Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more distance

[ehcropydoc]

Hey peeps...

Just wanted to post my huge (first) fail tonight. And, like a broken record, I highly recommend being extremely cautious when fiddling around inside of the repeater. I'll explain.

I had made an 8dbi antenna mod before I even really knew how to fly. It was an easy mod and was told I'd be able to get an incredible distance by doing so. I couldn't resist.

However, these 1500ft+ promises never really panned out. I live in a relatively small city and fly where there is very little interference (mostly huge open country fields). The furthest I've ever been able to go is 700ft away and then bam, video signal fails. I also noticed that the aircraft's orientation affected the wifi performance. If I turned a certain way with the P2V just 300ft away the signal would fail. All in all, I wasn't happy with the distance at all. Especially after seeing YouTube people going so far away.

Anyways, I came across an article where a user said he removed his modded antenna configuration and went back to stock. The user said the stock performance blew away the modded antenna setup. Who would have thought, right? I figured I needed to re-open up my repeater and check all the connections.

Here's where everything went to crap. I opened up the unit and everything was fine. Connections were tight, no loose pieces. I then told myself to put the stock antenna back and do a distance test tomorrow to see if stock beats the modded antenna setup. After removing the modded plug and re-attaching the stock antenna, I began to put the modded plug end away from the electronics and underneath the PCB. Then all of a sudden, I hear a piece of something fall into the unit. I held everything upside down and out comes a tiny little piece on the board with "C 222D" written on it. I knew I had ruined my repeater.

Without even trying to put it back, I immediately (and comically :lol rolled over to my computer and clicked "add to cart" on Amazon.com for a new one. $99 later and I'll have a brand new repeater at my door on Monday.

Why am I writing this? I have no idea actually. But I can say that the little piece that came off was barely nudged and poof, the unit is ruined. So save yourself $99 and be cautious. I guess this can be thought of as a word of warning for all those wanting to mod their units.

In the meantime, if someone thinks they can fix this, please send me a PM. Assuming my new unit arrives and works, I'd be willing to sell this unit as is. Let me know.

Cheers,
Cody P.

PS: Sorry for the pictures being upside down.

 

[flyNfrank]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Aren't you glad replacement parts are available. I have a feeling these parts are going to become harder and harder to purchase. More and more people are buying these and it could be a week or so from now that 3-4 others are in the same situation as you are.

 

[gbshovel]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Well that sucks , I am not sure why your mod never panned out. I did mine and couldn't be happier .

 

[gpauk]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Looks like an SMT inductor that came off, my guess is that it wasn't soldered properly in the first place, if the solder joint failed mechanically without a lot of trauma!!

 

[xgeek]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Should be easy to solder back on and get going again.

 

[ehcropydoc]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

I attempted re-soldering and made things way worse. Another piece fell off. These things are very fragile.

*if you are reading this and are thinking of modding, please REMOVE the board from the unit before drilling/fiddling inside.

I will do a test with the new stock unit and see if I can go more than 700ft away.

 

[ehcropydoc]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I wanted to do a follow up.

After re-pairing my new repeater, I went out yesterday in high winds (huge field) and successfully flew over 1,000 ft (away) with clear wifi performance. It faded out closer to the 1,100 mark. That is 400ft greater than my modded wifi repeater setup (single 8dbi)

So, for me (as well as a few others in this forum), doing the repeater antenna mod was a bad idea to begin with. Now, I am back to stock and can fly further with more confidence.

*and before I get stones thrown at me....all of my post-mod connections were perfect and solid. I may be a P2V noob but I can tell you my setup was clean as can be.

 

[Madwak]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater (my fault)

Sorry to resurrect this thread but I wanted to do a follow up.

After re-pairing my new repeater, I went out yesterday in high winds (huge field) and successfully flew over 1,000 ft (away) with clear wifi performance. It faded out closer to the 1,100 mark. That is 400ft greater than my modded wifi repeater setup (single 8dbi)

So, for me (as well as a few others in this forum), doing the repeater antenna mod was a bad idea to begin with. Now, I am back to stock and can fly further with more confidence.

*and before I get stones thrown at me....all of my post-mod connections were perfect and solid. I may be a P2V noob but I can tell you my setup was clean as can be.

As you now appear to be getting the "advertised" distance from your new stock repeater is there any possibility that you broke the original the first time you modded it or it was already dodgy and you didn't notice? That might explain why your range didn't improve after the mod.

 

[helixaviator]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

i am a bit perpexled by everyone claiming these huge increases in range with various antennas and amps etc. The furthest i ever got is about 1000ft. Generally get about 600 ft.

 

[amkorp]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

You know what I suspect went wrong with your mod?

The cable.

Where did you buy the pigtail cable from? I've seen many people complaining about their range not increasing after doing this mode and they swear that their connections were good. Even though the connection is good, if the cable you are using to make the connections is disabled, then you won't be in good shape.

