu]

Thanks a lot for this instructable, I have and Inspiron 1420 and had to modify your instructions a little to get the connectors in a good spot (also took a bit more force since I had to drill through metal). But it was still a great guide. Thank you.

[xxgemini]

thanks for the comment, glad it worked... how is reception now ?.... are u using an amplifier ?

[Kikurimu]

No problem. Unfortunately there was a problem with shipping on the antenna I ordered, so I'm still waiting on it. I'll let you know when I get it.

[Kikurimu]

Got the antenna. Working pretty well. My connections are a lot stronger and more stable now with access points that were spotty before.

[smarzig]

wow very nice! i wonder is it just about the same as the Wave Magnum. Goodness it look exacly the same lol (the power upgrade one that is) smarzig @ a o l. com