Some of the lower quality cables have defective center pins. They don't come out far enough and therefore don't make a connection with the female port on the repeater board. I'm fairly certain that was your issue.

 

[Noël]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

My understanding is that the repeater has two antennas and that it will use the one what is receiving the best signal (diversity)!

As the stock antenna is doing 1000ft and as the OP was only getting 300 / 700ft the repeater was probably broken before or during the modification.

Also (no offense) looking at the pliers the OP is using to hold the SMD I also understand that soldering it back made everything worse!

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

While I was waiting to take deli ery of my PV2 I had read all about modding and was sure I was going to be following the best mods available out there but then I got my bird. I must be one in a million because I regularly get 550 METRES fpv and up to 750 METRES from time to time, I have also flown it 1.2Km away with full control berfore RTH kicked in and this is with everything stock. I'm flying over my suburban area, nothing special, just housing estates and some green areas. How come there is such a difference in PV2s? Dont get me wrong, I feel very privileged and have decided I dont need to mod because of these distances. I bought mine about 6 weeks ago and its one of the ones with the 6 strip air vents or gills as I call them in the body. Anyone else getting anything like me?

 

[gfredrone]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

While I was waiting to take deli ery of my PV2 I had read all about modding and was sure I was going to be following the best mods available out there but then I got my bird. I must be one in a million because I regularly get 550 METRES fpv and up to 750 METRES from time to time, I have also flown it 1.2Km away with full control berfore RTH kicked in and this is with everything stock. I'm flying over my suburban area, nothing special, just housing estates and some green areas. How come there is such a difference in PV2s? Dont get me wrong, I feel very privileged and have decided I dont need to mod because of these distances. I bought mine about 6 weeks ago and its one of the ones with the 6 strip air vents or gills as I call them in the body. Anyone else getting anything like me?

6 gills? I only have groups of 4. I only get about 1,400-1,500 ft stock on FPV.

Wonder what the difference is between the 6 and 4 gill birds?

You can see pics of both on google images dating back to when it was first released. Search "phantom 2 vision" in images.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

While I was waiting to take deli ery of my PV2 I had read all about modding and was sure I was going to be following the best mods available out there but then I got my bird. I must be one in a million because I regularly get 550 METRES fpv and up to 750 METRES from time to time, I have also flown it 1.2Km away with full control berfore RTH kicked in and this is with everything stock. I'm flying over my suburban area, nothing special, just housing estates and some green areas. How come there is such a difference in PV2s? Dont get me wrong, I feel very privileged and have decided I dont need to mod because of these distances. I bought mine about 6 weeks ago and its one of the ones with the 6 strip air vents or gills as I call them in the body. Anyone else getting anything like me?

6 gills? I only have groups of 4. Can you post a pic? I only get about 1,400-1,500 ft stock on FPV.

 

[Mal_PV2_Ireland]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

I've no idea if there is any difference just though I'd mention it just in case because it seems I'm getting ridiculous distances both fpv and before rth kicks in?

 

[phantomguy]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

Today with only a 5dbi Tplink Omni (from Amazon) on the repeater,(one internal antenna on the extender still connected) this is my result from earlier this evening. To be fair, I never really tested my max range without the Tplink/with a fully stock setup, so this isn't a post to state that the Tplink is or is not proven better for me as a mod.

Today, Open field, 1 block away from a couple of neighborhoods and 1/2 mile away from a nearby Cell tower. Did have to adjust the antennas a couple of times to restore connection to Phantom. At about 1500 feet RTH kicked in, I let it come back to about 1200feet, re-took control, turned the Phantom sideways and pushed it from 50 feet in front of me to about 200-300 feet in front of me, then resumed ascent. Wifi signal strength remained strong on the onscreen meter, but did get choppy around 2300 feet to 2500. Above 1500 feet anytime I attempted to turn the phantom in any direction other than the side of the camera facing me, I would lose video and transmission connection. FYI my transmitter itself is stock. The Phantom itself is totally stock. anytime above 1500 feet or so if the V got outside of the blue range, I would lose connection. anytime above 1500 feet or so that V turned towards or away from me, i'd lose connection.

 

[iDrone]

Re: Another broken wifi repeater -*back to stock = more dist

Today with only a 5dbi Tplink Omni (from Amazon) on the repeater,(one internal antenna on the extender still connected) this is my result from earlier this evening... FYI my transmitter is stock except for the TPlink on the wifi extender. Phantom itself is totally stock. anytime above 1500 feet or so if the V got outside of the blue range, I would lose connection. anytime above 1500 feet or so that V turned towards or away from me, i'd lose connection.

phantomguy, that's scary-good FPV video performance considering... Had to check for an April 1st post date just to be sure I guess those little panel antennas in the camera really do have a wide cone for you to be able to pick it up so well from just 370' out. Nice test!

iDrone